Bell, Jordan R.

Green, David S.

Kirkendall, Jeremy

Kirschbaum, Dalia

Layne, Garrett W.

Lucey, Ronan

Molthan, Andrew L.

Schultz, Lori A.

English

NASA Technical Reports Server

LEVERAGING SATELLITE REMOTE 
SENSING FOR THE MONITORING 
OF THE 2019 SPRING FLOODS
LORI A SCHULTZ, JORDAN R. BELL, ANDREW L. MOLTHAN, 
RONAN LUCEY, JEREMY KIRKENDALL, GARRETT W. LAYNE, 
DALIA KIRSCHBAUM, DAVID S. GREEN
u 
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20200000435 2020-03-11T12:39:23+00:00Z
EVENT BACKGROUND
• HEAVY AND CONSISTENT SNOWFALL THROUGH THE UPPER 
MIDWEST CULMINATING WITH A BOMB CYCLONE ON 3 MARCH 
2019.
• MARCH 13TH: UNSEASONABLY WARM TEMPERATURES CAUSES RAPID 
SNOW MELT AND RUNOFF.  ICE JAMS TRAVEL DOWNSTREAM 
CAUSING FLOODING AND DAMAGE TO LEVEES, DAMS AND 
PROPERTY
• MARCH 14TH: HEAVY RAINS AND SEVERE WEATHER HIT THE AREA, 
CAUSING RIVER GAUGES TO SHOW AT OR ABOVE FLOOD STAGE
• 2019 US SPRING FLOOD OUTLOOK WAS ISSUED 21 MARCH 2019
2019 U.S. Spring Flood Outlook 
Issued March 21 2019 
ThlsU s mapdeplctslocuons..,..,e""""' 
mooera.ta or maior ftooGno JS llk.lft 
(>501!, chanct)~M•O JAatdl - I.lay 2019 
Snow
Clouds
High clouds with 
small ice crystals
Vegetation
Snow
Snow
Clouds
High clouds with 
small ice crystals
Vegetation
Snow
Suomi NPP-VIIRS
False color Recipe 
(Snow/Cloud)
• R:  Blue (M3)
• G:  Short Wave IR 
(I3)
• B:  Short Wave 
(M11)
False Color Recipe 
(Natural Color)
• R:  Short Wave (M11)
• G:  Near IR (I2)
• B:  Red (I1)
,__ 
1 11:ASA WoRLDVIEW 
~ Layers ~ Events .t, Data ~ 
Place Labels CD =: X 
® C OpenStreecMap contnbutors. 
Norural fonh 
Coastlines/ Borders I Roads (i) := X 
® e OpenStreecMap conmbucors, 
Norurol Eanh I 
WATCH THE 
EVENT UNFOLD…
Aqua MODIS Corrected Reflectance
• Bands 7-2-1(SWIR, NIR, Red)
Aqua MODIS Corrected Reflectance
• Bands 3-6-7 (Blue, SWIR, SWIR)
Animated gifs of both the Natural 
color and Snow/Cloud RGBS as 
seen in NASA Worldview 
(worldview.earthdata.nasa.gov)
Animations span from 10 – 30 
March 2019 over the Missouri 
River region.
-
-
-
-
13 March 2019: 
Heavy Snowfall 
hits the Midwest
Unseasonable warm weather and 
heavy rainfall caused rapid melting 
along the Missouri River from South 
Dakota south to Kansas City in the 
coming weeks
18 March 2019: FEMA Region VII sends 
an RFI to FEMA-HQ concerning ice jams 
and flooding in Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri 
and Illinois.  This RFI was shared with 
FEMA partner agencies
Interagency 
Coordination 
calls begin 
Early to 
Mid-March
NASA Disasters produced imagery products from Sentinel 1 A/B, 
Sentinel 2 and Landsat 8 as well as shared MODIS and VIIRS false color 
RGBs and MODIS flood detection maps from GSFC from early March to 
early April and then again from mid-May through early June
20 March 2019: All available 
layers provided to the NGB 
DAART system
26 March 2019: Coordinated with USDA National Agricultural 
Statistics Service (NASS) on the use of the geotiff and vector forms 
of the data for their in-house analyses.  
Provided by FTP download
Early to 
Mid-June
MSFC 2019, Sentinel-2 (ESA) data courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey 
and contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2019
ASF DAAC 2019, contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2019
https://www.nass.usda.gov/Research_and_Science/Disaster-Analysis/2019/Missouri-Illinois-Flooding/2019_Missouri_Illinois_Floods_Inundation_Map.png
HOW BAD WAS IT?
