Flood inundation map of Bangladesh using MODIS time-series images

The detection of the spatio-temporal extent of inundation resulting from the floods in 2004 and 2007 in Bangladesh has been studied using time-series MODIS surface reflectance data. Flood inundation maps were developed from vegetation and land water surface indices derived using surface reflectance. The inundation map developed using MODIS data was compared with a corresponding RADAR-SAT image, where both images refer to the satellite-based remote-sensing data. The estimates show a strong correlation with the inundation area derived from the RADAR-SAT products (coefficient of determination of R(2) : 0.96). The paper shows that it is possible to study flood dynamics by assessing inundation and recession patterns and to perform flood assessments similar to the high-resolution (50 m) microwave satellite, RADARSAT-based flood assessments using products derived from MODIS 500 m imagery. MODIS has advantages over microwave satellite because it has a high observational frequency and these data are available free of cost. We have concluded that this is a useful method to assess the extent of the temporal floods in the People's Republic of Bangladesh.