Thursday 17 December 2015

Flood Maps and Copernicus Emergency Services

I normally try and limit myself to 4 or 5 posts a month so I don't use all the content up, but with a week still to go until the Christmas break, so much is happening right now that I can't save it all until the new year. Drone regulation updates, Innovation 2020, an updated Marine Mapping Atlas - but undoubtedly the top story of the month is the severe flooding around the countryside, and particularly near Limerick (Parteen Weir). It is good to see the Copernicus Emergency Services in action and providing tangible benefits to the Irish taxpayer as it is their money that goes into ESA.





These images are generally pre-event optical used as a reference and post-event SAR highlighting the extent flooding, either Sentinel 1a, or Terra-SAR X among others. Unsurprisingly in periods of bad weather, the view from optical satellites such as Sentinel 2a is obscured by cloud throughout the whole event - so the weather independent benefits of SAR are highlighted once again. Almost daily reports from Copernicus Emergency Services are available once the service is activated, providing response teams and other organisations with updated info. Here is an example.





A valuable resource.

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About Me

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My name is Conor. I am a Lecturer at the Department of Geography at Maynooth University. These few lines will (hopefully) chart my progress through academia and the world of research.