NH51E-1949
User-Driven Workflow for Modeling, Monitoring, Product Development, and Flood Map Delivery Using Satellites for Daily Coverage Over Texas May-June 2015
Friday, 18 December 2015
Poster Hall (Moscone South)
Stuart Walden Frye1, Gordon L Wells2, Robert F Adler3, Robert Brakenridge4, John D Bolten1, John J Murray5, Daniel A Slayback6, Dalia Kirschbaum1, Huan Wu7, Patrice G Cappelaere8, Guy Schumann9, Teresa Howard10, Zac Flamig11, Robert A Clark11, Tim Stough12, Marco Chini13, Patrick Matgen14 and David S Green15, (1)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (2)University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States, (3)University of Maryland College Park, College Park, MD, United States, (4)University of Colorado, CSDMS, Boulder, CO, United States, (5)NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA, United States, (6)Science Systems and Applications, Inc., Lanham, MD, United States, (7)ESSIC/NASA GSFC, College Park, MD, United States, (8)Vightel Corporation, Ellicott City, MD, United States, (9)Remote Sensing Solutions, Inc., Pasadena, CA, United States, (10)University of Texas at Austin, Center for Space Research, Austin, TX, United States, (11)University of Oklahoma Norman Campus, Norman, OK, United States, (12)NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States, (13)CRP Gabriel Lippmann, Belvaux, Luxembourg, (14)Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, Belvaux, Luxembourg, (15)NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC, United States
Abstract:
Intense rainfall during late April and early May 2015 in Texas and Oklahoma led to widespread flooding in several river basins in that region. Texas state agencies were activated for the May-June floods and severe weather event that ensued for six weeks from May 8 until June 19 following Tropical Storm Bill. This poster depicts a case study where modeling flood potential informed decision making authorities for user-driven high resolution satellite acquisitions over the most critical areas and how experimental flood mapping techniques provided the capability for daily on-going monitoring of these events through the use of increased automation. Recent improvements in flood models resulting from higher frequency updates, better spatial resolution, and increased accuracy of now cast and forecast precipitation products coupled with advanced technology to improve situational awareness for decision makers. These advances enabled satellites to be tasked, data products to be developed and distributed, and feedback loops between the emergency authorities, satellite operators, and mapping researchers to deliver a daily stream of relevant products that informed deployment of emergency resources and improved management of the large-scale event across the local, state, and national levels. This collaboration was made possible through inter-agency cooperation on an international scale through the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites Flood Pilot activity that is supported in the USA by NASA, NOAA, and USGS and includes numerous civilian space agency assets from the European Space Agency along with national agencies from Italy, France, Germany, Japan, and others. The poster describes the inter-linking technology infrastructure, the development and delivery of mapping products, and the lessons learned for product improvement in the future.
