HydroSAR: A Cloud-Based Service for the Monitoring of Inundation Events in the Hindu Kush Himalaya

The Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) is one of the most flood-prone regions in the world, yet heavy cloud cover and limited in situ observations have hampered efforts to monitor the impact of heavy rainfall, flooding, and inundation during severe weather events. This paper introduces HydroSAR, a Sentinel-1 SAR-based hazard monitoring service to provide year-round, low-latency weather hazard information across the HKH. This paper introduces the main processing algorithms behind HydroSAR’s broad product portfolio, which includes qualitative visual layers as well as quantitative products measuring the surface water extent and water depth.