Monitoring and Mapping Floodplains with Satellite Imagery and LiDAR

Measuring floodplains and monitoring the impact of water plays a crucial role in asset management, especially as major agencies and utilities anticipate and plan for emergency response after storms. From design grade LiDAR products to aerial or satellite imagery, Skytec provides a high level of detail for clients seeking this type of specialized data acquisition.

Evaluating Risk to Existing Assets

As the globe warms and natural disasters, including hurricanes, tornados, droughts, and floods, become more frequent and increase in intensity, every individual, company, and utility needs to be aware of assets before a storm or natural disaster occurs. In addition to providing insight for asset management, Skytec has the ability to provide high-resolution imagery before and after a storm or other weather event.

“Through our partnership with Planet, we can provide high-resolution satellite imagery to monitor any kind of natural disaster, including flooding,” says Bill Rogers, CEO of Skytec. “We work with clients for emergency planning to prepare before storms. That mapping and data acquisition enables us to monitor change detection after a storm or flood.”

In June, Planet increased its spatial resolution of tasking satellites (SkySat) from 70 cm to 50 cm, allowing for a more precise view of conditions on the ground and adding more granular context to decision-making.

Pairing High-Level Images with Detailed Data

For premium asset management services, Skytec pairs high-resolution satellite images with its suite of data acquisition tools, including LiDAR captured through UAS. This level of detail provides a clear picture of assets for decision-makers, particularly for mapping areas in potential floodplains or near stream habitats.

“We’re able to pair satellite imagery with the aerial LiDAR, captured through UAS, to provide a highly detailed view of a stream habitat, for example, based on different flooding and water flow events,” says Andy Carroll, CTO at Skytec. “We can evaluate potential impacts on a stream and monitor that area with satellite imagery, particularly after a storm or weather event.”

Skytec contributed to a community initiative to map damage from the Chattanooga area’s tornadoes in April. Using satellite imagery, the Skytec team worked with community partners to map the path of the tornado and damaged areas, creating a tornado impact index. As part of this evaluation, Skytec detected changes to the South Chickamauga Creek watershed, similar to data they’ve compiled around bodies of water for other clients.
 

A Global Reach for Data Acquisition

“As a team, we’ve completed extensive wetlands mapping and monitoring,” Rogers says. “We’ve helped clients with environmental design work, stream restoration, flow models, and preparing for weather events. Our tools have greatly expanded with the addition of Planet’s satellite imagery. We’ve stepped up our capabilities of what we can provide clients.”

Across the United States, satellite and LiDAR mapping played a role in recovery from major flooding events, including the 2017 Hurricane Harvey in Houston and the May 2020 flooding and dam breach in Michigan.

“The combination of LiDAR and satellite imagery is revolutionizing the capabilities of teams like Skytec,” Carroll says. “As more extreme weather events happen and more cities are building in floodplains, utilities and agencies need high-accuracy floodplain maps.”

Rogers stresses the reach of Planet imaging beyond the United States.

“With the power of satellite imaging through our partnership with Planet, we have the capability to monitor weather events across the globe,” he says. “We aren’t limited to domestic response — if a huge weather event is happening anywhere on Earth, we have the capability to connect quickly and help prepare for that storm or offer post-storm data. Satellite imagery gives us a global reach.”

If your business is in need of floodplain mapping or other premium data acquisition and analysis, contact Skytec today.