Can we detect more ephemeral floods with higher density harmonized Landsat Sentinel 2 data compared to Landsat 8 alone?

Spatiotemporal quantification of surface water and flooding is essential given that floods are among the largest natural hazards. Effective disaster response management requires near real-time information on flood extent. Satellite remote sensing is the only way of monitoring these dynamics across vast areas and over time. Previous water and flood mapping efforts have relied on optical time series, despite cloud contamination. This reliance on optical data is due to the availability of systematically acquired and easily accessible optical data globally for over 40 years. Prior research used either MODIS or Landsat data, trading either high temporal density but lower spatial resolution or lower cadence but higher spatial resolution. Both MODIS and Landsat pose limitations as Landsat can miss ephemeral floods, whereas MODIS misses small floods and inaccurately delineates flood edges. Leveraging high temporal frequency of 3–4 days of the existing Landsat-8 (L8) and two Sentinel-2 (S2) satellites combined, in this research, we assessed whether the increased temporal frequency of the three sensors improves our ability to detect surface water and flooding extent compared to a single sensor (L8 alone). Our study area was Australia's Murray-Darling Basin, one of the world's largest dryland basins that experiences ephemeral floods. We applied machine learning to NASA's Harmonized Landsat Sentinel-2 (HLS) Surface Reflectance Product, which combines L8 and S2 observations, to map surface water and flooding dynamics. Our overall accuracy, estimated from a stratified random sample, was 99%. Our user's and producer's accuracy for the water class was 80% (±3.6%, standard error) and 76% (±5.8%). We focused on 2019, one of the most recent years when all three HLS sensors operated at full capacity. Our results show that water area (permanent and flooding) identified with the HLS was greater than that identified by L8, and some short-lived flooding events were detected only by the HLS. Comparison with high resolution (3 m) PlanetScope data identified extensive mixed pixels at the 30 m HLS resolution, highlighting the need for improved spatial resolution in future work. The HLS has been able to detect floods in cases when one sensor (L8) alone was not, despite 2019 being one of the driest years in the area, with few flooding events. The dense optical time-series offered by the HLS data is thus critical for capturing temporally dynamic phenomena (i.e., ephemeral floods in drylands), highlighting the importance of harmonized data such as the HLS

A Measurement of the Decay Asymmetry Parameters in \Xi_{c}^{0}\to \X^{-}\pi^{+}

Using the CLEO II detector at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring we have measured the $\Xi_c^{0}$ decay asymmetry parameter in the decay $\Xi_c^{0} \to \Xi^{-} \pi^+$. We find $\alpha_{\Xi_c^{0}} \alpha_{\Xi} = 0.26 \pm 0.18{(stat)}^{+0.05}_{-0.04}{(syst)}$, using the world average value of $\alpha_{\Xi} = -0.456 \pm 0.014$ we obtain $\alpha_{\Xi_c^{0}} = -0.56 \pm 0.39{(stat)}^{+0.10}_{-0.09}{(syst)}$. The physically allowed range of a decay asymmetry parameter is $-1<\alpha<+1$. Our result prefers a negative value: $\alpha_{\Xi_c^{0}}$ is $<0.1$ at the 90% CL. The central value occupies the middle of the theoretically expected range but is not yet precise enough to choose between models.Comment: 10 pages postscript, also available through http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLN

Production and Decay of D_1(2420)^0 and D_2^*(2460)^0

We have investigated $D^{+}\pi^{-}$ and $D^{*+}\pi^{-}$ final states and observed the two established $L=1$ charmed mesons, the $D_1(2420)^0$ with mass $2421^{+1+2}_{-2-2}$ MeV/c$^{2}$ and width $20^{+6+3}_{-5-3}$ MeV/c$^{2}$ and the $D_2^*(2460)^0$ with mass $2465 \pm 3 \pm 3$ MeV/c$^{2}$ and width $28^{+8+6}_{-7-6}$ MeV/c$^{2}$. Properties of these final states, including their decay angular distributions and spin-parity assignments, have been studied. We identify these two mesons as the $j_{light}=3/2$ doublet predicted by HQET. We also obtain constraints on {\footnotesize $\Gamma_S/(\Gamma_S + \Gamma_D)$} as a function of the cosine of the relative phase of the two amplitudes in the $D_1(2420)^0$ decay.Comment: 15 pages in REVTEX format. hardcopies with figures can be obtained by sending mail to: [email protected]

Measurement of the branching fraction for Υ(1S)→τ+τ−\Upsilon (1S) \to \tau^+ \tau^-

We have studied the leptonic decay of the $\Upsilon (1S)$ resonance into tau pairs using the CLEO II detector. A clean sample of tau pair events is identified via events containing two charged particles where exactly one of the particles is an identified electron. We find $B(\Upsilon(1S) \to \tau^+ \tau^-) = (2.61~\pm~0.12~{+0.09\atop{-0.13}})$. The result is consistent with expectations from lepton universality.Comment: 9 pages, RevTeX, two Postscript figures available upon request, CLNS 94/1297, CLEO 94-20 (submitted to Physics Letters B

