INUNDATED AREAS, INCLUDING LAKES, STREAMS, SOME WETLANDS, AS WELL AS EPISODICALLY FLOODED AREAS, PLAY IMPORTANT ROLES IN MANY EARTH SYSTEM PROCESSES AND PROVIDE...

INUNDATED AREAS, INCLUDING LAKES, STREAMS, SOME WETLANDS, AS WELL AS EPISODICALLY FLOODED AREAS, PLAY IMPORTANT ROLES IN MANY EARTH SYSTEM PROCESSES AND PROVIDE A BROAD RANGE OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES. IN THE MEANTIME, THEY ARE BEING LOST AT ALARMING RATES. HOWEVER, PRESENT KNOWLEDGE OF THE SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL DYNAMICS OF TERRESTRIAL INUNDATION IS LIMITED. EXISTING SURFACE WATER MAPS OFTEN DISAGREE ON THE DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT OF RELATIVELY STABLE WATER BODIES, AND WETLANDS AND OTHER EPISODICALLY INUNDATED AREAS THAT ARE MORE DIFFICULT TO MAP ARE AMONG THE LEAST ACCURATE CLASSES IN MANY LAND COVER PRODUCTS. FURTHER, NO EXISTING NATIONAL TO GLOBAL SCALE PRODUCTS PROVIDE NEAR DAILY, SUB-HECTARE DETAILS ON TERRESTRIAL INUNDATION, WHICH ARE CRITICAL FOR FULLY CHARACTERIZING THE DYNAMICS OF MANY INUNDATED AREAS. WHEN COMPLETED IN 2017, THE CONSTELLATIONS OF THE EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY S (ESA) SENTINEL-1 AND -2 TOGETHER WITH LANDSAT-8 WILL, FOR THE FIRST TIME, PROVIDE NEAR DAILY GLOBAL DATASETS AT SUB-HECTARE SPATIAL RESOLUTIONS. THE PRIMARY GOAL OF THIS STUDY IS TO UTILIZE THIS CONSTELLATION OF SATELLITES TO DEVELOP AND DEMONSTRATE IMPROVED CAPABILITY TO MONITOR TERRESTRIAL INUNDATION. WE WILL DEVELOP AUTOMATED ALGORITHMS SUITABLE FOR INUNDATION MONITORING AT THE GLOBAL SCALE USING LANDSAT-8/SENTINEL-2 (L8S2) OPTICAL DATA AND SENTINEL-1 (S1) SAR DATA. THESE ALGORITHMS WILL BE CALIBRATED AND TESTED EXTENSIVELY OVER STUDY AREAS SELECTED FROM DIFFERENT BIOMES, AND WILL BE USED TO GENERATE NEAR DAILY INUNDATION PRODUCTS FOR TEMPERATE, SUBTROPICAL, AND TROPICAL NORTH AMERICA, INCLUDING THE UNITED STATES AND SOUTHERN CANADA.
Solicitation ID/Procurement Identifier: NNX15AK66G
Ultimate Completion Date: Tue Jun 30 17:00:00 GMT