REMOTE SENSING AND GIS, CSSTEAP

PROJECT PAPER

REMOTE SENSING AFFICATION FOR DRR:

POTENTIAL USE OF ALOS PALSAR IN FLOOD HAZARD MAPPING

MOUN MOONMEUNGSHAND
LAO PDR

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 Table of Contents

1. ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………..3

2. INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………4

3. STUDIES AREA………………………………………………………………………. 4

4. METHODOLOGY…………………………………………………………………….. 5

5. RESULTS……………………………………………………………………………….6

6. DISCUSSION…………………………………………………………………………..7

7. REFERENCE……………………………………………………………………………8

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 1. ABSTRACT

PALSAR is an L band microwave remote sensor onboard ALOS satellite with day and night
observation capability in all weather conditions. Its data products come with different observation
modes such as fine beam single (FBS) polarization, fine beam dual (FBD) polarization etc.
as well as processing levels. The proper selection of the modes and processing levels can give a clue to
an actual physical change on the ground. With a pair of good ALOS PALSAR images of dry and wet
conditions, it is possible to quickly map the areas that could be flooded. The polarization plays an
important role in the way the ground responds to the microwave backscattering.

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 2. INTRODUCTION

Microwave remote sensing has the capability to look through the cloud and map the ground
both day and night. A study to map the possible flooded area with ALOS PALSAR was carried out
in five districts in that province. The images were PALSAR FBD L1.5 products of both HH and
HV polarization. The radar equation (Eq. 1) describes the relationship between the strength of the
backscattered signal and the properties of the object. The property is represented by σº (sigma nought)
which is dependent on the geometric and dielectric properties of the object and the system parameters
of the sensor

The original data type was 16 bit unsigned integer. The intensity images were
converted to Decibel (dB) images using the Eq. 2. This was done as intensity images present some
difficulty for visual representation due to its increased contrast and dynamic range as compared to the
dB image.

3. STUDIES AREA (FIVE DISTRICTS, LAO PDR)

Figure 1. The study area September 3, 2008.

The flood detection method using satellite imagery an the traditional floodway mapping
techniques can be complimentary to one another. An advantage of satellite based flood hazard
mapping is that the actual flooded areas can be stored in an archival form necessary for an integrated
flood hazard evaluation.

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 4. METHODOLOGY
The underlying methodology for the study was to examine the changes in the
backscatter coefficients (σ˚) from dry to wet conditions. While analyzing, a significant change
of the physical properties of objects at the ground was found when there is more than or equal to 3.0
decibel (dB) change in the backscatter coefficients from dry to wet condition. After the initial
analysis, three masks (+3dB, 0, -3dB) for change detection were prepared for the HH and HV pairs
of dry and wet ALOS/PALSAR datasets. 3dB masked images of HV and HH were compared
and Region of Interest (ROIs) were selected in areas where there were significant changes
from HV to HH polarization. Twenty three such ROIs were picked up for field verifications
and the possible causes of changes from dry to wet season images were examined. It was found that
there were mainly three areas where such changes were taking place; 1) floods in the paddy field, 2)
increase of moisture in the tree canopy during wet season and 3) flood in open areas. The third step
was to measure the changes in backscatter coefficients from dry to wet season in some of the known
land use classes. While selecting the ROIs from these classes, care was taken to preserve their
homogeneity

Figure 2.Flood map in the study area

The Figure 2 shows the possible flood map in the study area for the two landuse classes of
open areas and paddy. From the flood map, it was found that a total of 19 km2 and 31 km2 areas
were under flood in those two classes. The highest flood affected district was Xaysettha with 28km2
followed by Hadxaiphog with 26km2 of landmass under water.

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 5. RESULTS

Change of σ˚ (Dry to wet)

Landuse HV HH
Forest -0.05 -0.09
Predominantly Marshy Lands 1.23 3.02
Open areas 2.07 7.03
Paddy -3.18 0.55
Permanent water -0.09 0.97
Permanent water -0.16 -0.29

Table 1. The change of σ˚ per known landuse classes in selected ROIs

The change of ˚σ values in the known landuse classes are shown in the Table 1. In
case of forests, change was similar in HH and HV. The probable cause was the increase of
overall wetness of the canopy volume during wet condition. For landuse class predominantly of marshy
lands, the change was more in HH. Possibility was due to the more areas under flood in the wet date but
flood here was not conclusive as this class needed further detailed classification. In open areas, the
change was far more in HH. The possible cause was the open water flood. In case of paddy, the change
was more in HV than in HH. The likely cause was the multiple interaction of the reflected wave with the
stems of the paddy over water. On permanent water, the HH gave a picture of the surface roughness. The
ROIs of the urban built up areas were not homogenous to derive a conclusion from the observation.

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 6. DISCUSSION

The study led to the conclusion that ALOS PALSAR FBD images can be used to derive
possible flooded area under the paddy and in open areas. This approach can be helpful in areas
where the modeling of flood remains a challenge due to the unavailability of a precise Digital
Elevation Model (DEM) and other hydrological information. Flood maps for different dates arrived
by this process can be stored in an archival form in order to see the dynamics of flood throughout
the year.

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7. REFERENCE

 The Roles of Orbital Remote Sensing, Proc 30th Intl Symp on Remote Sensing of
Environment, Honolulu, HI.
 Guo H. 2000, Spaceborne and Airborne SAR for Target Detection and Flood
Monitoring, Photogrammetric Engineer and Remote Sensing

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