Determination of flood-prone areas using Sentinel-1 Radar images (Case study: Flood on March 2019, Kashkan River, Lorestan Province)

Determination of flood-prone areas using Sentinel-1 Radar images (Case study: Flood on March 2019, Kashkan River, Lorestan Province) Introduction Although natural hazards occur in all parts of the world, their incidence is higher in Asia than in any other part of the world. Natural phenomena are considered as natural hazards when they cause damage or financial losses to human beings. Iran is also one of the high-risk countries in terms of floods. Until 2002, about 467 floods have been recorded by the country's hydrometric stations. In addition to natural factors such as rainfall, researchers consider human impacts such as destruction of vegetation cover, soil destruction, inefficient management, destruction of pastures and forests, and encroachment on the river are the most important factors for the occurrence and damage of floods in the country. One of the most efficient and emerging tools in flood surveys is the use of radar images. SAR images and flood maps produced by radar images provide researchers valuable and reliable information. Moreover, maps obtained from SAR images help officials to manage the crisis and take preventive measures against floods. The Sentinel-1 satellite is part of the Copernicus program, launched by the European Space Agency, and is widely used in mapping flood-prone areas. The contribution of Sentinel-1 to the application of flood mapping arises from the sensitivity of the backscatter signal to open water. This study aims to determine high-risk and flood-prone areas along the Kashkan River using Sentinel-1 radar images. Data and Methods  The study area includes a part of the Kashkan river from Mamolan city to the connection point of this river to Seymareh river, after Pol-dokhtar city. The average annual discharge of the Kashkan river is 33.2 cubic meters per second based on the data of the Pole-Kashkan Station. The length of the river in the study area is about 100 km. To investigate flood-prone areas, we applied pre-processing and image-processing steps to each flood event including SAR images belonging to March 25th, 2019, March 31st 2019, and April 2nd, 2019. SAR images were acquired from ESA Copernicus Open Access Hub. climatic data was downloaded from power.larc.nasa.gov. To create meander cross-sections, the Digital Elevation Model of the studied area was utilized. Cross-sections were created using QGIS software. Pre-processing steps include: applying orbit data, removing SAR thermal noise, calibration of SAR images, de-speckling and topographic correction. In image processing, we applied the Otsu thresholding method to distinguish water pixels from land pixels. In thresholding methods, the histogram of each image is divided into two parts according to the amount of gray composition. The higher the amount of gray (i.e., the pixel tends to be darker), the more pixels represent water, and conversely, the lighter-toned pixels (i.e., pixels that tend to whiten) represent land. The Otsu thresholding method is a commonly used method for water detection in SAR images. It uses an image histogram to determine the correct threshold. The most important feature of the Otsu method is that it is capable of determining the threshold automatically. The Otsu algorithm was applied to all images using MATLAB. Results According to the flood maps, on March 25th, 6.51 percent of the study area was flooded, while on March 31th, only 3.96 percent was flooded. This is mainly due to less precipitation on the 31st. On March 25th the average daily precipitation was 47.46 mm while on 31st of March the average daily precipitation was 31.64 mm. On April 2nd, however, there was no rainfall, on the day before more than 63 mm of precipitation has occurred. This massive amount of precipitation on the previous day has led to more than 25km2 being flooded in the studied area. Conclusion Results showed that meanders and their surrounding areas are the most dangerous sections in terms of flooding. The meander's dynamic and the river's hydrologic processes are essential factors affecting flooding in those sections. Generally, various factors affect flooding and the damage caused by it. This study aimed to determine flooded and flood-prone areas (according to flooded areas in previous events) using new methods in a short time and with high accuracy to use this tool for more accurate zoning and efficient planning in the future. The results showed that radar images are practical, robust, and reliable tools for determining flooded areas, especially for rapid and near-real-time studies of flood events. Keywords: Floods, Radar images, Sentinel-1Satelitte, Kashkan river