European Association of Remote Sensing Companies Sentinels Benefits Study (SeBS) A Case Study Flood Management in Ireland December 2018 SeBS-CR-002 v0.1 Page 1 December 2018 Client: ESA Client Representative: Alessandra Tassa Date of Delivery: December 2018 Version: Final Author(s): Lefteris Mamais (EARSC) Marc de Vries (The Greenland) Nikolay Khabarov (IIASA) Reviewer Alessandra Tassa (ESA) Version No Date Comment 01 April 2018 First Draft 02 May 2018 Revisions to Structure 03 June 2018 First Complete Draft 04 August 2018 Next to final Draft 05 December 2018 Final For more information contact: • EARSC: [email protected] • ESA: [email protected] Funded by the EU and ESA - ESA Contract Number: 4000119743/17/I-SBo. The views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Space Agency or the European Union. Cover Image: Flooding River Shannon, Ireland, taken on 11 December 2015. Credit: Irish Defence Forces SeBS-CR-002 v0.1 Page 2 December 2018 Table of Contents 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 6 1.1 The context of this study ....................................................................................................................... 6 1.2 What is this case study about ................................................................................................................ 7 1.3 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................... 8 2 Flood Management in Ireland ............................................................................................................. 9 2.1 In the eye of the storm .......................................................................................................................... 9 2.1.1 The record-breaking Winter of 2015-16: Ireland hit by heavy storms .................................................................... 9 2.2 Impacts of Flooding ............................................................................................................................. 10 2.2.1 Tangible impacts ................................................................................................................................................... 10 2.2.2 Intangible impacts................................................................................................................................................. 11 2.3 The Irish flood management mechanism ............................................................................................ 13 2.3.1 Prevention ............................................................................................................................................................ 14 2.3.2 Preparedness and early warning........................................................................................................................... 15 2.3.3 Response ............................................................................................................................................................... 17 2.3.4 Recovery ............................................................................................................................................................... 18 2.4 Informed decisions, coordinated actions and effective interventions ................................................ 20 2.4.1 Historic Flood Data................................................................................................................................................ 20 2.4.2 Hydrometric and Meteorological Data ................................................................................................................. 20 2.4.3 Topographical surveys .......................................................................................................................................... 21 2.4.4 Limitations ............................................................................................................................................................ 21 3 Satellite data for flood management ................................................................................................. 22 3.1 General introduction on the use of satellite data for flood mapping ................................................. 22 3.1.1 How can satellites map and monitor flood events ............................................................................................... 22 3.1.2 Advantages ........................................................................................................................................................... 25 3.1.3 Limitations ............................................................................................................................................................ 26 3.2 The Copernicus Emergency Management Service .............................................................................. 27 3.2.1 Rapid Mapping ...................................................................................................................................................... 28 3.2.2 EFAS ...................................................................................................................................................................... 31 3.2.3 Risk and Recovery ................................................................................................................................................. 32 3.2.4 Validation .............................................................................................................................................................. 33 3.3 How that data became available into the Irish setting ........................................................................ 33 4 The use of satellite data across the value chain ................................................................................. 35 4.1 The value chain related to the Winter floods of 2015/16 ................................................................... 35 4.2 Stakeholders interests and responsibilities ......................................................................................... 35 4.2.1 Tier 1 – The satellite-based service: Copernicus Emergency Management Service.............................................. 36 4.2.2 Tier 2 – The Primary users: Irish National Coordination Authorities..................................................................... 36 4.2.3 Tier 3 – The downstream users: the relevant local and regional Authorities ....................................................... 38 4.2.4 Tier 4 – Citizens of affected Areas......................................................................................................................... 39 4.3 Main take away for the next chapter .................................................................................................. 41 5 Assessing the value of Satellite Data in Flood Management .............................................................. 43 5.1 Calculating the benefits ....................................................................................................................... 45 5.1.1 Tier 1: The satellite-based service: Copernicus Emergency Management Service ............................................... 45 5.1.2 Tier 2: The Primary users: Irish National Coordination Authorities ...................................................................... 46 5.1.3 Tier 3: Office of Public Works and Local Authorities ............................................................................................. 47 5.1.4 Tier 4: Irish citizens, businesses and public sector bodies .................................................................................... 53 5.2 Wrap up and conclusions .................................................................................................................... 68 SeBS-CR-002 v0.1 Page 3 December 2018 6 Summary of Findings & Conclusions .................................................................................................. 69 6.1 Benefit to Ireland ................................................................................................................................. 69 6.2 Scalability ............................................................................................................................................. 70 Annex 1: References and Sources ............................................................................................................. 72 Annex 2: General Approach and Methodology ......................................................................................... 73 Annex 3: Winners… and losers? ................................................................................................................ 74 Annex 4: About the Authors ..................................................................................................................... 76 Table of Figures Figure 2-1: Time-series of winter rainfall covering the period from 1850 to 2015/16 ...................... 9 Figure 2-2: Response Action Levels following the different types of warning................................. 18 Figure 3-1: Illustration of passive vs. active remote sensing ........................................................... 23 Figure 3-2: Active and passive sensors used for Remote Sensing in support to