This service portfolio of flood risk analysis products is fully in support of the requirements of the EU Flood Directive and is indispensable in the prevention, crisis or post-crisis phase of flood risks and emergency situations. Within the project RiskEOS, customized Flood Risk Analysis products were provided to risk management duties of Slovakia and Bulgaria, respectively for the Danube River Basin and the Maritsa Catchment.
Over the last decennia many regions in Europe have suffered from natural hazards. Disasters like e.g. floods are affecting people more than ever. The threatening of human life and property enhances the need of an effective risk management. The “Flood Risk Analysis” services of EUROSENSE comprise information about past and potential flood events as well as an estimation of potential damages and losses. By integration of these data into management systems an efficient and supportive use of information is enabled.
One part of the Flood Risk Analysis services of EUROSENSE comprises the mapping of “Past Flood Events” .These products are not generated in real time, but from archive data. Based on satellite observation data this product identifies the flood extent of former events at the time of image acquisition. The resulting geo-information is very interesting among others for flood risk preparedness and the planning of protection measures e.g. construction of dams and infrastructures.
Fig.1 represents the Past Flood Extent of the flood event occurred in August 2002 in Slovakia (background (Fig.1A)© SPOTimage; (Fig.1B) CORINE2000 Land Cover
Besides the mapping of “Past Flood Events” EUROSENSE offers the simulation of “Flood Hazard Maps” . Flood hazard modelling provides a multiplicity of information on flood risk zones. Historical or statistical hydraulic data together with topographic information and land use information are used as input to a quasi-2D hydraulic simulation model. The Flood Hazard Maps give an idea on the potential flood extent and expansion, the run velocity and the run direction. This product can be used by the customers to analyze the consequences of possible scenarios (dam failure, extreme events…) and to calculate the potential damage.
The damage assessment product also called “Flood Risk Map”, is also contained by the Flood Risk Analysis portfolio of EUROSENSE. The damage calculation can be based on the simulation results of the “Flood Hazard product” but also on ”Past Flood Maps”, respectively resulting in a potential damage assessment map or a past damage assessment map. The calculation of “Flood Risk Maps” is modeled using – among others – damage functions, land use information and ancillary data. Damage functions express the relation between the susceptibility of assets at risk and certain characteristics, example given the inundation depth.
The cooperation with several end-users proved their interest in the Flood Risk Analysis services. Moreover the Flood Risk Analysis products offered by EUROSENSE are all required for the implementation of the Flood Directive.
Fig.2 represents the city of Bratislava, situated along the Danube River in Slovakia. Fig.2A: the inundation depths for a simulated dam break event, Fig.2B: the potential damage map, Fig. 2C: detailed view on the potential damage map (background imagery © EUROSENSE)
Fig.3 represents the city of Pazardzhik, situated along the banks of the Maritsa River in Bulgaria (© EUROSENSE). Fig.3A: the land use map for Pazardzhik, Fig.3B: the simulated inundation depths for a flood event, Fig. 3C: the potential damage map (background imagery © IRS).
A main input to the Flood Risk Analysis services are land use maps. They can be used to take into account the friction of the several land use classes influencing the propagation of a flood in the Flood Hazard Modelling process. Detailed and up-to-date land use information enhances the estimation of the flood damage to a certain region. The land use maps can also be used as background for the visualization of the past flood maps. EUROSENSE is experienced in EO-land services and developed a specialized classification procedure, based on satellite or digital aerial imagery, which results in detailed and accurate urban/regional land-use and/or land-use change maps.
In regions with a lot of new developments and changes, the existing cartographic material which represents the actual situation is not updated frequently (every 5 or 10 years) and can’t catch up with the changes on the terrain. This can have disastrous consequences when acting in a crisis-situation. The service “Detection and Monitoring of Elements at Risk” of EUROSENSE provides a regularly updated cartography of urban areas in a fixed period of time, depending on the customer requirements. This service makes it possible to frequently provide several end-users with up-to-date maps. The overall focus of the service is to locate and to identify all civilian elements contained by areas prone to risk of natural disaster.
This portfolio shows EUROSENSE’s thorough experience in risk management services. All these described services were also produced and delivered in the frame of the GMES-project RISK-EOS, funded by ESA. Besides Risk-EOS, EUROSENSE is actively involved in several other GMES-projects including the development of the European Urban Atlas product (project GMES Urban Services & GSE-Land).
For more information on these services, we refer to the following contact information:
EUROSENSE Belfotop N.V Belgium
Address: Nerviërslaan 54, B-1780 Wemmel, BELGIUM
Phone: +32 (0)2 460 70 00
Fax: +32 (0)2 460 49 58
Website: http://www.eurosense.com
EUROSENSE S.R.O. Slovakia
Address: Kutuzovova 13, SK-831 03 Bratislava, SLOVAKIA
Phone: +421 (0)2 49 20 37 40
Fax: +421 (0)2 49 20 37 41
Website: http://www.eurosense.sk
EUROSENSE EOOD Bulgaria
Address: Gioeshevo Street 83, Business Center Serdika, 1330 Sofia, BULGARIA
Phone: + 359 (0) 2 920 04 77
Fax: + 359 (0) 2 920 02 59
Website: http://www.eurosense.com