I N D I A N I N S T I T U T E O F R E M O T E S E N S I N G, D E H R A D U N

RS GIS application in Flood Mapping,

Monitoring and Flood Damage
assessment

By
Dr. S.P. Aggarwal, FIE
Head, Water Resources Department
spa@iirs.gov.in

Indian Institute of Remote Sensing

ISRO, Dept. of Space, Govt. of India
Dehradun

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6/1/2017
I N D I A N I N S T I T U T E O F R E M O T E S E N S I N G, D E H R A D U N

Lecture Outline

Flood definition, causes and Impact

Principal of flood mapping using Remote
sensing
EO systems for Flood management
Flood Inundation mapping and monitoring
Drought Mapping and monitoring

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Flood Definition
A flood is an unusual high stage in a river normally the level at
which the river overflows its banks and inundates the adjoining area

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Causes of Floods
Heavy Rainfall
Dam Break
Breaching of embankment
Drainage congestion
Storm Surge
Glacial Lake outburst
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Near Real-Time
Flood Inundation
Mapping
Flood Damage
Assessment
Flood Hazard Zone
Mapping and
Vulnerability Analysis
Inputs for flood
modeling and
forecasting
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Spectral Characteristics
Optical
Almost 100% absorption in NIR band
In FCC it appears black (if deep) or
Cyan/ blue (if shallow)

Blue NIR

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Clouds everywhere SAR data penetrates clouds

IRS data of 10-Jul-2002 Radarsat data of 10-Jul-2002

Source: DSC, NRSC

7 Hyderabad
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Flood Inundation Mapping: Principle

Microwave Region
Due to specular reflectance water appear black

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Present Capabilities
High temporal resolution
Large swath
Medium temporal resolution
Large swath
Depends on
Phase of the disaster
Type of the disaster
Extent and severity
.

Low temporal resolution

Limited swath
Low spatial resolution
Global level information
Low temporal resolution
Communication Very limited swath
Weather Coarse spatial resolution
Regional level information
Regional scale flood
Mapping, monitoring and Medium spatial resolution
assessment Local level information
elements under
Flood inundation High spatial resolution
Location specific information
Damage Assessment
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Flood Disaster Phases

Support from EO Systems
Long-term Prior to a disaster
Precipitation
Flood Hazard Zoning
Land Use/ Land cover
Vulnerability &
Topographic parameters
Risk analyses;
Drainage
Public Education
EO data supported
Location of Shelters
hydrological simulation

Following a disaster During a disaster

Socio economic loss Flood inundation map
assessment based on flood Flood monitoring
damages & crowd sourcing Infrastructure damage
Rehabilitation & Flood evacuation route
Reconstruction; Relief and rescue
Counseling Communication

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Indian RS satellites in support of

flood disaster management
Satellite Sensor Spatial Revisit Service period
Resolution time
(Meters) (days)
IRS 1 A/1 B (LISS-I & 36.5 and 22 March 1988-1992
LISS-II) 72.5 August 1991 -1990

IRS 1 C/D PAN, 5.80, 22 December 1995 - 2001

LISS 3, 23.5, 22 September 1997 - 2005
WIFS, 188. 5

IRS P 3 WiFS 188 5 March 1996 - 2002

RISAT-1 C-band SAR 1-50 m 11 to 90 April 2012 operating
RISAT-2 X-band SAR 1-5 m April 2009 - operating
Resourcesat-1 LISS 4, 5.8, 22 October 2003 - operating
& Resourcesat- LISS 3, 23.5, 22
2 AWIFS. 56.0. 5 2011 - operating
IRS P 5 Stereo pan 2.5 5 June 2005 - operating
(Cartosat 1)
(Cartosat 2) Pan 1 5 Jan 2007 - operating
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More RS satellites in support of flood disaster management

Satellite Sensor/instrument Spatial resolution Revisit time Service period
TERRA /AQUA* MODIS 250, 500, 1000m 2 days 1999/2002-present
IKONOS 1/2 PAN,MS 1m,4m 3 days 1999-present
LANDSAT ETM+ 30m,80m 16 days 1999-present
NOAA* AVHRR 1-5km 1 day 1978-present
Orbview 2/3 SeaWiFS 1-4m 1 day 1997-2010& 2003-2011

Quickbird PAN, MS 65cm,1m 1-3.5 days 2001-present

SPOT 1-5 HRG,PAN,MS 10m,2.5m,30m 4-5 days 1978-present
TRMM* PR, TMI, VIS, LIS 4km 0.5 day 1997-2015
TERRASAR-X Active X- band 1m,3m,18m 11 days 2007-present
Microwave
ENVISAT ASAR 25-100 m 35 days 2002- 2012
RADARSAT 1 C Band SAR 10-100 m 24 days 1995-2013
RADARSAT 2 C Band SAR 10-100 m 24 days 2007- present
ERS 1, 2 C Band SAR 25 m 24 days 1991-2000 & 1995-2011

Sentinel 1 A* C Band SAR 5-40 m 12 days 2014- present

ALOS -1 PALSAR 10-100 m 46 days 2006-2011
ALOS -2 PALSAR 3-100 m 46 days 2014-present
DMSP* OLS,SSM/I, SSM/T, 2.7 ,174 km 101 min 1995-present
SSM/T-2, SSJ/4,
SSIES2, SSM, SSB/X * Free data availability
and SSZ 12
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Integration of Satellite Image and GIS layer

08 Sept, 1998 IRS-1C WiFS

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District wise inundation mapping

