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The Shannon Pulse: Forecasting Floodplain Dynamics with SAR

Team Members

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OUR MOTIVATION

Initial Challenge

Researching Dublin Bay phytoplankton (PACE data) was hindered by persistent cloud cover and data gaps.

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The Need 

We needed a technology that could "see through" clouds and darkness.

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The Solution 

Discovered Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) via NASA Space Apps—a true all-weather imaging breakthrough. 

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Our New Goal 

Applying SAR's power to forecast River Shannon flood dynamics.

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Using basic satellite, we can hardly see the river. This is <20% Cloud Cover

Data unusable

Using SAR VV & VH polarization we could see the River details

Data usable

LANDSAT/LC08/C02/T1_L2

December 2015 – February 2016

Sentinel-1/COPERNICUS/S1_GRD

December 2015 – February 2016

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OUR APPROACH

We used Sentinel-1’s dual-polarization C-band SAR data specifically the VV (Vertical-Transmit, Vertical-Receive) and VH (Vertical-Transmit, Horizontal-Receive) polarizations to “look through the mirror” and uncover how different radar responses reveal unique aspects of the River Shannon’s behaviour.

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EVEN DEEPER

Period: 2015-12-01 >> 2016-02-28

Period: 2016-04-01 >> 2016-07-28

Note the floodplains which are areas of noticeable concern.

Click play to watch illustration video on youtube if video does not play: https://youtu.be/uMVuqydUQzI?si=yTx4nOP_lljbf8cn

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GROUND TRUTHING

  • With the help of our tipping gauge and 5TE/Capacitive probe device (still in prototype stage) which we will deploy at the 12 most prominent floodplains.

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  • With the data coming in from the sensors, weather data and SAR data, we will carry out some feature engineering and train our model.

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Wallpaper for fun 4

SCAN THE QR-CODE TO VIEW OUR DEMO