FLASH FLOOD AREA MAPPING UTILISING SENTINEL-1 RADAR DATA

The new European Observatory radar data of polar orbiting satellite system Sentinel-1 provide a continuous and systematic data acquisition, enabling flood events monitoring and mapping. The study area is the basin of Sperchios River in Fthiotida Prefecture, Central Greece, having an increased ecological, environmental and socio-economic interest. The catchment area and especially the river delta, faces several problems and threats caused by anthropogenic activities and natural processes. The geomorphology of Sperchios catchment area and the drainage network formation provoke the creation of floods. A large flash flood event took place in late January early February 2015 following an intense and heavy rainfall that occurred in the area. Two space born radar images, obtained from Sentinel-1 covering the same area, one before and another one during the flood event, were processed. Two different methods were utilized so as to produce flood hazard maps, which demonstrate the inundated areas. The results of the two methods were similar and the flooded area was detected and delineated ideally.