The concept of SAR satellite data use for flood risk monitoring in Poland

This article presents a concept of using satellite-derived synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data to detect areas in Poland threatened with the risk of flooding and presents a model of SAR satellite data processing. The research presented was conducted as part of the SAFEDAM project - “Advanced assistive technologies to prevent threats associated with floods”. The final outcome of the entire SAFEDAM project will be the system of monitoring the risk of floods from rivers in Poland and the condition of levees with the use of photogrammetric and remote sensing data acquired from different altitudes (aerial and satellite) and with different techniques (laser scanning, radar and optical data) that supplement each other. The concept of using radar satellite data includes a cyclic (at a defined time interval) data collection from the Sentinel-1 satellite system and its automatic processing in order to determine the height of the water surface in main rivers in Poland. Exceeding threshold values launch the alert and a further detailed monitoring of antiflood levees. The initial results of the studies demonstrate a great potential of radar imagery for operational detection and delimitation of water in flood risk areas. The automation of satellite radar data processing operation has been tested and it shows a potential for optimizing the system of monitoring and early detection of flood risk.