MAPPING FLOODS USING OPEN SOURCE DATA AND SOFTWARE - SENTINEL-1 AND ESA SNAP

Abstract

During the last years, the world of free/open source geospatial data and software has seen a rapid growth. This development lead to an abundance of spatial data, mapping and understanding the features and phenomena found on the surface of the Earth, became easier. Worldwide natural hazards like floods are a constant threat to build up environment or agricultural areas. Due to their negative impact on different social and economic aspects, the need to monitor and map these phenomena has become mandatory. One of the most used methodologies in the assessment of flooded areas is the use of remote sensing. With the recent developments in this field, especially in the microwave wavelength data acquisition, the monitoring, mapping and modeling of these catastrophic events can be done in a more rapid and precise way. The optimal solution for monitoring and mapping flooded areas is the use of radar data (SAR). The development of ESA Sentinel-1 mission, which will provide free data (radar with 10 m spatial resolution and a revision time of 5 days in constellation mode), set a new milestone in the flood hazard and risk assessment. This paper proposes a methodology for mapping flood events using open source data Sentinel-1 provided by ESA (European Space Agency) and SNAP, an open source ESA software architecture.