Evaluation of the Nile River flooding in the Khartoum capital using Sentinel-1 imagery

Muhagir Elkamali, Abduelgadir Abuelgasim

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

In the past few months historical rainfalls have been recorded in the African great lakes area and on the Blue Nile basin. This significant rainfall has led to major floods along both the Blue and White Niles resulting in a devastating loss of life, property, and wealth in both Ethiopia and Sudan. Khartoum, the capital city of Sudan, witnessed the highest level of the Nile River since the previous highest levels in 1988. This study aims to map the flood-damaged area around the two main tributaries of the Nile River; the White Nile and the Blue Nile. This study evaluates the flooded area around both the White Nile and the Blue Nile inside Sudan using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) technology. This technology is an inevitable data source for flood mapping and monitoring due to it is the ability to acquire data over Earth’s surface during any weather conditions and day or night. Sentinel-1 data (C-band) presents a valuable data source to map the flood-damaged area due to it is sensitivity to water bodies and moisture content and more important a free data access to the Sentinel-1 within 24 hours from acquisition. Moreover, the temporal resolution of Sentinel-1 data enables flood mapping in near real-time. Our approach combined elevation and land cover data with Sentinel-1 data to evaluate the flood-damaged area. Mapping the flood-damaged areas relied on the SAR statistics after radiometric and geometric corrections. Classification techniques have been performed to map the flooded areas and land cover data have been superimposed to separate the main water body from the flood-damaged area. Sentinel-1 data acquired during Fall (June, July, and August) have been processed. A comparison between the flooded areas in the White Nile and the Blue Nile has been conducted to evaluate the damage contribution at Khartoum capital. The processed data showed that the flood event started at the White Nile in the middle of July while the flood event started at the Blue Nile late by the middle of August. This approach presents a free tool for flooding disaster monitoring for early warning to enable fast flood response.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationACRS 2020 - 41st Asian Conference on Remote Sensing
PublisherAsian Association on Remote Sensing
ISBN (Electronic)9781713829089
Publication statusPublished - 2020
Event41st Asian Conference on Remote Sensing, ACRS 2020 - Deqing City, Virtual, China
Duration: Nov 9 2020Nov 11 2020

Publication series

NameACRS 2020 - 41st Asian Conference on Remote Sensing

Conference

Conference41st Asian Conference on Remote Sensing, ACRS 2020
Country/TerritoryChina
CityDeqing City, Virtual
Period11/9/2011/11/20

Keywords

  • Flood
  • Khartoum
  • Nile River
  • SAR
  • Sentinel-1

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Computer Networks and Communications

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