Active and passive microwave systems in the assessment of flooded area fraction and mean water level in the Paraná River floodplain

Abstract

This paper describes a procedure to estimate both the fraction of flooded area and the mean water level in vegetated river floodplains by using a synergy of passive and active microwave signatures. In particular, AMSR-E at X band, and C band ENVTSAT ASAR in Wide Swath mode and ALOS PALSAR in WB1 mode, are used. The method, which is an extension of previously developed algorithms based on passive data, exploits also model simulations of vegetation emissivity. The procedure is applied to two flooding events which occurred in the Paraná River Delta in 2007 and from December 2009 to April 2010. Obtained results are consistent with in situ measurements of river water level.