Published: October 31, 2022
G. Robert Brakenridge and Albert J. Kettner
Blue: Permanent Surface Water
Very Light Gray: Estimate of Mean Annual Flood using MODIS and LANDSAT time series data
Gray: Maximum Observed Flooding, all sensors, 1993 to present
Clickable and numbered white circles: River Watch Satellite Gauging Reaches
The Estimate of Mean Annual Flood includes two data layers: 1) Surface water detected in three out of five years by the MODIS sensors (2012-2016), 250 m spatial resolution. 2) Data from the Global Surface Water Explorer, 30 m resolution (the "recurrence" layer). The latter data are from Jean-Francois Pekel, Andrew Cottam, Noel Gorelick, Alan S. Belward, High-resolution mapping of global surface water and its long-term changes. Nature 540, 418-422 (2016). (doi:10.1038/nature20584) Data 'Source: EC JRC/Google. This land floods relatively frequently: on average, 6 out of 10 years, or with a recurrence interval of approximately 1.6 years. For the MODIS information, shadows may cause false-positive "flooding" errors in rugged topography
Maximum observed flooding is a composite of water mapped by DFO since 1993 using a variety of sensors and at spatial resolutions ranging from 10 m to 250 m. This information includes daily MODIS water detection from the near real time flood processor since 2012. Many large floods since 1993 are included but others may have been missed. This land floods infrequently.
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