Remote sensing and GIS Techniques for

Flood modelling

Dr.rer.nat Bikash Ranjan Parida

Assistant Professor, Department of Geoinformatics
School of Natural Resource Management
Hydrological Applications: Case studies
■ Introduction
■ Evaluation of Error in Satellite-Derived Precipitation Estimates over
the Himalayan region
- for an extreme rainfall event

■ Flood Inundation Mapping using MODIS NRT Data

■ Flood Inundation Mapping using C-band SAR Data

■ Floodwater Depth Estimation (FwDET)

■ Soil moisture modelling using SAR data

Introduction
■ Hydro-meteorological hazards cause a wide variety of losses in Asia. Total
economic damages in India were ~58% of the total damages of Southern Asia
over the period 1970-2015.
India witnessed 228 flood events, 139 storms, 52 extreme
events, 9 drought events, and 2 wildfires.
Oceania
1,398
Africa Americas
(0.3%)
35,995 29,178
(7.6%) (6.2%)

Europe
141,037
(30%)

Asia
262,998
(55.9%)

Data source: EM-DAT

Figure: Number of fatalities due to hydro-meteorological disasters across continents

during 2000-2015.
 Introduction
■ Hydro-meteorological Hazards cause a wide variety of losses in India.
– A series of major disasters such as floods, flash floods, droughts, cyclones,
extreme weather events, including the groundwater contamination were
witnessed in India.
■ The decadal analyses indicate that the frequencies of naturally
occurring disasters were increased since 1970.

■ Both frequency and intensity of floods and the extreme temperature

events have increased considerably, which have a correspondence with
global climate change.
 Geospatial approaches for Monitoring HM-Hazards
■ Geospatial approaches can be used to illustrate the nature of
damage and vulnerable areas due to disasters.

■ Innovations in space technology and geospatial approaches have

catered newer dimensions for timely detection and monitoring of
HM-disasters.

■ Frequencies of disasters: Earth system sciences & climate

change
Earth System Science
Parts of the Earth System

Air Water Life Land Ice

■ The atmosphere
■ The hydrosphere
■ The biosphere
■ The geosphere
■ The cryosphere
The Earth System: It’s all connected!
Air
Ice

Land
Water

Life
Greenhouses Gases (GHGs)
■ Water vapor
■ CO2
■ CH4
■ N2O
■ CFC

■ Without greenhouse gases, planet would be much colder

(about -20 oC).
Greenhouses Gases (GHGs)
■ CO2 at MLO
Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5
(CMIP5) multi-model mean projections
(CMIP5) multi-model mean projections
 Case study-I
Extreme-Rainfall Event
 Extreme Rainfall Event 2013, Uttarakhand
 Cloudburst is a localized extreme weather event that occurs at a faster
rate under which the rainfall intensity may increase to 100 mm/h

 Collision of western disturbance with the monsoonal cloud system has

led a major hydrological disaster in Uttarakhand on 16–17th of June,
2013 (Kotal et al. 2014).
 During 13–19th June, Rudraprayag district has received 366.3 mm of
intense rainfall, 580% more than the normal rainfall (54 mm).

 It caused massive “flash floods” and subsequently triggered landslides,

debris flow and mudflow in various part of Uttarakhand.
Study Area
The point symbols indicate
locations of IMD rain-gauge
stations.

Surface elevation (m) shows the

terrain condition (GTOP30).
 Study Area
■ Uttarakhand state, well-known to pilgrims because of Chardham
spiritual uniqueness.

■ The Chorabari glacier is a medium size glacier (3900–6420 m) with the ice
volume of 744 Mm3 (Gupta et al. 2013).

■ The glacier has retreated 344 m during the period 1962–2012 with an
average rate of 6.8 m per annum (Mehta et al. 2014).

■ The long-term average glacier retreat rate has increased significantly from
6 to 9 m in the recent decade (global climate change).
Moraine-dammed Chorabari lake

Chorabari lake, a moraine-dammed lake, usually fed by glacial

and snow melted water.
 Objectives
 To evaluate the capacity of three SBRE rainfall products against
the IMD gridded gauge-based dataset during an extreme rainfall
event, and
 To determine their appropriateness as an additional option to
conventional tools (i.e., rain gauged) for use in hydrological
predictions and applications.

