Improving flood monitoring by the Robust AVHRR Technique (RAT) approach: the case of the April 2000 Hungary flood

Abstract

In the past, satellite remote sensing techniques have been widely used within the flood risk management cycle. In particular, there have been many demonstrations of the operational use of satellite data for detailed monitoring and mapping of floods and for post-flood damage assessment. When frequent situation reports are requested (e.g. in the emergency phase or for early warning purposes) to assist civil protection activities, high temporal resolution satellites (mainly meteorological, with revisiting times from hours to minutes) can play a strategic role. In this paper, a new Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) technique for monitoring flooded areas is presented. Its performances are evaluated in comparison with other well-known approaches, analysing the flood event that occurred in Hungary during April 2000 involving the Tisza and Timis Rivers. The preliminary results seem to indicate the benefits of such a new technique, especially when different observational conditions are considered. In fact, compared with previously proposed techniques, the proposed approach: (a) is completely automatic (i.e. unsupervised with no need for operator intervention); (b) improves floodedarea detection capabilities strongly reducing false alarms; and (c) automatically discriminates (without the need for ancillary information) flooded areas from permanent water bodies. Moreover, it is globally applicable and, because of the complete independence on the specific satellite platform, is easily exportable to different satellite packages.

RST analysis of MSG-SEVIRI TIR radiances at the time of the Abruzzo 6 April 2009 earthquake

“…RST has been successfully applied to the major natural and environmental hazards related to: volcano activity (Pergola et al, 2001(Pergola et al, , 2004aTramutoli et al, 2001c;Di Bello et al, 2004;Bonfiglio et al, 2005;Marchese et al, 2006;Filizzola et al, 2007); flood risk (Tramutoli et al, 2001a;Lacava et al, 2005Lacava et al, , 2006Lacava et al, , 2009; forest fires (Cuomo et al, 2001;Mazzeo et al, 2007), etc.…”

A study on the Abruzzo 6 April 2009 earthquake by applying the RST approach to 15 years of AVHRR TIR observations

“…The RST approach is a general change detection method for satellite data analysis already successfully applied to monitor major natural and environmental hazards related to: flood risk (Tramutoli et al, 2001a;Lacava et al, 2005Lacava et al, , 2006Lacava et al, , 2010; volcanic activity (Pergola et al, , 2004aTramutoli et al, 2001c;Di Bello et al, 2004;Bonfiglio et al, 2005;Marchese et al, 2006;Filizzola et al, 2007); forest fires (Cuomo et al, 2001;Mazzeo et al, 2007), etc. After its first application to the 1980 Irpinia-Basilicata's earthquake (Di Bello et al, 2004;Tramutoli et al, 2001b) RST has been applied to seismically active area monitoring for several other earthquake events: Athens, 7 September 1999 ; Izmit, 17 August 1999 (Tramutoli et al, 2005); Gujarat, 26 January 2001 (Genzano et al, 2007), Boumerdes/Thenia, 21 May 2003(Aliano et al, 2007; Hector Mine, 16 October 1999 (Aliano et al, 2008a), UmbriaMarche, October 1997 (Aliano et al, 2008b), Mestia Tianeti (Georgia) 23 October 1992 ) and various seismic events occurred in Greece and Turkey, in May and June 1995-1996(Corrado et al, 2005.…”

Reducing atmospheric noise in RST analysis of TIR satellite radiances for earthquakes prone areas satellite monitoring

“…It has already been successfully applied to monitor major natural and environmental hazards related to: flood risk (Tramutoli et al, 2001a;Lacava et al, 2005Lacava et al, , 2006Lacava et al, , 2010; volcanic activity (Pergola et al, 2001(Pergola et al, , 2004aTramutoli et al, 2001c;Di Bello et al, 2004;Bonfiglio et al, 2005;Marchese et al, 2006;Filizzola et al, 2007); forest fires (Cuomo et al, 2001;Mazzeo et al, 2007), etc. Since its first application to the 1980 Irpinia-Basilicata's earthquake (Di Bello et al, 2004;Tramutoli et al, 2001b), the RST has been applied to seismically active areas while monitoring several other major (M>5) earthquake events: Athens on 7 September 1999 , Izmit on 17 August 1999 , Gujarat on 26 January 2001 , Boumerdes/Thenia on 21 May 2003 , Hector Mine on 16 October 1999 (Aliano et al, 2008a), Umbria -Marche in October 1997 (Aliano et al, 2008b), Mestia Tianeti (Georgia) on 23 October 1992 (Genzano et al, 2009a), and various seismic events (with 4 <M b < 5.5) occurred in Greece and Turkey in May and June 1995-1996(Corrado et al, 2005.…”