Ground and Space-based Sensor Web System: Streamlining Spacecraft Observation Response to Flood Detection.

Some of the most important hydrologic phenomena occur in transient fashion and at arbitrary times over regions of varying scales. Major flooding events, such as those that have devastated parts of the world (e.g., major flooding from tropical storms and monsoon-induced activity), often result in tremendous loss of life, major structural damage, and notable modification of the landscape. Such flood-related phenomena can be readily sensed from orbital radar platforms to improve the scientific understanding necessary to mitigate their disastrous consequences. For example, satellite-based flood detection provides important information for governmental agencies monitoring disasters and supplies data to scientists seeking to understand the responses of surface processes to storm events at synoptic scales (e.g., see Dartmouth Flood Observatory, http://www.dartmouth.edu/artsci/geog/floods/). Efforts are underway to streamline the process by which data are obtained and processed in order to effectively monitor transient catastrophic flooding, perform timely hazard assessment, and appraise governmental agencies of pending disasters. The flood sensor web is an application of networked sensor technology that is being applied to flood monitoring. The flood sensor web system utilizes NASA QuikSCAT radar scatterometer data providing global coverage every 2.5 days. Vv/Hh polarity ratios from the radar return are computed and geolocated at JPL, this information is transmitted to Dartmouth, and anomalous results occurring within Dartmouth's global array of river measurement reaches are flagged for the next possible EO-1 acquisition. In addition, JPL automatically generates a spacecraft command sequence that is then transmitted to Goddard Space Flight Center for uplink to the Earth Observing 1 (EO-1) spacecraft. This enables rapid-response, high-resolution multispectral (ALI) and hyperspectral (Hyperion) observations to be obtained of the flood target as quickly as possible. Autonomous Sciencecraft Experiment [1] software onboard EO-1 can then process the data and report the change detection results (e.g., number and location of active pixels). [1] Chien et al. (2003) LPSC34 abstract #1458.