Volumetric Quantification of Flash Flood Using Microwave Data on a Watershed Scale in Arid Environments, Saudi Arabia

Jaka Budiman, Jarbou Bahrawi, Asep Hidayatulloh, Mansour Almazroui and Mohamed Elhag
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Jaka Budiman: Department of Hydrology and Water Resources Management, Faculty of Meteorology, Environment & Arid Land Agriculture, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
Jarbou Bahrawi: Department of Hydrology and Water Resources Management, Faculty of Meteorology, Environment & Arid Land Agriculture, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
Asep Hidayatulloh: Department of Hydrology and Water Resources Management, Faculty of Meteorology, Environment & Arid Land Agriculture, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
Mansour Almazroui: Center of Excellence for Climate Change Research, Department of Meteorology, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80208, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
Mohamed Elhag: Department of Hydrology and Water Resources Management, Faculty of Meteorology, Environment & Arid Land Agriculture, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 8, 1-14

Abstract: Actual flood mapping and quantification in an area provide valuable information for the stakeholder to prevent future losses. This study presents the actual flash flood quantification in Al-Lith Watershed, Saudi Arabia. The study is divided into two steps: first is actual flood mapping using remote sensing data, and the second is the flood volume calculation. Two Sentinel-1 images are processed to map the actual flood, i.e., image from 25 May 2018 (dry condition), and 24 November 2018 (peak flood condition). SNAP software is used for the flood mapping step. During SNAP processing, selecting the backscatter data representing the actual flood in an arid region is challenging. The dB range value from 7.23–14.22 is believed to represent the flood. In GIS software, the flood map result is converted into polygon to define the flood boundary. The flood boundary that is overlaid with Digital Elevation Map (DEM) is filled with the same elevation value. The Focal Statistics neighborhood method with three iterations is used to generate the flood surface elevation inside the flood boundary. The raster contains depth information is derived by subtraction of the flood surface elevation with DEM. Several steps are carried out to minimize the overcalculation outside the flood boundary. The flood volume can be derived by the multiplication of flood depth points with each cell size area. The flash flood volume in Al-Lith Watershed on 24 November 2018 is 155,507,439 m 3 . Validity checks are performed by comparing it with other studies, and the result shows that the number is reliable.

Keywords: Al-Lith Watershed; DEM derivatives; interferometry; Sentinel-1 data (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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