Satellite-Based Wildfire and Flood Hazards Monitoring

Abstract

<!--!introduction!--><b></b><p>Climate-induced natural hazards are thought to be happening more frequent and more intense under an increasingly warmer Earth. Earth-observing satellites including the ones operate in constellations and deliver accurate and sub-daily high-resolution/stereo multispectral satellite imagery, provide an opportunity to rapidly monitoring and quantifying the magnitude of disasters. Planet PBC’s Dove/SuperDove, SkySat, RapidEye (retired in March 2020) satellite constellations have at present over 150 CubeSats providing daily/sub-daily sampled 0.5-5-meter resolution images globally. Here, we use the available multispectral images from Planet CubeSat constellations, other geodetic and remote sensing data with the objective to conduct a feasibility study to monitor hazards. In particular, our goal is to identify, track, and quantify the scopes of active wildfires and rapid flood events even at relatively small scales and relatively short-durations worldwide, to study the feasibility of using timely and multi-platform satellite observations to complement informed disaster responses. In this study, we provide case studies and demonstrations of example brush fire and flood hazards to examine the feasibility of a satellite observation-based decision-support disaster response and management tool.</p>The 28th IUGG General Assembly (IUGG2023) (Berlin 2023)