The emerging role of satellite rainfall data in improving the hydro-political situation of flood monitoring in the under-developed regions of the world

The systematic decline of in situ networks for hydrologic measurements has been recognized as a crucial limitation to advancing hydrologic monitoring in medium to large basins, especially those that are already sparsely instrumented. As a collective response, sections of the hydrologic community have recently forged partnerships for the development of space-borne missions for cost-effective, yet global, hydrologic measurements by building upon the technological advancements since the last two decades. In this article, we review the state-of-the-art on flood monitoring in medium and large ungauged basins where satellite remote sensing can facilitate development of a cost-effective mechanism. We present our review in the context of the current hydro-political situation of flood monitoring in flood-prone developing nations situated in international river basins (IRBs). Given the large number of such basins and the difficulty in acquisition of multi-faceted geophysical data, we argue that the conventional data-intensive implementation of physically based hydrologic models that are complex and distributed is time-consuming for global assessment of the utility of proposed global satellite hydrologic missions. A more parsimonious approach is justified at the tolerable expense of accuracy before such missions begin operation. Such a parsimonious approach can subsequently motivate the identified international basins to invest greater effort in conventional F. Hossain (&) Æ N. Katiyar Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Tennessee Technological University, 1020 Stadium Drive, Box 5015, Cookeville, TN 38505-0001, USA e-mail: [email protected] Y. Hong UMBC/GEST and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA e-mail: [email protected] A. Wolf Department of Geosciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA e-mail: [email protected] 123 Nat Hazards (2007) 43:199–210 DOI 10.1007/s11069-006-9094-x ORI GI N A L P A PE R The emerging role of satellite rainfall data in improving the hydro-political situation of flood monitoring in the under-developed regions of the world Faisal Hossain Æ Nitin Katiyar Æ Yang Hong Æ Aaron Wolf Received: 25 August 2006 / Accepted: 26 October 2006 / Published online: 9 March 2007 Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2007 and detailed hydrologic studies to design a prototype flood forecasting system in an effort to overcome the hydro-political hurdles to flood monitoring. Through a modeling exercise involving an open-book watershed concept, we demonstrate the value of a parsimonious approach in understanding the utility of NASA-derived satellite rainfall products. It is critical now that real-world operational flood forecasting agencies in the under-developed world come forward to collaborate with the research community in order to leverage satellite rainfall data for greater societal benefit for inhabitants in IRBs.