4D Floodplain representation in

hydrologic flood forecasting

Chandana Gangodagamage, Thomas Adams, Youssef Loukili,

and Zhe Li

Floodplain boundaries for variable water levels

4D Floodplain representation is presented for variable water levels

4D metric: distance along the main stem, flow depth, lateral distance from river
center line with the fourth dimension, time/variable water levels

Inundation boundary
at 5 m water stage
(t=t2)

Main
stem

VL(X,D,t)
VR(X,D,t)

Inundation boundary
at 2 m water stage
(t=t1)

Scope of Presentation

Data complexity (spatial and temporal) for mapping flood plains using remote
sensing data

Inconsistencies caused by different environmental conditions (Clouds, Aerosols, Water

Vapor, Ice and Snow), so as it can offer standardized imagery regardless of where or
when the data was captured

Mapping flood plain boundaries for variable water stages from satellite data

Flood plain width as a function of time at a given reach

Delineating Flood plain width from Landsat data using machine learning algorithms

Mapping floodplain boundaries using computational algorithms

Computational capabilities (cloud computing..)

Example using LiDAR data

Future Direction

Data complexity(spatial and

temporal)

SWIR bands can pass through water vapor and CO2 and other ~atmospheric substance

Data complexity(spatial and

temporal)

Flood inundation boundaries for ASTER thermal data

Inconsistencies caused by different environmental conditions

LiDAR point cloud

Vegetation
returns
Bare earth
points

Flood inundation width

Change detection in complex channel geometry

Gangodagamage et at. (2007), Rowland and Gangodagamage et al. (2014)

Broad Scale Landscape Classification

Mackenzie River, NWT Canada

Pleasant River, MA, USA

(a)

(b)

0.6

Region-A

0.2

50

100

150

Directed distance (m)

200

normalized <S> (m/m)

normalized <S> (m/m)

normalized <S> (m/m)

0.8

0
0

(c)

0.4

SF Eel, CA, USA

0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0

Region-A
50

100

150

Directed distance (m)

200

0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0

Region-A
50

100

150

Directed distance (m)

200

Objectives of Characterization different for different disciplines: Hydrology, ecology, Geomorphology,

Remote Sensing, Numerical computations, and Machine Learning (need Powerful Toolboxes)

Creating Grids from Polygonal Ground Characteristics

Topographic statistics

Generate synthetic geometries

Polygonal topographic mesh

.or real geometries

Use synthetically generated mesh or working with real polygon data (NGEE)

Grand Challenges: Computational capability (cloud computing..)

A developer in Google Earth Engine Trusted Tester

Grand Challenges: Computational capability

A developer in Google Earth Engine Trusted Tester

Scope of Presentation

Data complexity (spatial and temporal) for mapping flood plains using remote
sensing data

Inconsistencies caused by different environmental conditions (Clouds, Aerosols, Water

Vapor, Ice and Snow), so as it can offer standardized imagery regardless of where or
when the data was captured

Mapping flood plain boundaries for variable water stages from satellite data

Flood plain width as a function of time at a given reach

Delineating Flood plain width from Landsat data using machine learning algorithms

Mapping floodplain boundaries using computational algorithms

Computational capabilities (cloud computing..)

Example using LiDAR data

Future Direction

Pearl River flood plain extent

@2 ft

@4ft

@6ft

@8ft

@10ft

Flood inundation contours (normalized to water levels at main

stem)

Scope of Presentation

Data complexity (spatial and temporal) for mapping flood plains using remote
sensing data

Inconsistencies caused by different environmental conditions (Clouds, Aerosols, Water

Vapor, Ice and Snow), so as it can offer standardized imagery regardless of where or
when the data was captured

Mapping flood plain boundaries for variable water stages from satellite data

Flood plain width as a function of time at a given reach

Delineating Flood plain width from Landsat data using machine learning algorithms

Mapping floodplain boundaries using computational algorithms

Computational capabilities (cloud computing..)

