A synergetic use of satellite imagery from SAR and optical sensors to improve coastal flood mapping in the Gulf of Mexico

    Authors

    N. Chaouch; M. Temimi; S. Hagen; J. Weishampel; S. Medeiros;R. Khanbilvardi

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Hydrol. Process.

    Keywords

    intertidal flood mapping; multisensor; Radarsat; Landsat; image; classification; SYNTHETIC-APERTURE RADAR; SOUTH FLORIDA WETLANDS; ERS-1 SAR; AMAZON; FLOODPLAIN; FUSION; CLASSIFICATION; BACKSCATTERING; DELINEATION; INUNDATION; VEGETATION; Water Resources

    Abstract

    This work proposes a method for detecting inundation between semi-diurnal low and high water conditions in the northern Gulf of Mexico using high-resolution satellite imagery. Radarsat 1, Landsat imagery and aerial photography from the Apalachicola region in Florida were used to demonstrate and validate the algorithm. A change detection approach was implemented through the analysis of red, green and blue (RGB) false colour composites image to emphasise differences in high and low tide inundation patterns. To alleviate the effect of inherent speckle in the SAR images, we also applied ancillary optical data. The flood-prone area for the site was delineated a priori through the determination of lower and higher water contour lines with Landsat images combined with a high-resolution digital elevation model. This masking technique improved the performance of the proposed algorithm with respect to detection techniques using the entire Radarsat scene. The resulting inundation maps agreed well with historical aerial photography as the probability of detection reached 83%. The combination of SAR data and optical images, when coupled with a high-resolution digital elevation model, was shown to be useful for inundation mapping and have a great potential for evaluating wetting/drying algorithms of inland and coastal hydrodynamic models. Copyright (c) 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

    Journal Title

    Hydrological Processes

    Volume

    26

    Issue/Number

    11

    Publication Date

    1-1-2012

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    1617

    Last Page

    1628

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000304350100004

    ISSN

    1099-1085

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