Assessing flood hazards in deserts using satellite imagery

ABSTRACT

piedmont zone is a focus of much evelopment is deserts. However, the piedmond is crossed by numerous stream channels which are subject to flash floods from upland drainage basins, forming a pattern of localsed hazards to people, property and road / railway links. Flood hazards are not uniform over the whole piedmont area, the highest risk being concentrated in contemporary depositional washes, Using an example in southern Tunisia, this paper shows how satellite images can be used tomap flood hazards in deserts using standard image processing and GIS techniques, providing geomorphologists and engineers with a method for undertaking large scale flood hazard surveys over desert terrain. (AU)