Flash-flood monitoring and damage assessment with SAR data: Issues and future challenges for earth observation from space sustained by case studies from the Balkans and Eastern Europe

Abstract

Floods are considered as one of the most important catastrophes, as they affect more population compared to any other natural disaster worldwide. Remote Sensing techniques provide safe and cost-effective tools for monitoring, mapping and assessing the evolution and damages caused by flood events. In the Balkans and in most countries of Eastern Europe, a plethora of catastrophic floods and especially flash-floods have occurred during the last two decades, but only a small percentage of those has been studied with Earth Observation data. In this context, the objective of this study is to investigate the adequacy and efficiency, mainly in terms of temporal resolution, of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite data in monitoring and managing flash-flood events. To this end, the challenges and data requirements for future missions are discussed, through selected case studies from the Balkans and Eastern Europe. ‘‘Capturing’’ a flash-flood with SAR data is indeed proven to be a challenging task. The main issues identified in managing flash-flood phenomena with Earth Observation data, are related to the lack of frequent (6–12 h) systematic SAR acquisitions of high spatial resolution (20 m or better).