A Complementary Remote-Sensing Method to Find Persons Missing in Water: Two Case Studies

Abstract

This short communication discusses how a specific geoarchaeological remote-sensing (RS) method, such as analyzing satellite images through NDWI (Normalized Difference Water Index), can be used to aid in searching and locating persons missing in watercourses. Thanks to its high capacity to analyze changes in the surface water area, this index can remotely detect the presence of anomalies related to disappearances in water bodies and provide valuable information that can reduce the use of human resources and help pinpoint likely areas of search. Two real-life cases of missing persons in rivers in which the NDWI index was used are presented, and the results obtained are discussed, emphasizing the importance of NDWI analysis as a complementary method to different approaches, especially non-invasive and remote-sensed ones, when positively searching for missing persons.

Keywords

• remote sensing
• NDWI
• missing persons
• Forensic Geoarchaeology