Assessment of Satellite-Based Remote Sensing Methods for Levee Monitoring

Flood control levees play a critical role in protecting communities from floods and managing water resources. Maintaining over thousands of miles of levees in the United States is a massive challenge and requires advanced and cost-effective methods. The existing methods of assessment and monitoring of levees are either qualitative or require the installation of in situ instrumentation. Satellite-based remote sensing methods can potentially provide an effective, long-term, and scalable solution to monitor levees. This research study evaluates the capability of these methods in identifying levee defects, including deformation, erosion, and obscuring vegetation. The framework was tested on a levee section located on the Texas A&M University RELLIS campus. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and multispectral instrument (MSI) imagery from satellites were used to detect the defects. The subsidence, settlement, and lateral movement in the levee were measured using the Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) analysis using the Quasi-Persistent Scatterer (Q-PS) interferometry technique. The change in vegetation cover on the berm is detected from the reduction in NDVI. The ground truth of the levee was verified using high-resolution data collected from a UAV-based survey. The developed framework showcased the capabilities of different satellite sensors in remotely detecting defects on the levee. This study approach advances the application of remote sensing in geotechnical asset management and flood risk management by providing a cost-effective and scalable approach.