Floods and Forest Fires From Space

by ScienceDave | July 27, 2007 at 02:19 pm | 1809 views | 6 comments

The European Space Agency released photos today from its Envisat satellite, documenting from space the worst flooding of the river Thames last week. (click here for NowPublic Article)

You can plainly see the river overflowing over between the 8 day period (see image).

With inundated areas typically visible from space, Earth Observation (EO) is increasingly being used for flood response and mitigation. In October 2000, ESA and the French space agency (CNES) initiated the International Charter on 'Space and Major Disasters', a joint initiative for providing emergency response satellite data free of charge to those affected by disasters anywhere in the world. On 24 July, the UK Environment Agency requested the aid of the Charter.

As of 9:30pm local time today, one region is still under Severe Flooding warning, while 9 are under a flood warning, 47 under a flood watch, and 18 regions are in the clear. [source]

Further information on your area can be obtained from the UK Environment Agency's Floodline: 0845 988 1188.

ESA satellites have also documented the current forest fires burning through southern European countries. The New York Times reports 3 dead in Greece due to the fires, while 100's of other fires burned through Italy, Croatia, Serbia, and Romania.

A heat wave that has hit Romania in the past week has killed at least 18 people and caused hundreds to collapse in the street, authorities said. Temperatures are expected to hover above 100 in the south and east for the next two days, and reach 108 in some areas.

In Greece and Italy, officials have blamed some fires on arson motivated by attempts to clear land for development. But soaring temperatures from the region's second heat wave in as many months have also contributed to the fires by leaving vast swathes of the region parched.

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liamssoft

at 14:47 on July 27th, 2007

good stuff:

nouseforadave, Thank you for a brilliant article. Good stuff.

kkaefer

at 16:29 on July 27th, 2007

good stuff:

nouseforadave, amazing photos! Thanks for writing that article

ryan

at 16:59 on July 27th, 2007

good stuff:

nouseforadave, Good Stuff. Very interesting, this is a new type of media and way of documenting world events. I'm sure the technology will soon be available for public consumption which will allow us to see military actions and gatherings of large crowds...wow!