Study of the B^0 Semileptonic Decay Spectrum at the Upsilon(4S) Resonance

We have made a first measurement of the lepton momentum spectrum in a sample of events enriched in neutral B's through a partial reconstruction of B0 --> D*- l+ nu. This spectrum, measured with 2.38 fb**-1 of data collected at the Upsilon(4S) resonance by the CLEO II detector, is compared directly to the inclusive lepton spectrum from all Upsilon(4S) events in the same data set. These two spectra are consistent with having the same shape above 1.5 GeV/c. From the two spectra and two other CLEO measurements, we obtain the B0 and B+ semileptonic branching fractions, b0 and b+, their ratio, and the production ratio f+-/f00 of B+ and B0 pairs at the Upsilon(4S). We report b+/b0=0.950 (+0.117-0.080) +- 0.091, b0 = (10.78 +- 0.60 +- 0.69)%, and b+ = (10.25 +- 0.57 +- 0.65)%. b+/b0 is equivalent to the ratio of charged to neutral B lifetimes, tau+/tau0.Comment: 14 page, postscript file also available at http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLN

Measurement of the Decay Asymmetry Parameters in Λc+→Λπ+\Lambda_c^+ \to \Lambda\pi^+ and Λc+→Σ+π0\Lambda_c^+ \to \Sigma^+\pi^0

We have measured the weak decay asymmetry parameters (\aLC ) for two \LC\ decay modes. Our measurements are \aLC = -0.94^{+0.21+0.12}_{-0.06-0.06} for the decay mode $\Lambda_c^+ \to \Lambda\pi^+$ and \aLC = -0.45\pm 0.31 \pm 0.06 for the decay mode $\Lambda_c \to \Sigma^+\pi^0$. By combining these measurements with the previously measured decay rates, we have extracted the parity-violating and parity-conserving amplitudes. These amplitudes are used to test models of nonleptonic charmed baryon decay.Comment: 11 pages including the figures. Uses REVTEX and psfig macros. Figures as uuencoded postscript. Also available as http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLNS/1995/CLNS95-1319.p

Observation of the Ξc+\Xi_c^+ Charmed Baryon Decays to Σ+K−π+\Sigma^+ K^-\pi^+, Σ+Kˉ∗0\Sigma^+ \bar{K}^{*0}, and ΛK−π+π+\Lambda K^-\pi^+\pi^+

We have observed two new decay modes of the charmed baryon $\Xi_c^+$ into $\Sigma^+ K^-\pi^+$ and $\Sigma^+ \bar{K}^{*0}$ using data collected with the CLEO II detector. We also present the first measurement of the branching fraction for the previously observed decay mode $\Xi_c^+\to\Lambda K^-\pi^+\pi^+$. The branching fractions for these three modes relative to $\Xi_c^+\to\Xi^-\pi^+\pi^+$ are measured to be $1.18 \pm 0.26 \pm 0.17$, $0.92 \pm 0.27 \pm 0.14$, and $0.58 \pm 0.16 \pm 0.07$, respectively.Comment: 12 page uuencoded postscript file, postscript file also available through http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLN

Further Experimental Studies of Two-Body Radiative \Upsilon Decays

Continuing our studies of radiative Upsilon(1S) decays, we report on a search for Upsilon to gamma eta and Upsilon to gamma f_{J}(2220) in 61.3 pb^{-1} of e^{+}e^{-} data taken with the CLEO II detector at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring. For the gamma eta search the three decays of the eta meson to pi^{+}pi^{-}pi^{0}, pi^{0}pi^{0}pi^{0}, and gamma gamma were investigated. We found no candidate events in the two (3\pi)^{0} modes and no significant excess over expected backgrounds in the gamma gamma mode to set a limit on the branching fraction of B(Upsilon to gamma eta) < 2.1 x 10^{-5} at 90% C.L. The three charged two-body final states h h-bar (h = pi^{+}, K^{+}, p) were investigated for f_{J}(2220) production, with one, one, and two events found, respectively. Limits at 90% C.L. of B(\Upsilon to gamma f_{J}) x B(f_{J} to h h-bar) ~ 1.5 x 10^{-5} have been set for each of these modes. We compare our results to measurements of other radiative Upsilon decays, to measurements of radiative J/psi decays, and to theoretical predictions.Comment: 19 pages postscript, also available through http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLNS, submitted to Physical Review

Measurements of the Ratios B(Ds+→ηℓ+ν)/B(Ds+→ϕℓ+ν){\cal B}(D_s^+\to \eta\ell^+\nu)/{\cal B}(D_s^+\to \phi\ell^+\nu) and B(Ds+→η′ℓ+ν)/B(Ds+→ϕℓ+ν){\cal B}(D_s^+\to \eta'\ell^+\nu)/{\cal B}(D_s^+\to \phi\ell^+\nu)

Using the CLEO~II detector we measure ${\cal B}(D_s^+\to \eta e^+\nu)/{\cal B}(D_s^+\to \phi e^+\nu) =1.24\pm0.12\pm0.15$, ${\cal B}(D_s^+\to \eta' e^+\nu)/{\cal B}(D_s^+\to \phi e^+\nu) =0.43\pm0.11\pm0.07$ and ${\cal B}(D_s^+\to \eta' e^+\nu)/{\cal B}(D_s^+\to \eta e^+\nu) =0.35\pm0.09\pm0.07$. We find the vector to pseudoscalar ratio, ${\cal B}(D_s^+\to \phi e^+\nu)/{\cal B}(D_s^+\to (\eta+\eta') e^+\nu) =0.60\pm0.06\pm0.06$, which is similar to the ratio found in non strange $D$ decays.Comment: 11 page uuencoded postscript file, postscript file also available through http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLN