Inundation monitoring through high-resolution SAR/InSAR data and 2D hydraulic simulations

In the present paper, COSMO-SkyMed high-resolution data acquired on the southern Basilicata region (Italy) are used for flood hazard monitoring. We concentrate on the flood event of Nov. 2-4, 2010, for which multi-temporal SAR data were available over the Bradano River downstream area in the same acquisition geometry, which allows interferometric processing. SAR intensity data analysis of two acquisitions dated 3 and 4 Nov., performed through optimized thresholding algorithms, shows good results, highlighting the temporal evolution of the flood throughout the two days, as also confirmed by a comparison with the results of a 2D hydraulic simulation of the same event. Additional use of the one-day co-event coherence channel, and then of more intensity and coherence data layers in the multi-temporal dataset, through automated clustering procedures, helps discriminating in more detail some uncertain cases regarding inundated fields, and suggest procedures to shed light on the spatio-temporal backscattering patterns of flood-prone areas.