The Global Flood Detection System monitors floods worldwide using near-real time satellite data.
Surface water extent is observed using passive microwave remote sensing (AMSR-E and TRMM sensors).
When surface water increases significantly (anomalies with probability of less than 99.5%), the system
flags it as a flood. Time series are calculated in more than 10000 monitoring areas, along with small scale
flood maps and animations.
GFDS currently monitors around 10000 areas, defined in collaboration with
partners. For these areas, the flood signal is further processed to generate time series, flood
maps and flood animations. See a full list of
current floods or search for areas by river, country or name.
All data are available as global raster maps. The brightness temperature measured by AMSR-E and TRMM sensors is
normalized into a water signal (showing the amount of surface water in each pixel). For each pixel, anomalies in
surface water are calculated by comparing the values to the normal surface water (see methodology). The flood
magnitude is defined as the number of standard deviations above the mean.
We’re open for collaboration with water authorities and researchers. You can
request access to the data,
download client software or set up your own monitoring sites.