Application of interferometric SAR using Sentinel-1A for flood monitoring in South of Sulawesi, Indonesia

Abstract

An updated information of flood mapping that recently occurred in South Sulawesi is an important necessity for site policy makers. Mapping of flood area during or soon after the flooding event is tremendous hardwork. However using active-remote sensing namely InSAR (Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar) technique can overcome these limitatations. To achieve it, at least two radar images have to be obtained which is 1 image before and 1 image during/after flood event. We selected 2 images Sentinel-1A GRD (Ground Range Detected) data for the same pass direction and the same time acquisitation with polarization VH (Vertical-Horizontal), 12 days of temporal baseline. The images were then processed by SNAP (Sentinel Application Platform) Toolbox. The results show that Sentinel-1A succeeded in detecting and monitoring flood event, where inundated of water in Tallo River is clearly visible in VH polarization.