Flood

Between September 17th and 19th 2010 heavy rains captured the area of Slovenia. A big part of the area of Slovenia was flooded. In the activation of the International Charter Space and Major Disasters the series of radar images was achieved. The paper presents the study of flood dynamics in the surroundings of the capital Ljubljana. Radar images enabled satisfactory near-real-time comprehension of flood dynamics, however not in urban areas. There were also some problems with high-grown plants (trees, crops). In these areas combinations with other data are going to be studied. Especially optical satellite images and digital elevation model (DEM) with its derivates (heights, slope, shadows) can improve the detection of floods in these parts of these areas. The short paper presents the results of flood detection produced by radar images. It also discusses the deficiencies of radar images for small water area detection. These deficiencies might be eliminated using…

This paper illustrates some applications of COSMOSkyMed (CSK) observations for rapid mapping of flooded areas and damages in small to medium size catchments. The results presented here have been obtained within the framework of the project “OPERA – Civil protection from floods” funded by the Italian Space Agency and run by a team of scientific research centres and private companies. The project aims to the systematic evaluation of the added value of the use of Earth Observation techniques into operational flood prediction chains. Due to the specific geomorphology of Italy, the focus is mainly on flash floods on small sized river catchments. Monitoring and modelling processes at proper space-time scales in this environment raise several issues to be solved, compared to applications in larger river basins. Here we address some related to the suitable use of CSK imagery.

The overall goal of this study is to strengthen the quality, accuracy, and completeness of disaster data in Europe. As part of the MICRODIS project, the study analyses the impact of recent disasters on human populations, using both statistical and spatial data through generated geocoded maps of impact areas. It is intended to serve as a preliminary and descriptive investigation to reveal certain possibilities and serve as the basis for further research.

The importance of sea-level rise in shaping coastal landscapes is well recognized within the earth science community, but as with many natural hazards, communicating the risks associated with sea-level rise remains a challenge. Topography is a key parameter that influences many of the processes involved in coastal change, and thus, up-to-date, high-resolution, high-accuracy elevation data are required to model the coastal environment. Maps of areas subject to potential inundation have great utility to planners and managers concerned with the effects of sea-level rise. However, most of the maps produced to date are simplistic representations derived from older, coarse elevation data. In the last several years, vast amounts of high quality elevation data derived from lidar have become available. Because of their high vertical accuracy and spatial resolution, these lidar data are an excellent source of up-to-date information from which to improve identification and…

The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), launched in 1997, uses active and passive microwave instruments to confirm the validity of tropical rainfall estimates derived from operational passive microwave sensors and provides a foundation for merging rainfall information from other satellites. High-resolution microwave information is important for fixing the locations of tropical cyclone tracks as well as establishing accurate initial positions to effectively forecast tropical cyclone progression. The TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) is designed to “see” through clouds and provide high-resolution rainfall structure information within tropical cyclones. TRMM’s Precipitation Radar (PR) is designed to provide vertical structure information within tropical cyclones. Together, TRMM PR and TMI data have been used to establish key characteristics of the distribution and variability of rainfall in tropical cyclones and obtain insights into storm structure,…

A methodology for satellite based flood detection developed (Brakenridge et al, 2007) at Dartmouth Flood Observatory (DFO) was modified at the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission and implemented on an automatic operational basis. The technique uses AMSR-E passive
microwave remote sensing data of the descending orbit, H polarization, 36 GHz band which is sensitive to water surface changes. The sensor revisits every place on Earth once per day and can therefore provide a daily temporal resolution. Sensor data is available 24 hours after acquisition.
Thresholding the signal of water surface change allows the detection of riverine inundation events. The comparison of gauging and satellite measurements show a significant correlation in the increase of river discharge on-site and changes in the observed signal of the sensor. Thus the technique for the detection of flood events in ungauged and inaccessible remote river channels is feasible from…

A methodology for satellite based flood detection developed (Brakenridge et al, 2007) at Dartmouth Flood Observatory (DFO) was modified at the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission and implemented on an automatic operational basis. The technique uses AMSR-E passive
microwave remote sensing data of the descending orbit, H polarization, 36 GHz band which is sensitive to water surface changes. The sensor revisits every place on Earth once per day and can therefore provide a daily temporal resolution. Sensor data is available 24 hours after acquisition.
Thresholding the signal of water surface change allows the detection of riverine inundation events. The comparison of gauging and satellite measurements show a significant correlation in the increase of river discharge on-site and changes in the observed signal of the sensor. Thus the technique for the detection of flood events in ungauged and inaccessible remote river channels is feasible from…

Near real-time global flood models do not adjust lake levels and river flow rates to reflect effects of dams. Incorrect data can leave surrounding communities vulnerable to potential flood disasters. Adjusted flood models that properly account for downstream releases can help to mitigate the effects of future floods. Using Jason-1, Jason-2 and Envisat altimeters a comparison with in-situ data for a study site demonstrated the usefulness of satelitte altimetry data for measuring reservoir heights, thus providing information on water storage changes.