Leveraging Satellite Remote Sensing for the Monitoring of 2019 Spring Floods

During the early months of 2019, above average precipitation fell through a widespread portion of the United States, especially in major river basins. The above average precipitation combined with the spring melt of the northern snowpack, led to record flooding across the country. During widespread flooding events, those decision makers and stakeholders that are responsible for responding to the flooding, look to utilize every available tool for situational awareness, including satellite remote sensing.

This presentation focuses on the NASA Disasters Program and their leveraging of satellite remote sensing imagery derived products to look at the impacts of the widespread flooding that took place during the spring and summer throughout portions of the central United States. A combination of optical and synthetic aperture radar instruments were able to capture the evolution of the flooding to help provide stakeholders with information for decision making. Coupled with the NASA Disasters Mapping Portal, end-users and stakeholders were able utilize imagery from MODIS, Landsat-8, Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2 and high resolution commercial imagery to help with their decision making. Specifically, highlights from the mid-March flooding in 2019 in portions of the central Plains and flooding from the Southern Plains in late May 2019.