Orbital SAR remote sensing of a river flood wave

During the Great Flood of summer 1993 in the Upper Mississippi Valley, the European Remote Sensing Satellite (ERS-1) imaged overbank flooding with a ground resolution of ca 25 m. When combined with topographic information, these data permit measurement of instantaneous longitudinal profiles of individual flooded valleys. Along a major tributary to the Mississippi in southwestern Wisconsin, a measured in-transit flood wave exhibits an amplitude of 1.5-2.0 m, and can be differentiated from a constant discharge, step backwater-modelled water surface for a distance of 5 km along the valley.