Module - 8 Lecture Notes - 4: Remote Sensing-Remote Sensing Applications Flood Mapping

Remote Sensing-Remote Sensing Applications
Flood mapping
MODULE 8 LECTURE NOTES 4

REMOTE SENSING APPLICATIONS IN FLOOD MAPPING
1. Introduction
Floods are one of the recurring and highly devastating natural hazards throughout the world.
According to the National Flood Commission, about 40 million hectares of land in India is
prone to floods. Accurate spatial and temporal information about the potential hazards and
risk of flood are essential to assess the extent and severity of damage caused by the floods,
and for economic evaluation of flood control measures.
This lecture gives a brief overview of the remote sensing applications in flood hazard
monitoring and flood risk warning, with particular reference to the Indian Space Research
Organization (ISRO) / Department of Space (DOS) activities in supporting the flood
management using satellite remote sensing data.
2. Role of remote sensing data in flood analyses
Remote sensing facilitates the flood surveys by providing the much needed information for
flood studies. Satellite images acquired in different spectral bands during, before and after a
flood event can provide valuable information about flood occurrence, intensity and progress
of flood inundation, river course and its spill channels, spurs and embankments affected/
threatened etc. so that appropriate flood relief and mitigation measures can be planned and
executed in time.
Poor weather condition generally associated with the floods, and poor accessibility due to the
flooded water makes the ground and aerial assessment of flood inundated areas a difficult
task. Application of satellite remote sensing helps to overcome these limitations. Through the
selection of appropriate sensors and platforms, remote sensing can provide accurate and
timely estimation of flood inundation, flood damage and flood-prone areas.
A list of sensors used for flood analyses are given in Table 1.
D Nagesh Kumar, IISc, Bangalore
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Table 1: List of satellite sensors with their use for flood monitoring (Bhanumurthy et al.,
2010)
Spatial Spectral
Resolutio Resolution
n(m)
(m)
B2 : 0.52-0.59
B3 : 0.62-0.68
56
B4 : 0.77-0.86
B5 : 1.55-1.70
B2 : 0.52-0.59
B3 : 0.62-0.68
23.5
B4 : 0.77-0.86
B5 : 1.55-1.70
B2 : 0.52-0.59
5.8 at
B3 : 0.62-0.68
nadir
B4:0.77-0.86
B3: 0.62-0.68
188
B4 : 0.77-0.86
B2: 0.52-0.59
B3 : 0.62-0.68
23.5
B4: 0.77-0.86
B5:1.55-1.70
36 in visible
250
NIR & thermal
Eight narrow
360
bands in
visible & NIR
Sl
Satellite
No:
Sensor/
Mode
1.
IRS-P6
AWiFS
2.
IRS-P6
LISS-III
3.
IRS-P6
LISS-IV
4.
IRS-1D
WiFS
5.
IRS-1D
LISS-III
6.
Aqua /
Terra
MODIS
7.
IRS-P4
OCM
8.
Cartosat-1
PAN
2.5
9.
Cartosat-2
PAN
10. Radarsat-1
Swath
(km)
Used For
740
Regional level flood mapping
141
District-level flood mapping
23.9
810
Detailed Mapping
Regional level flood mapping
141
Detailed Mapping
2330
Regional level Mapping
1420
Regional level Mapping
0.5-0.85
30
Detailed Mapping
0.45-0.85
9.6
Detailed Mapping
SAR/
ScanSAR 100
Wide
SAR
/ScanSAR 50
Narrow
C-band
(5.3 cm; HH
Polarization)
500
C-band
(5.3 cm)
300
Regional level mapping
District-level mapping
11.
Radarsat-1
12
Radarsat-1
Standard
25
C-band
100
13
Radarsat-1
Fine
beam
C-band
(5.3 cm)
50
Detailed mapping
C band
20 in ultra
fine mode
Detailed mapping
C-band ; VV
Polarization
100
14
Radarsat-2
SAR
3m
ultrafind
mode
and 10m
multillik fine
mode
14
ERS
SAR
25
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3. Remote sensing applications in flood analysis

In this lecture, the following 5 areas of remote sensing data application in flood analysis are
identified:
Flood mapping
Near real-time monitoring of floods
Flood damage assessment
Flood hazard mapping
River studies: mapping of river bank erosion and river course change
3.1 Flood mapping