Example using LiDAR data

Future Direction

Example: Ohio River basin

Flood inundation boundary (on 04/25/2014)

200000

USGSsite 03378500
100000

USGSsite 03377500

0
5/6/2013 0:00 8/14/2013 0:0011/22/2013 0:00 3/2/2014 0:00 6/10/2014 0:00 9/18/2014 0:0012/27/2014 0:00 4/6/2015 0:00 7/15/2015 0:0010/23/2015 0:00
# DD parameter Description
# Discharge, cubic feet per second
# Gage height, feet

Flood inundation boundary (on 4/12/2015)

200000

USGSsite 03378500
100000

USGSsite 03377500

0
5/6/2013 0:00 8/14/2013 0:0011/22/2013 0:00 3/2/2014 0:00 6/10/2014 0:00 9/18/2014 0:0012/27/2014 0:00 4/6/2015 0:00 7/15/2015 0:0010/23/2015 0:00
# DD parameter Description
# Discharge, cubic feet per second
# Gage height, feet

Boundary delineation and vectorizations

200000

USGSsite 03378500
100000

USGSsite 03377500

0
5/6/2013 0:00 8/14/2013 0:0011/22/2013 0:00 3/2/2014 0:00 6/10/2014 0:00 9/18/2014 0:0012/27/2014 0:00 4/6/2015 0:00 7/15/2015 0:0010/23/2015 0:00
# Discharge, cubic feet per second
# Gage height, feet

Skeleton for flood inundations derived from machine

learning algorithm

200000

USGSsite 03378500
100000

USGSsite 03377500

0
5/6/2013 0:00 8/14/2013 0:0011/22/2013 0:00 3/2/2014 0:00 6/10/2014 0:00 9/18/2014 0:0012/27/2014 0:00 4/6/2015 0:00 7/15/2015 0:0010/23/2015 0:00
# Discharge, cubic feet per second
# Gage height, feet

Similar flood event in April 2014

200000

USGSsite 03378500
100000

USGSsite 03377500

0
5/6/2013 0:00 8/14/2013 0:0011/22/2013 0:00 3/2/2014 0:00 6/10/2014 0:00 9/18/2014 0:0012/27/2014 0:00 4/6/2015 0:00 7/15/2015 0:0010/23/2015 0:00
# Discharge, cubic feet per second
# Gage height, feet

Scope of Presentation

Data complexity (spatial and temporal) for mapping flood plains using remote
sensing data

Inconsistencies caused by different environmental conditions (Clouds, Aerosols, Water

Vapor, Ice and Snow), so as it can offer standardized imagery regardless of where or
when the data was captured

Mapping flood plain boundaries for variable water stages from satellite data

Flood plain width as a function of time at a given reach

Delineating Flood plain width from Landsat data using machine learning algorithms

Mapping floodplain boundaries using computational algorithms

Computational capabilities (cloud computing..)

Example using LiDAR data

Future Direction

HEC-RAS and RAS Mapper: Inundation depth

Interpolations between Cross section

Flood plain geometries

are correlated with
channel longitudinal
profiles

Normalized DEM: Elevation are recalculated using a

flow direction algorithm from the stream network

Zero elevation at the stream

network
Flow direction algorithm is
used to identify the next
pixels with lowest elevation
from the river to map the
flood inundations when river
stage increases
Each pixel locations at the
main stem can map the left
and right inundation
boundaries for varying flow
depths

Inundation boundary at different water stages

Inundation boundary at 8 ft water stage

Inundation boundary at 6 ft water stage

Inundation boundary at 4 ft water stage

Inundation boundary at 2 ft water stage

Inundation boundary at different water stages

Inundation boundary at 2 m water stage

Inundation boundary at 5 m water stage

Future direction

Time series of Landsat, ASTER, and other high resolution imageries provide
detailed information about flood inundation boundaries and water inundation
flow paths for variable water stages at reach scale

LiDAR and other high resolution digital elevation model (DEM) data can be used to
route the water from main stem to flood plain and can delineate flood inundation
boundaries using computation algorithms

By fusing information on water inundation flow paths from visible/near IR satellite

images and water routing details from digital elevation model data, we can map
flood inundation boundaries for variable water stages compute from hydrologic
models

Any questions?