Flood Layer Village Layer

Integration in
GIS

Marooned Villages

Flood in Marigaon District

Marooned villages in Marigaon district
Inundated area 34,240 ha Villages affected 465
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Damage Assessment: Road Network

Part of Marigaon district

Pre-Flood DuringFlood

<--Marooned village

<-- Flood inundation

IRS-1D PAN 03 March, 98 IRS-1C PAN 08 Sept, 98

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Damage Assessment: Infrastructure loss at PORT

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4th, September 2003

13th September 2003

19th September 2003

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Flash Floods - 2010

Cloud Cover Flash Floods occurred in Leh area, J&K , INDIA on August 6, 2010
Kalpana Images due to sudden & heavy rain fall
DSC/NRSC acquired RISAT-2 (August 7, 2010), Cartosat-1 (August
12, 2010) & Formasat-2 (August 11, 2010) data and damaged buildings
and roads were identified.

Damage due to Mud Flow (Cartosat-1)

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Damage Assessment
Flash flood-2010

Damaged
Boundary Walls
Partially Damaged
Houses

Affected Zone

Damaged
Houses

Choglamsar

Damaged Roads

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Brahmaputra flood 2012

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Flood area from RISAT 1

( Bhagalpur flood, India- 2013)

05 Jul 13 17 Jul 13

11 Aug 13 05 Sep13

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Flood Inundation Map

Jammu & Kashmir state, India
Source: RISAT-1 /
TerraSAR-X
Acquired: RISAT-1:
14/08/2014 &
02/04/2015
TerraSAR-X:
02/04/2015

Copyright: RISAT-1
Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO)
TerraSAR-X German
Aerospace Center
(DLR), 2015 Airbus
Defence and Space /
Infoterra GmbH
Map produced by NRSC

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ISRO Support to International Charter for

Space and Major Disasters

NRSC/ISRO is extending satellite data support under the following

International Disaster programmes
1. International Charter Space and Major Disasters to international
Disaster events.
2. Sentinel Asia Framework
3. United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster
Management and Emergency Response (UN-SPIDER)
4. United Nations Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific
(UNESCAP)
Year 2014: A total of 22 Disasters events
were covered with 74 data sets
of 20 countries
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Flood Inundation Map

Jakarta, Indonesia- February, 2015
Heavy rain has hit
Indonesia's capital.
In response to the
Emergency Observation
Request (EOR) triggered by
Sentinel Asia authorities,
NRSC/ISRO has acquired
RISAT-1 MRS mode satellite
data on Feb 12, 2015 and
provided the dataset to the
Sentinel Asia secretariat and
concerned authorities.

Fig-1: RISAT-1 MRS Data of 12-

Feb-2015

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Flood Inundation Map

Malaysia- December, 2014
Heavy Rainfall in parts of
peninsular Malaysia during 16-
18 December 2014, caused
flooding in Kelantan, Pahang
and Terengganu states.

In response to the Emergency

Observation Request (EOR)
triggered by Sentinel Asia
authorities. NRSC has acquired
RISAT-1 MRS mode satellite
data on Dec 31, 2014 and
provided the dataset to the
Sentinel Asia secretariat and
concerned authorities.

RISAT-1 MRS Data of 31-Dec-

2014

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Cyclone Monitoring : Super Cyclone Odisah, INDIA

28
29
30Oct-9gmt
Oct-3gmt
Oct-6gmt
Oct-3gmt
Oct-6gmt
Oct-9gmt INSAT Images showing
the Cyclone movement
during 28th to 30th
October 1999

375 Thousand Ha.

Inundated

Road, Power and

Communication network
was severely affected in
10 Coastal district

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30.10.99
IRS-1D 04.11.99
30.10.99
IRS-1C 08.11.99
05.11.99
13.11.99
08.11.99
11.11.99
14.11.99

IRS-P3 02.11.99
07.11.99
IRS-1B 01.11.99 RADARSAT
02.11.99
02.11.99
04.11.99
07.11.99

IRS-P4 30.10.99
01.11.99

Pan camera was tilted to capture Orissa coast

on 2nd, 3rd and 4th Nov, 1999

ORISSA CYCLONE
Post-Cyclone Satellite Coverage
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Satellite Images showing pre and post
cyclone situation in Ganjam district,
Odisha, India
Cyclone Phailin hit the coastal districts of Odisha and North Coastal districts of
Andhra Pradesh on October 12, 2013 Late Evening. NRSC has used RISAT-1 and
Radarsat Microwave Remote Sensing Satellite Data to map the inundated areas, due
to heavy rainfall in parts of Odisha on October 12, 2013
OCTOBER 14, 2013: Satellite Images showing pre and post cyclone situation in Ganjam district, Odisha

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Satellite Images showing pre and post cyclone

situation in Vishakapatnam district, AP, India
(Cyclone HUDHUD)

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Damage assessment : Cyclone

VARDAH- Dec, 2016
Pleiades

Damage Map

Crowd Sourced Information ~ 1200 points

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Recent Flood in Sri Lanka

More Than 100 people Died
1 Lakh People displaced
5 lakhs people are affected

Mapping Inundation extent for Gin Ganga and

Galle in Western Province (Sri Lanka) using CSA
RADARSAT-2 Satellite Data (29 May2017)

Hambantota district with submerged crop fields,

Southern Province (Sri Lanka) using ESA Sentinel-2
satellite data (28May2017)
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Sisumatha

Kushabhadra River Profile

Cross section at Sisumatha Gauge Station

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Pl. Contact
Email- spa@iirs.gov.in