Near real-time monitoring of river ice in support of flood forecasting in eastern Canada: towards the integration of Earth observation technology in flood hazard mitigation

The development of ice covers on large rivers can result in ice jamming and flooding of large areas. The seventy and economic impact of floods related to ice jams is exacerbated by the danger of post-flooding freeze-up. This study is the first step towards the integration of satellite SAR imagery into operational flood forecasting of river ice on the Exploits River near the Town of Badger, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Due to the location of the current area of interest within the monitoring mask of the Canadian Ice Service, this study utilized RADARSAT-1 Scan SAR imagery. The images were analyzed in near real-time, geometrically corrected to a base map in UTM coordinates and subjected to a visual interpretation. In addition to the location of the ice front, four interpretative ice classes were identified and extracted from the image data. This information was subsequently compared to a predictive model used to forecast the development of the ice cover and the progression of the ice front on the Exploits River.