Monitoring flood damage with satellite imagery

During analysis of ERTS-1 imagery for land use patterns a large impoundment of water was observed in a location that was normally farmland. Subsequent investigation revealed that the satellite had recorded the remaining floodwaters from a severe local rainstorm that had occurred four days prior to the overpass. The inundated area was measured using the automatic planimeter associated with the signal analysis and dissemination equipment located at the Remote Sensing Institute. The area measurement coupled with estimates of the land use and productivity of the region permitted an estimate of the crop damage loss for the inundated area.