Damage Assessment Based on SAR Image Analysis: Flood Scenario for Romanian Eastern Carpathian Region

When natural disasters occur, it is necessary for the authorities to make fast and effective decisions in order to prevent the occurrence of more damage, as well as to find solutions for the affected population that needs to be relocated. Satellite imagery can prove to be a useful instrument in decision support during emergency situations of such nature (floods), and especially SAR data, due to its all weather capabilities. This paper makes an assessment of the utility of satellite radar products (TerraSAR-X and Radarsat) in the frame of emergency situations management. A real case study is presented, where radar data were processed by human specialists on one hand, and automatically on the other hand, using an intelligent information extraction system.