Mapping of the flooded areas using optical images is based on the fact that water absorbs or
transmits most of the electromagnetic energy in the NIR and MIR wavelengths, which results
in less reflection and in turn a dark color on FCCs. Optical remote sensing techniques, though
provide very fine spatial resolution, are less capable of penetrating through the clouds, which
limit their application in bad weather conditions. This is particularly a problem in flood
monitoring. Use of microwave remote sensing techniques, with its all-weather capability
greatly compliments the existing optical images to overcome this. Water surface provides
specular reflection of the microwave radiation, and hence very little energy is scattered back
compared to the other land features. The difference in the energy received back at the radar
sensor is used for differentiating, and to mark the boundaries of the water bodies.
Radarsat mosaic of 4th and 7th July 2003 showing the Brahmaputra River flood affected areas
in Assam is shown in Fig. 1.
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Fig. 1. Radarsat image showing the Brahmaputra River flood affected areas in Assam
(Source: http://www.nrsc.gov.in/rsgisweb/water/flood2.jpg accessed on 15/05/2011)
Extracting statistics of flood damage from an optical or microwave image involves a series of
interdependent procedures. In some cases, both optical and microwave data are clubbed to get
a better perspective of the flood map.
Fig. 2 shows the flow chart of the algorithm followed to extract the flood map and to assess
the damage statistics using remote sensing data (Bhanumurthy et al., 2010). In this, both
optical and microwave images, after geocoding, are used to classify the water spread areas.
When dealing with SAR images, speckle filtering to remove the inherent salt and pepper
noise (grainy appearance) must be carried out prior to the geocoding and classification. The
water layer from SAR image is integrated with the pre-flood river bank and corrected data
from optical satellite image to create the flood inundation layer.
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Sigma nought
image of SAR
data
Optical satellite
data
Speckle Filtering
Geocoding with
master data
Spectral
model
Classification
Water layer
Cloud layer
Geocoding with
master data
Variable Threshold
Technique
Cloud
shadow
Classification
Water layer
Removal of hill
shadows
State mask
State mask
Clump and Sieve

Integration with preflood river bank
2-bit flood
inundation layer
Single bit flood

inundation layer
Composition of a
flood map
Estimation of
damage statistics
Figure 2. Flowchart for creation of flood map by integration of both optical and microwave
images (Bhanumurthy et al., 2010)
Satellite remote sensing provides continuous information on flood affected areas at frequent
intervals of time, as shown in Fig. 3-5.
Fig. 3 shows the flood inundation map of Coastal Andhra Pradesh during the flood in
November 2012, prepared from the Radarsar-2 data. Prakasam, Nellore and Guntur were the
major affected districts. These maps are obtained from the Decision Support Center (DSC) of
NRSC from their website http://www.dsc.nrsc.gov.in/DSC/Flood/HistoricFloods.jsp#. Fig. 4
shows the receded flood level on the 2nd November, 2012. Fig. 5 shows the flood inundated
areas in the Srikakulam District on 6th of November, 2012.
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Fig. 3. Flood inundation map of Coastal Andhra Pradesh on 1st November 2012, prepared
from the Radarsar-2 data
Source: http://www.dsc.nrsc.gov.in/DSC/Flood/HistoricFloods.jsp#.
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Fig. 4. Flood inundation map of Coastal Andhra Pradesh on 2nd November 2012
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Fig.5. Inundated areas in the Srikakulam District in the Coastal Andhra Pradesh on 6th
November, 2012
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Inundation maps during the Bihar Flood in 2008 caused by the breaching of the Kosi River
Embankment are shown in the following figures.
Fig.6 shows the IRS P6 standard FCC of the flood inundation caused by the Kosi river
breach, which occurred on 18th August 2008 (Needs Assessment Report, 2010).
(a)
(b)
(c)
Figure 6: Images of Kosi River breach in Nepal and India

(a) IRS P6 LISS III image on 25th Oct 2008 (b) IRS P6 LISS IV MX image on 5th Jan 2009
(c) IRS P6 LISS IV MX image on 20th April 2009 (Source: Needs Assessment Report, 2010)
Fig. 7, 8, 9 and 10 show the successive flood inundation maps released by the DSC, during
the Bihar flood caused by the Kosi river embankment breach.
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Fig. 7 Flood inundated areas in Bihar on 29th August 2008

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Fig. 8. Flood inundated areas in Bihar on 20th September 2008

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Fig. 9 Flood inundated areas in Bihar on 14th October 2008

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Fig. 10. Flood inundated areas in Bihar on 28th October 2008

