Recent advances in Earth observation (EO) satellites have made possible improved global observations of several key parameters governing the global water cycle. In the coming years the increasing number of EO missions to be launched by space agencies will provide an unprecedented capacity to observe the earth surface, its interior and the atmosphere, opening a new era in EO and water cycle science. The full exploitation of this capacity by scientific and institutional users, in particular for water resources management under climate change, requires coordinated research efforts to develop robust global and regional operational products using observation and modeling systems and data assimilation capabilities. The purpose of this topical conference is to advance our knowledge on water cycle at different scales in space and time; to accelerate the development of robust global and regional geo-information data products to characterise and model the water cycle from global to regional (basin) scales; and to improve existing models and data assimilation systems to support global water cycle predictions, climate change impacts and development of mitigation strategies in water resources management.