Monitoring and Modeling Floods using Earth Observations

Recent studies have shown that globally, riverine and coastal floods are increasing in intensity and duration. In addition, the number of people living in flood-prone areas has increased substantially during the last two decades. Therefore, monitoring and predicting floods in support of early warning, response, and relief operations have become major foci for disaster management activities worldwide. Remote sensing observations from optical and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) sensors are routinely used for detecting and mapping flooding. Moreover, empirical methodologies developed using remote sensing observations of rainfall, terrain, soil moisture, and landcover, as well as weather modeling data have been used for flood monitoring. Sophisticated and complex land hydrology and runoff routing models are also being used for mapping and predicting riverine and urban flooding.

ARSET has offered several trainings on flood monitoring based on optical and SAR observations in the past. This two-part training will focus on recent developments and updates in flood monitoring tools and flood modeling techniques. Specifically, an overview of the Hydrological Modeling and Analysis Platform (HyMAP), a routing model used with NASA’s Land Information System (LIS), and examples of flood modeling cases will be presented in this training.

Relevant UN Sustainable Development Goals:

• Goal 11:Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
• Target 11.5: By 2030, significantly reduce the number of deaths and the number of people affected and substantially decrease the direct economic losses relative to global gross domestic product caused by disasters, including water-related disasters, with a focus on protecting the poor and people in vulnerable situations
• Target 13.1: Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries

Course Dates: September 14 and 21, 2022

Times: 10:00-12:00 or 14:00-16:00 EDT (UTC-4); There will be identical sessions at two different times of the day. Participants need only to register and attend one daily session.

Register Here

Learning Objectives: By the end of this training, participants will be able to:

• Identify and use observation-based flood monitoring and mapping tools
• Understand and plan for using hydrologic and flood routing modeling techniques

Audience: Local, city, state, federal, and private institutions involved in disaster management, water resources management, urban planning, dams and hydropower management.

Course Format: Two, 2-hour parts

How to register

Please register on the training webpage