 Accurate & precise predictions of precipitation have significant implications in

hydrological modeling, weather forecasting, and climate change studies.

 Therefore, it is imperative to know satellite rainfall products in terms of their

spatial distribution, magnitude, duration, and peak intensity of the
precipitation for an extreme rainfall event
Data Used & Methods
Error Statistics

• MAE (mean absolute error),

• NRMSE (normalized root mean square

error),

• PBIAS (percent bias),

• NSE (Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency),

Mass Curve & Hyetograph using TRMM hourly rainfall data (PR)

Mass curve of storms during 8 to 22 June, 2013 in Kedarnath. Inset plot indicates hyetograph of a
storm showing intensity of precipitation (mm/day).
 Results

Spatial patterns of accumulated daily precipitation (mm):

(a) IMD (observation-interpolated); (b) GSMaP; (c) TMPA 3B42; and (d) CMORPH
during the peak storm during 15–18 June 2013.
Comparisons of three precipitation products
with IMD
Statistical error parameters to compare satellite-based rainfall products
with gauge data (IMD).

Parameters TMPA-3B42 (v7) GSMaP CMORPH

PBIAS (%) −18.2 14.4 −29.0

MAE (mm) 52.7 71.8 82.5

NRMSE (%) 21.5 28.0 33.0

NSE −0.93 −2.25 −3.52

The NSE is a normalized statistic that defines the skill of the satellite estimates compared to the gauge-based
data.
Daily Discharge (m3/s) at Sitapur (Gaurikund) in
Mandakini valley
Impacts of flash floods in downstream areas

the worst affected villages of

Rudraprayag district along
with the elevation .
• IRS LISS-IV data

Depicts landslide locations and

damaged trekking way at
Mandakini valley.
 Conclusions
■ The biases of SBRE rainfall products might lead to underestimation or
overestimation of precipitation over a catchment area.
■ The accumulated precipitation estimated by CMORPH was
underestimated, as this product was not gauge-calibrated.

■ The gauge-calibrated products, such as GSMaP & TMPA have

performed better against IMD.
■ Based-on this major extreme event analysis, the error statistics
indicator showed that TMPA-3B42 performed better against reference
IMD data.
 Conclusions
■ The algorithms used in satellite rainfall products lack regional factors
& orographic settings and, apparently, the rainfall biases were
observed over complex Himalayan region.

■ The satellite rainfall estimates have both positive & negative biases
irrespective of surface elevation.
■ So, these caveats must be considered for hydrological studies and
applications.
GLOF: glacier lake outburst flood risk

Moraine-dammed glacial lakes are becoming

increasingly common as a result of glacier
retreats, causing concern about GLOF

Source-ICIMOD, Kathmandu
 Case study-II
Flood Inundation Mapping using SAR
& MODIS NRT data
SAR Frequencies
Basic of SAR data
Polarization and Scattering Mechanisms
■ Radar collect signals in different polarizations, by controlling the
analyzed polarization in both the transmit and receive paths.

■ Polarization refers to the orientation of the plane in which the

transmitted electromagnetic wave oscillates. While the orientation
can occur at any angle, SAR sensors typically transmit linearly
polarized.

■ The horizontal polarization is indicated by the letter H, and the

vertical polarization is indicated by V.
Scattering mechanisms
■ Signals emitted in vertical (V) and received in horizontal (H)
polarization would be indicated by a VH.
■ Alternatively, a signal that was emitted in horizontal (H) and
received in horizontal (H) would be indicated by HH, and so
on.

■ Examining the signal strength from these different

polarizations carries information about the structure of the
imaged surface, based on the types of scattering: rough
surface, volume, and double bounce (view figure below).
Scattering mechanisms
Scattering mechanisms
■ Rough surface scattering, such as that caused by bare soil or
water, is most sensitive to VV scattering.
■ Volume scattering, caused by the leaves and branches in a
forest canopy, is most sensitive to cross-polarized data like VH or
HV.
■ The double bounce, is caused by buildings, tree trunks, or
inundated vegetation and is most sensitive to an HH polarized
signal.
Scattering mechanisms of SAR Band
Polarisations options
■ single polarisation (HH or VV) as in Sentinel-1
■ dual polarisation (HH+HV or VV+VH) Sentinel-1

