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Using Synthetic Aperture Radar Imagery for Flood Modelling
Author(s) -
Galy Hélème,
Sanders Richard A.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
transactions in gis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.721
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1467-9671
pISSN - 1361-1682
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9671.00093
Subject(s) - remote sensing , synthetic aperture radar , digital elevation model , orthophoto , radar imaging , flood myth , land cover , radar , geographic information system , scale (ratio) , computer science , geography , cartography , engineering , land use , civil engineering , telecommunications , archaeology
Airborne radar technology has traditionally been largely devoted to military applications. In recent years, applications in telecommunications, oil exploration and agriculture have proved that radar technology can also be used commercially. This paper focuses on an application of airborne radar technology in the insurance industry and describes the development of a large‐scale flood risk assessment model for the River Thames. The model is based upon airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data and was built with commonly used Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and image processing tools. From the Orthorectified Images (ORIs) a land cover map was produced, from which a surface roughness map could be derived. A Digital Elevation Model (DEM) was processed to remove trees and other soft barriers and obtain the effective ground level. This was achieved by using standard GIS processes. The methodology may be applicable to any organisation exposed to flood risk.