Christian Strobl

A Multi-Scale Flood Monitoring System Based on Fully Automatic MODIS and TerraSAR-X Processing Chains

A two-component fully automated flood monitoring system is described and evaluated. This is a result of combining two individual flood services that are currently under development at DLR’s (German Aerospace Center) Center for Satellite based Crisis Information (ZKI) to rapidly support disaster management activities. A first-phase monitoring component of the system systematically detects potential flood events on a continental scale using daily-acquired medium spatial resolution optical data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). A threshold set controls the activation of the second-phase crisis component of the system, which derives flood information at higher spatial detail using a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) based satellite mission (TerraSAR-X). The proposed activation procedure finds use in the identification of flood situations in different spatial resolutions and in the time-critical and on demand programming of SAR satellite acquisitions at an early stage of an evolving flood situation. The automated processing chains of the MODIS (MFS) and the TerraSAR-X Flood Service (TFS) include data pre-processing, the computation and adaptation of global auxiliary data, thematic classification, and the subsequent dissemination of flood maps using an interactive web-client. The system is operationally demonstrated and evaluated via the monitoring two recent flood events in Russia 2013 and Albania/Montenegro 2013.

Decision support for tsunami early warning in Indonesia : the role of OGC standards

As part of the German contribution to the Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System InaTEWS, an innovative Decision Support System (DSS) has been developed in order to support the tsunami early warning process in an unique way. The paper describes the modular and open environment in which the DSS operates in, its main tasks and components, the Graphical User Interface (GUI) and the focus on standardization and interoperability which led the design and development of the DSS. Emphasis is put on situation assessment and information fusion of geographic, risk and vulnerability, sensor and simulation data. The work presented here is embedded in the German-Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System (GITEWS) project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

Explicit modeling and visualization of imperfect information in the context of decision support for tsunami early warning in Indonesia

A certainty model and appropriate visualization techniques are presented which are applied in a newly developed Decision Support System (DSS) for tsunami early warning deployed in Jakarta, Indonesia. Our decision support approach makes use of multi-sensor fusion and pre-computed tsunami scenario simulations to create situational awareness as basis for reasonable early warning. As the Indonesian coastline is prone to near-field tsunami scenarios decision making must take place under time-critical conditions based on incomplete and uncertain information. In order to reduce the probability and the consequences of a false decision, we have developed and employed a certainty model which implies a classification of imperfect information suitable for the tsunami early warning domain and the quantification of imperfect data. The model is mapped onto and supported by appropriate visual representations.

Open-Source GIS

The components making upan Open Source GIS are explained in this chapter. A map server (Sect. 30.1) can broadly be defined as a software platform for dynamically generating spatially referenced digital map products. The University of Minnesota MapServer (UMN Map Server) is one such system. Its basic features are visualization, overlay, and query. Section 30.2 names and explains many of the geospatial open source libraries, such as GDAL and OGR. The other libraries are FDO, JTS, GEOS, JCS, MetaCRS, and GPSBabel. The application examples include derived GIS-software and data format conversions.

The Integration of an Operational Fire Hot Spots Processing Chain in a Multi-Hazard Emergency Management Service Platform (PHAROS)

The project PHAROS (Project on a Multi-Hazard Open Platform for Satellite Based Downstream Services) designs and implements a multi-hazard open service platform which integrates space-based earth observation, satellite communications and navigation (Galileo/GNSS) assets to provide sustainable (pre-operational) services for a wide variety of users in multi-application domains, such as prediction/early detection of emergencies, population alerting, environmental monitoring and crisis management. While the service platform is designed to be multi-hazard, the specific developments for the pre-operational system and pilot demonstration will be focused on the forest fire scenario. The platform will integrate data from EO satellites and in-situ sensors process it and provide the results to a series of key services for disaster management in its different phases. One of the main concerns is to provide fire hot spots as an input for the PHAROS Simulation Service. These fire hot spots (thermal anomalies) are derived automatically and in near real time (NRT) from MODIS data. The MODIS data are available in a high (1d) temporal and in a medium (250m – 1000m) spatial resolution. For the detection of high temperature events (HTE) the MOD14 algorithm is used. The algorithm is based on the shift of the radiances/reflectance to shorter wavelengths (middle infrared) with an increasing surface temperature. MOD14 is well documented and tested in operational services and guarantees comparability and reproducibility as well as a standardized international acknowledged product. The thermal information is collected at 1000 m spatial resolution twice daily by each sensor (Terra and Aqua) providing up to four thermal observations daily. The MODIS images used for fire detection are acquired from two direct broadcast receiving stations from DLR located in Oberpfaffenhofen and Neustrelitz (Germany). This Poster will give an overview of the processing chain from the reception, the processing and derivation of the fire hot spots to the dissemination in the Pharos system.