Understanding what controls the course of the Nile is a critical part of understanding the history of the river that is essential to millions of people in Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia. A team of scientists used data from the spaceborne radar, along with data from two airborne radar systems, to map the Lisbon Bottoms and Jameson Island flood plains of the Missouri River in central Missouri. The flood plain was ravaged by the severe floods of 1993 and, more recently, by floods occurring this year. From this database, the team estimated that the 1993 flood added at least 5 million metric tons of sand to the flood plains study area and eroded about 3 million metric tons of soil. These parameters are very important for damage inventory.
Radar is a natural for flood-monitoring and damage assessment.
It is a new way to assess flood damage because monitoring can be done during the flood and damage assessment can be done using post-flood data. The radar systems are capable of distinguishing between soil moisture and standing bodies of water. Unlike other remote sensing systems, the radar can penetrate a forest canopy and bounce off the water, sending data back to the aircraft or spacecraft. A study of the flooded area over time allowed Arvidson and his group to look at the natural recovery of vegetation as the flood plain returned to normal. Arvidson and his team hope the information gained from their study will provide new ways for environmentalists to manage wetlands in flood-prone areas, such as the Missouri River flood plain they are currently analyzing.