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/144691/historic-floods-inundate-nebraska
Imagery produced or made available by the NASA 
Disasters team from Sentinel 1A/B (in cooperation with 
the Alaska Satellite Facility), Sentinel 2A/B, Landsat 8, 
Aqua/Terra MODIS to multiple partners through the 
NASA Disasters mapping portal (https://arcg.is/0TWjqK)
MSFC, ASF DAAC 2019, contains modified Copernicus Sentinel 
data 2019
SOURCE: GE 07/2018  SOURCE: NASA Sentinel2 
21/03/2019 
Cooper Power 
Plant
River breached 
here, flooding 
some of main 
compound
“Because of the magnitude and extent of the Spring 2019 
Floods, NASS was able to successfully utilize NASA 
Disaster Program’s web services and water extent 
products to provide quantitative and qualitative data 
products for a near real-time response at the request of the 
NASS Nebraska Regional Field Office as well as the NASS 
Agricultural Statistics Board in preparation for the March 
Prospective Plantings Report.”
Rick Mueller, USDA NASS 
Sentinel 1 RGB (above) and Sentinel 2 mNDWI imagery used by the 
Kansas Air National Guard’s Processing, Assessment and Dissemination 
(PAD) unit in support of the State of Nebraska
MSFC 2019, Sentinel-2 (ESA) data courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey 
and contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2019
ASF DAAC 2019, contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2019
ANALYST COMMENT: Flooded image 
is from 16MAR2019.  The following 
slide shows 5 days later.
SOURCE: DAART 
SOURCE: GE 
(4 Jun 2018) 
Red Roof BLDG
ANALYST COMMENT: 
The waters are 
beginning to recede in 
this image; the road 
begins to reappear and 
the grounds around the 
facility are showing 
again.
SOURCE: DAART 
Red Roof BLDG
MSFC 2019, Sentinel-2 (ESA) data courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey and contains 
modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2019
From the Leadership briefing by the Region 7 GIS ORR Reponses Geospatial Office/Mapping Analysis Center, 3/26/2019
Satellite and Modeled Flood Extents Dashboard @ FEMA 
h rnl?web a ~c69 715c08b4ee3b196f20fe75 140 
LESSONS LEARNED AND CONCLUSIONS
• LARGE SCALE EVENT OVER A LONG PERIOD 
OF TIME MADE THE USE OF SATELLITE IMAGERY 
AND DERIVED PRODUCTS (10-30 M) A 
COMPLEMENTARY OPTION TO CAP AND 
AIRCRAFT DAMAGE SURVEYS
• MOST SEVERELY DAMAGED AREAS WILL 
ALWAYS REQUIRE HIGH-RES OR GROUND 
SURVEYS BUT MEDIUM RESOLUTION SATELLITE 
DATA CAN OFFER A LARGE SCALE VIEW 
• SATELLITE AGNOSTIC APPROACH ALLOWED 
FOR GREATER SPATIAL COVERAGE AND 
QUICKER REPEAT TIMES
• TRAINING AND FEEDBACK IS IMPERATIVE TO 
ENSURE THE PRODUCTS ARE BEING USED 
CORRECTLY AND MEETING THE EXPECTATIONS 
OF EACH USER
• ONE USER’S FLOOD IS ANOTHER USERS’ NOISE
• USERS WILL HAVE A WIDE RANGE OF SKILLS
• NEAR-REAL-TIME IMAGERY IS REQUIRED BY ALL 
BUT GIS FORMATS REQUIRED BY USERS VARY 
GREATLY
• BE PREPARED TO ADJUST ON THE FLY
THANK YOU!
• MSFC DISASTER EVENT COORDINATOR
- LORI SCHULTZ: LORI.A.SCHULTZ@NASA.GOV
• MSFC DISASTERS LEAD:
- ANDREW MOLTHAN: ANDREW.MOLTHAN@NASA.GOV
• NASA DISASTERS WEB MAPPING PORTAL/ GIS LEAD:
- JEREMY KIRKENDALL: JEREMEY.J.KIRKENDALL@NASA.GOV
• NASA EARTH SCIENCE DISASTERS PROGRAM MANAGER:
- DAVID GREEN: DAVID.S.GREEN@NASA.GOV


Leveraging Satellite Remote Sensing for the Monitoring of the 2019 Spring Floods

Leveraging Satellite Remote Sensing for the Monitoring of the 2019 Spring Floods

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