Development of a downstream emergency response service for flood and related risks in Romania based on satellite data

Abstract

Recently, the National Meteorological Administration initiated and started to implement user-driven services, based on satellite remote sensing and geo-information capacities. The paper presents this downstream emergency response service whose aim is to provide updated and accurate cartographic information in river flood prevention and post-crisis phase. The service is targeted to develop an interoperable framework for the management of the available geo-information using cutting-edge techniques and satellite data in order to provide high quality and accurate spatial products. An appropriate methodology was developed and tested, in order to process the optical or radar satellite imagery, with medium and high range spatial resolution, to rapid mapping the flood extent, to integrate the information in a GIS environment and finally to obtain standardized, cartographic products. The service is able to provide customized flood geospatial products (updated reference maps for the area affected, near real-time flood delineation maps, maximum flood extent maps, flooded area classification, flood evolution maps, damage assessment maps and reports) tailored to specific users and featuring near-real time delivery. A dedicated geo-portal, was developed to display, query, analyse and retrieve the spatial products. The end-users are able to access the system using a simple web browser to view and query the flood related product archive or download the selected products.