Free satellite images beamed from the European Space Agency have been accessed by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) in a year-long trial to ensure water wasn't stolen during environmental releases into the Northern Basin.

The images were provided by Geoscience Australia to track water flows in the Barwon and Darling River systems during the major water release into northern rivers between April and June.

The MDBA's general manager officer compliance, Brent Williams, said a pumping embargo was ordered during the flows to determine exactly where the water was going.

"We were able to see the water passing down the rivers, filling up water holes and connecting billabongs on the way through," Mr Williams said.

"And we were able to track that and correlate that with the gauging data all the way down to Menindee.

"We were also able to see what was happening in farmers' dams and paddocks along the way.

What can be seen from space: high and low tide composite images of Derby, WA. ( Supplied: Geoscience Australia )

"Most of the irrigation in that part of the country is for cotton and typically farmers will pump out of the river when they're allowed to and fill up a big dam and then use the storage in the dam to progressively water crops as they plant them and keep them growing.

"So we were able to actually observe the changes in the dam levels and see what was happening on the properties on the way through."

He said an "anomaly" at one farm prompted an on-ground investigation.

"We observed the changing of a water level at a dam that looked a bit odd and told NSW authorities what was going on and they sent investigators out," he said.

"[But] in that case it turned out that the irrigator had pumped into the storage before the embargo and had records to demonstrate that, so that's an example of how this information is useful.

"It doesn't give you a prima facie case for a prosecution or iron-clad evidence that you can take to a court [but] it gives you information that you can then follow up with further investigation."

Mr Williams said the trial found no case of water theft, and he was now pushing for the satellite imagery to become a permanent weapon in the MDBAs arsenal to ensure water compliance across the basin.

Federal Agricultural Minister David Littleproud said the new technology would "bring integrity back to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan".

"No-one should fear compliance if they're doing the right thing," he said.

A satellite image of Roebuck Bay, WA, showing the topography of exposed mudflats. ( Supplied: Geoscience Australia )

How does it all work?

Acting branch head for the National Earth and Marine Observations, Trevor Dhu, runs the Digital Earth Australia program.

"And that program is focussed on taking free and public satellite data and actually making it useful," he said.

He said the program accessed images taken from two European-run satellites called Sentinel 2.

"That satellite can give us pictures of the entire continent of Australia at a pixel about the size of an AFL goal-square."

Mr Dhu said the images could be in hands of the MDBA within about 12 hours.

"So they can actually watch the water coming down the river," he said.

"And they're going so fast that we get a complete picture of the continent about every week."

Meanwhile, he said the older American-operated Landsat satellite provided images at slightly bigger pixels.

"And between those three satellites roaming around, the two Sentinel 2 and the Landsat satellite, we get this picture of the continent every three days," Mr Dhu said.

Dazzling colours shot from space of where the mangroves meet the sea in the Kimberley, in WA. ( Supplied: Geoscience Australia )

Images paint a picture of Australia going back decades

Mr Dhu said images from the American Landsat satellite went back 30 years.

"So we've got a 30-year baseline that allows all Australians — the public, government, farmers, miners — to look back through time and actually see how that land has changed," he said.

"And the power of that is just incredible.

"We can see how often lakes have been filled, we can see how green a pasture has been … we can start to look and compare how two neighbouring pastures have performed.

"And in the future farmers will be able to use it to see if different farming practices are actually having long-term productivity benefits for their properties."