Measurement to Management: Study of Remote Sensing Techniques for Flood Disaster Management

Abstract

Natural disasters are unavoidable. Of late, even the disasters induced by human activities are categorized as natural disasters. In the last few years, the damages due to these disasters have notched up a level higher because there is increase in population as well as rise in environmental degradation. Improper planning and mismanagement of resources has led humans to a high state of risk. Floods are the most complex and most commonly occurring disaster, which involves huge amount of losses both in terms of life and resources. In India, flood hazard maps are of high importance. They are necessary for saving millions of farmers and their livelihoods during the devastating monsoon floods. Moreover, a large majority of the population resides in flood-prone areas. This paper attempts to study the various efforts undertaken by researchers in mapping the flood zones using the optical data and microwave remote sensing data. The advantages, limitations and challenges of using microwave SAR data are also discussed. In this study, the authors deliberate the causes and effects of flood, availability of data for analysis, compare between optical and microwave remote sensing for flood monitoring and analyze how HEC-RAS and remote sensing can be used for flood management.

Keywords: Disaster management, flood mapping, microwave remote sensing, synthetic aperture radar, flood modeling.

Cite this Article

Geetha Priya M, Divya N. Measurement to Management: Study of Remote Sensing Techniques for Flood Disaster Management. Journal of Remote Sensing & GIS. 2019; 10(1): 40–57p.