This chapter will highlight various approaches utilizing geospatial information in
flood monitoring and assessing crop damages. Furthermore, this chapter will also
demonstrate a case study to assess corn loss in various counties in Missouri and
Nebraska during the 2011 Mississippi/Missouri flood event.
16.2 Remote Sensing on Flood Event Monitoring
Flood event monitoring consists of multiple activities such as flood forecasting,
spatial extent mapping, flood duration, and flood stage monitoring (Rahman and Di
2017). Flood monitoring is complex due to the large variation in flood types,
duration, and scale (Rahman and Di 2017). Different flood types include, but are not
limited to, flash flood, urban flood, coastal flood, and river flood. The scale of these
floods might be varied from local to transboundary catchment floods. Another
challenge of flood monitoring is the duration of the flood. Flood duration might
range from an hour (flash flood) to several months (monsoon flood). The use of
geographic information system especially with remote sensing data has been a
prominent catalyst in flood monitoring over four decades. A wide range of techniques utilized in flood monitoring include inundation mapping from remote sensing
imagery, ground-based in situ sensors, and gauge-based monitoring, as well as flood
modeling-based monitoring. Advance geographic information system brings the
opportunity to process remote sensing data, integration of multi-sensor spatial as
well as nonspatial data, and visualization through Web applications for effective
monitoring of flood.
16.2.1 Traditional Gauge–Based Flood Monitoring
Traditional flood monitoring involves precipitation monitoring and river water flow
monitoring based on rainfall prediction and measurement as well as river flow and
water height measurement. Early forecasting of possible inundated locations and
river flow is disbursed based on hydraulic modeling. For instance, Campolo et al.
(1999) developed a neural network model to forecast river floods by using rainfall
information from a distributed rain gauge network. Traditional flood monitoring
systems only provide a rough estimation of possible water height and probable
affected area as these models are not capable to provide flood extent information.
Mayes et al. (2006) implemented a flood monitoring system using direct hydrological measurement such as rainfall and runoff from nested hydrometric networks.
Rainfall measurements from the rain gauges are interpolated over the catchment with
the help of GIS technology. Runoff from the stream discharge is used to calculate the
total volume of water over the catchment. Ground-based Doppler Radar network
such as Next-Generation Radar network (NEXTRAD) is widely used in the United
States for the measurement of precipitation. These ground-based precipitation data
16 Flood Monitoring and Crop Damage Assessment
323
flood monitoring and assessing crop damages. Furthermore, this chapter will also
demonstrate a case study to assess corn loss in various counties in Missouri and
Nebraska during the 2011 Mississippi/Missouri flood event.
16.2 Remote Sensing on Flood Event Monitoring
Flood event monitoring consists of multiple activities such as flood forecasting,
spatial extent mapping, flood duration, and flood stage monitoring (Rahman and Di
2017). Flood monitoring is complex due to the large variation in flood types,
duration, and scale (Rahman and Di 2017). Different flood types include, but are not
limited to, flash flood, urban flood, coastal flood, and river flood. The scale of these
floods might be varied from local to transboundary catchment floods. Another
challenge of flood monitoring is the duration of the flood. Flood duration might
range from an hour (flash flood) to several months (monsoon flood). The use of
geographic information system especially with remote sensing data has been a
prominent catalyst in flood monitoring over four decades. A wide range of techniques utilized in flood monitoring include inundation mapping from remote sensing
imagery, ground-based in situ sensors, and gauge-based monitoring, as well as flood
modeling-based monitoring. Advance geographic information system brings the
opportunity to process remote sensing data, integration of multi-sensor spatial as
well as nonspatial data, and visualization through Web applications for effective
monitoring of flood.
16.2.1 Traditional Gauge–Based Flood Monitoring
Traditional flood monitoring involves precipitation monitoring and river water flow
monitoring based on rainfall prediction and measurement as well as river flow and
water height measurement. Early forecasting of possible inundated locations and
river flow is disbursed based on hydraulic modeling. For instance, Campolo et al.
(1999) developed a neural network model to forecast river floods by using rainfall
information from a distributed rain gauge network. Traditional flood monitoring
systems only provide a rough estimation of possible water height and probable
affected area as these models are not capable to provide flood extent information.
Mayes et al. (2006) implemented a flood monitoring system using direct hydrological measurement such as rainfall and runoff from nested hydrometric networks.
Rainfall measurements from the rain gauges are interpolated over the catchment with
the help of GIS technology. Runoff from the stream discharge is used to calculate the
total volume of water over the catchment. Ground-based Doppler Radar network
such as Next-Generation Radar network (NEXTRAD) is widely used in the United
States for the measurement of precipitation. These ground-based precipitation data
16 Flood Monitoring and Crop Damage Assessment
323