Monitoring Coastal Inundation with Synthetic Aperture Radar Satellite Data

The use of satellite-based Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) to monitor coastal Louisiana inundation was evaluated by the Remote Sensing Applied Research group at the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) National Wetlands Research Center. This initial applied research emphasized preparation of flood distribution maps for coastal Louisiana. The research included data collected by the Phased Array type L-band SAR (PALSAR) sensor onboard the Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) and the Advanced SAR (ASAR) sensor onboard Envisat.