Comparative study for flood detection using JERS-1 SAR and Landsat TM data

The authors verified the applicability of spaceborne SAR data for flood detection by the comparative study using JERS-1 SAR and Landsat TM data. For the purpose of verification of flood detection by SAR data, the inundated areas were extracted using the change of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) of Landsat TM data taken in almost same period as that for SAR data. Then the performance of SAR data for flood detection was investigated by comparing the extracted areas by both of SAR and TM data. The performance by SAR was evaluated by two indices, the coincidence rate of inundated areas by SAR for inundated areas extracted by TM (true production rate: TPR) and the rate of non-inundated areas by TM for inundated areas by SAR (false production rate: FPR). The result of the study verified the effectiveness of spaceborne SAR data for flood monitoring by remote sensing.