The Evolution of Remote Sensing of Flood Forecasting and Potential Improvement with Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE): A Review
Abstract
Floods are one of the most financially devastating natural hazards of the world. Remote sensing, a cost-effective method for managing natural resources and assessing hazard, has been used for monitoring flooded areas and assessing damages by flooding. This review establishes the timeline for development of remote sensing in monitoring and forecasting flood events, analyzes the past use of Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On (GRACE-FO) in flood forecasting, and assesses the potential for GRACE and GRACE-FO to improve this flood forecasting. Since 1974, remote sensing has been applied to flooding with spatial analysis in combination with hydrologic/hydraulic modeling. For example, remote sensing has been used for floodplain delineation, mapping snow covered areas, and direct monitoring of flooded areas. Landsat data and other infrared aerial photography have been used for monitoring the effect of flood damage, and NOAA-satellites have been used for measuring areas of flood inundation. Remote sensing platforms, including Landsat, have been applied to map watershed features such as land cover type and landuse types, all important inputs to existing runoff models. Nevertheless, neither spatial analysis nor hydrologic/hydraulic modeling directly measures the total volume of water associated with the various hydrologic processes, including those associated with floods. The GRACE satellite, first launched in March 2002, has been shown to be able to directly monitor total water storage (TWS), including both aquifer and surface water. GRACE-FO, launched in 2018, succeeded the GRACE mission. By assimilating GRACE and GRACE-FO mission data into existing water balance equations and hydrological models, there is the potential to improve the accuracy of flood forecasts. This presentation will review the history of use of remote sensing methods for flood forecasting, and will focus on more recent work that has utilized GRACE data for forecasting floods. Ideas for how to extend or improve existing methods of flood forecasting using GRACE data will be outlined and described.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019AGUFM.H43N2251T
- Keywords:
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- 1855 Remote sensing;
- HYDROLOGY