Fig. 11 shows the map of inundated area during the flash flood that hit Utharakhand in June
2013, released by the NRSC.
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Fig. 11. Map of inundated area during the flash flood that hit Utharakhand in June 2013
Source http://bhuvan-noeda.nrsc.gov.in/disaster/disaster/disaster.php
The Bhuvan NOEDA data products used include data from Cartosat-1, IMS-1 (Hyperspectral
imager), Resourcesat -1(AWiFS Ortho), Resourcesat-1: (LISS III Ortho), Oceansat-2
(OCM:NDVI, Vegetation Fraction and Albedo), Tropical cyclone heat potential, ocean heat
content, model derived depth of 260C isotherm, Model derived tropical cyclone heat
potential. More details regarding these products are available in the following link
bhuvan3.nrsc.gov.in/applications/bhuvanstore.php
3.2 Near real-time monitoring of floods
In case of a flood in India, using satellite remote sensing techniques, maps showing the flood
affected areas and flood damage statistics in near real time are provided by NRSC. In
addition, using different sources of information, the rainfall activity and subsequent flood
condition are monitored on a daily basis.
For example, India Meteorological Department (IMD) provides climate and rainfall related
information, numerical weather prediction models etc. which help in generating flood
warnings as well as in flood management. Also, the near-real time meteorological data from
KALPANA-1 images are used to study the cloud cover, and hence to indicate the possibility of
heavy rainfall and flooding under certain situations.
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High resolution rainfall data is also available from TRMM, which may be used to tune the
hydrological models to arrive at better prediction, facilitating near real-time monitoring of
floods.
Fig 12 shows the Infrared images obtained from the Kalpana-1 on 17th June, 2013, which
shows thick cloud over the Uttarkhand region. The heavy rainfall that occurred subsequently
caused heavy flood damage in the area.
Fig. 12. Infrared images obtained from the Kalpana-1 on 17th June, 2013
(Source: www.imd.gov.in)
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3.3 Flood damage assessment

Flood inundation maps may be used for the assessment of the damage caused due to the
flood. Overlaying the administrative boundaries and the land use/ land cover map helps to
identify the properties damaged due to the inundated water, crop area submerged, damage
caused to the rail and road network etc.
Fig. 13 shows the flood inundation maps of the Brahmaputra River flood that occurred in July
2003. Flood inundation maps are obtained by overlaying village and town boundaries as
shown in the figure. Thus the areal extent of inundation, and the villages affected can be
easily identified in the map.
DSC provides this flood damage assessment report within 5 hours after the data acquisition.
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Figure 13 (a) RADARSAT mosaic of 4th and 7th July 2003 showing the Brahmaputra River
flood affected areas in Assam, (b) Villages marooned as on 7th July 2003 in Marigaon district,
Assam (c) Detailed view of marooned villages
(Source: http://www.nrsc.gov.in/rsgisweb/water/flood2.jpg accessed on 15/05/2011)
3.4 Flood hazard mapping
Flood hazard map of an area shows the areas likely to be inundated during floods of different
magnitudes and with specific return periods. Such maps help to identify the area most
vulnerable to frequent flood. Appropriate measures can be taken to regulate the development
activities in such areas so as to minimize the damages in case of a flood.
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Remote sensing data can be used to identify the flood affected areas continuously over a long
period.
Fig. 14 shows the flood hazard map prepared by the DSC, for the Brahmaputra River Basin in
Assam. Flood inundation information collected using the satellite remote sensing data for the
period 1998-2007 was used for generating the map.
Fig.14 Flood hazard map prepared by the DSC, for the Brahmaputra River Basin in Assam
Source (http://www.dsc.nrsc.gov.in/DSC/Flood/HazardMapping.jsp)
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3.5 River studies: Mapping of river bank erosion and river course change
Satellite remote sensing data have also been used for analyzing the changes in the river
morphology, embankment breach river course change etc. caused by the high intensity flood
waves.
The post flood satellite data can be analyzed to delineate the active river channel and river
bank lines. These may be used further to determine the extent of erosion and deposition.
Fig. 15 shows the maps of Kosi river embankment in 2007 (prior to the flood) and in 2008
(after the flood) derived from the satellite images (Cartosat data and IRS LISS-4 data). Map
of 2008 shows the embankment breach on the Kosi River that occurred in 2008. The Kosi
river burst through its eastern embankment about 13 km upstream in Nepal thereby running
through a new course 15-20 km wide.
Fig. 15 Maps derived from the satellite images showing (a) Kosi river embankment prior to
the breach in August 2008 and (b) after the breach
Source : http://www.dsc.nrsc.gov.in/DSC/Flood/RiverStudies.jsp#
4. Conclusion
Remote sensing data has a very good potential in aiding the flood monitoring and mitigation
studies.
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Bibliography/ Further reading

1. Bhanumurthy, V., Manjusree, P., Srinivasa Rao, G. (2010). Flood Disaster
Management. In Remote Sensing Applications, (P. S. Roy, R. S. Dwivedi and D.
Vijayan, eds.), National Remote Sensing Center, Hyderabad, India.
2. Nagesh Kumar D and Reshmidevi TV (2013). Remote sensing applications in water
resources J. Indian Institute of Sci., 93(2), 163-188.
3. Needs Assessment Report (2010). Bihar Kosi Flood 2008. Prepared by Government
of Bihar, World Bank, and Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery.
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