Flood Mapping in the Coastal Region of Bangladesh Using Sentinel-1 SAR Images: A Case Study of Super Cyclone Amphan

Abstract

Floods are triggered by water overflow into drylands from several sources, including rivers, lakes, oceans, or heavy rainfall. Near real-time (NRT) flood mapping plays an important role in taking strategic measures to reduce flood damage after a flood event. There are many satellite imagery based remote sensing techniques that are widely used to generate flood maps. Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images have proven to be more effective in flood mapping due to its high spatial resolution and cloud penetration capacity. This case study is focused on the super cyclone, commonly known as Amphan, stemming from the west Bengal-Bangladesh coast across the Sundarbans on 20 May 2020, with a wind speed between 155 -165  gusting up to 185 . The flooding extent is determined by analyzing the pre and post-event synthetic aperture radar images, using the change detection and thresholding (CDAT) method. The results showed an inundated landmass of 2146 on 22 May 2020, excluding Sundarban. However, the area became 1425 about a week after the event, precisely on 28 May 2020 . This persistency generated a more severe and intense flood, due to the broken embankments. Furthermore, 13 out of 19 coastal districts were affected by the flooding, while 8 were highly inundated, including Bagerhat, Pirojpur, Satkhira, Khulna, Barisal, Jhalokati, Patuakhali and Barguna. These findings were subsequently compared with an inundation map created with a validation survey immediately after the event and also with the disposed location using a machine learning-based image classification technique. Consequently, the comparison showed a close similarity between the inundation scenario and the flood reports from the secondary sources. This circumstance envisages the significant role of CDAT application in providing relevant information for an effective decision support system.