■ Quad polarisation (HH, HV, VH, VV ) like in Radarsat-2

■ compact polarimteric (CP)/Quasi polarisation (HH, HV, VH, VV ) like in

RISAT-1.
It transmits circular polarization and receives two orthogonal,
mutually-coherent linear polarizations. The main advantage of such SAR
systems is that they provide increased radar target information in
comparison to standard single and dual polarized SAR systems,
Flood Inundation Mapping
Data Used
Rainfall (TRMM) in Aug. 2017
Rainfall (TRMM)
Weekly Rainfall (TRMM)
Weekly Rainfall
Mass Curve (IMD rainfall data)
850 Mass Curve derived
using IMD based Rainfall
750

650

HAYAGHAT KAMTAUL
Accumulated Rainfall (mm)

550

450 KHAGARIA

350

31-August

30-September
14-September
250
7-July

14-August
31-July
150

50
W1 W2 W3 W4 W5 W6 W7 W8 W9 W10 W11 W12
1-4 WEEKS (July) 5-8 WEEKS (August) 9-12 WEEKS (September)
MODIS NRT Flood Data
SAR vs. Optical
Water Level as per CWC
Flood Inundation Area
SAR data processing
Inundation Map
 Case study-III
Floodwater Depth modelling in
Kosi River Basin, North Bihar
STUDY REGION: Kosi River Basin

Area:
19,809 sq. km
LULC map
 Data Used
Name of Resolution Temporal Acquisition Source

Dataset Resolution date

Sentinel 1A 10 m 12 days 23rd August, 17 ESA

ALOS PALSAR 12.5 m 14 days 2008 - 2009 JAXA

(DEM)

Flood during August 2017 Over Kosi River Basin (KRB)

 SENTINEL-1A COVERING KRB

Flood inundation in blue colour using Sentinel -1A on 23rd August, 2017
(VH-Red, VV-Green, VH/VV –Blue)
 Methodology (Inundation and Depth)
Sentinel -1A SAR
Field Data
August 2017 (multi-temporal)

Pre-processing: Calibration, LU/LC maps

Speckle Filter, Terrain Correction

DEM
(ALOS PALSAR)
Binarization (-14 dB in VV)

Validation
Flood Inundation Map FwDET

Flood Duration Map

Backscatter Analysis
Floodwater Depth Using FwDET Model
Inundation extent
DEM Map
Polygon

Clip DEM to
Boundary Cells Extraction
Inundation Extent

Boundary cells Elevation

Focal statistics loop

Nearest Boundary
cell Elevation

Nearest Boundary cell elevation –

Clip DEM

Low pass filter

Flood Water Depth

Implemented from Cohen et al. 2017

Floodwater Depth Map
Floodwater Depth Map
Floodwater Depth over N. Bihar districts

Floodwater depth during 23rd August 2017

Floodwater Depth over Kosi River Basin
Field Photo on Floodwater Depth
Field Photo on Floodwater Depth
Flood depth = 30.8 m
Modelled Depth vs. Field-based
Impacts of Flood on LULC
Flood Inundation Area over Kosi River Basin
August, 2017 Flood
Inundated
Name of Inundated area w.r.t
Area
Districts KRB (%)
(Sq. Km.)
Bhagalpur 159.0 0.8
Darbhanga 894.6 4.5
Katihar 34.8 0.2
Khagaria 369.1 1.9
Madhubani 261.4 1.3
Muzaffarpur 232.1 1.2
Purnea 77.4 0.4
Saharsa 380.7 1.9
Samastipur 351.3 1.8
Sitamarhi 184.5 0.9
Supaul 136.1 0.7
Madhepura 267.0 1.3
TOTAL 3,348 17 %
Floodwater Duration
Floodwater Duration Map
N. Bihar districts
 Conclusions
■ Accurate & precise predictions of precipitation have significant
implications in hydrological modeling, weather forecasting, and climate
change studies.
■ SAR data are useful for flood studies
■ Floodwater Depth Estimation Tool (FwDET)

■ Floodplain Modelling with HEC-RAS, MIKE

■ Digital Elevation Models have been proved to be a valuable tool for the
topographic parameterisation of hydrological models
 Q&A
------------------------

Email: bikash.parida@cuj.ac.in

Dept. of Geoinformatics
Central Univ. of Jharkhand