Massive German floods monitored from space (Forwarded)

ESA News
http://www.esa.int

13 April 2006

Massive German floods monitored from space

Torrential rain and melting snow caused Germany's Elbe River to rise to a
record high level in northern parts of the country over the weekend,
flooding cities and damaging historic town centres. ESA's ERS-2 satellite
has been monitoring the situation from space.

The medieval city of Hitzacker, located in Lower Saxony about 100
kilometres from the Baltic Sea, was one of the hardest-hit areas with the
Elbe reaching 7.63 metres -- almost three times its normal level -- on
Sunday, threatening severe damage to 16th and 17th century houses.

Flooding is estimated to be the world's most costly kind of natural
disaster. With inundated areas typically visible from orbit, Earth
Observation (EO) is increasingly being used for flood response and
mitigation.

In October 2000, the International Charter on Space and Major Disasters
was initiated representing a joint effort by global space agency members
to provide resources to rescue authorities responding to major natural or
man-made disasters. ESA is a founder member of the Charter.

Under the umbrella of the Charter, the German Joint Information and
Situation Centre (GMLZ) requested maps of Germany's flooded region. The
Charter then processed this request and recruited the German Aerospace
Center (DLR) to produce the maps using satellite images provided by the
space agencies. ERS-2 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images were one of
the main sources of images used to delineate the flooded areas.

DLR performed this service under the scope of the Risk-EOS service network
-- an initiative of ESA offering EO-based operational services for flood
risk management, including rapid mapping of major disasters.

Risk-EOS is part of ESA's initial Services Element of Global Monitoring
for Environment and Security (GMES), a joint initiative between ESA and
the European Commission to develop a global monitoring capability for
Europe harnessing all available ground- and space-based data sources.

The federal departments for flood protection and water management of the
German states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Brandenburg and Lower Saxony,
along with the city of Dresden's Department for Environment, used these
maps. The police department of Potsdam also used the information to
coordinate their forces.

By Tuesday, the severe flooding in Germany had abated but saturated dykes
in some areas are still under strain. Some 3 000 rescue workers have been
deployed to the affected areas in recent days to reinforce dykes and
distribute sandbags along the Elbe.

Hitzacker officials have said the Elbe's water level reached 13
centimetres higher than it did in the devastating floods in the summer of
2002, which saw water levels reach 150-year highs across parts of Central
and Eastern Europe.

Related news

* Satellite flood mapping service strengthens eastern France civil
protection
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMWMDMVGJE_index_0.html
* Central European flood surges watched from orbit
http://www.esa.int/esaEO/SEMFGX95QCE_index_0.html
* Disaster Charter brings satellites to bear on Romanian flooding
http://www.esa.int/esaEO/SEM20J808BE_index_0.html
* Satellite survey of Elbe flood helps Swiss Re insure for disaster
http://www.esa.int/esaEO/SEMR8C6Y3EE_index_0.html

Related Missions

* ERS overview
http://www.esa.int/esaEO/SEMGWH2VQUD_index_0_m.html

In depth

* International Charter on Space and Major Disasters
http://www.disasterscharter.org/
* Risk-EOS Site
http://www.risk-eos.com/
* GMES
http://www.esa.int/esaLP/LPgmes.html

Related links

* DLR Center for Satellite Based Crisis Information (ZKI)
http://www.zki.caf.dlr.de/intro_en.html

[NOTE: Images supporting this release are available at
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMRPVNFGLE_index_1.html ]