The fully-automatic Sentinel-1 Global Flood Monitoring service: Scientific challenges and future directions [* Cross-Reference *]

Version 1.0
Wagner, Wolfgang; Bauer-Marschallinger, Bernhard; Roth, Florian; Raiger-Stachl, Tobias; Reimer, Christoph; McCormick, Niall; Matgen, Patrick; Chini, Marco; Li, Yu; Martinis, Sandro; Wieland, Marc; Kraft, Franziska; Festa, Davide; Hassaan, Muhammed; Tupas, Mark Edwin; Zhao, Jie; Seewald, Michaela; Riffler, Michael; Molini, Luca; Kidd, Richard; Briese, Christian; Salamon, Peter, 2026, "The fully-automatic Sentinel-1 Global Flood Monitoring service: Scientific challenges and future directions [* Cross-Reference *]", https://lore.list.lu/citation?persistentId=perma:LIST.DTOEHB, LIST Open Repository, V1
Learn about Data Citation Standards.
Dataset Metrics
0 Downloads
Description
Sentinel-1 is a unique resource for global flood monitoring, providing systematic, weather-independent Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery with unprecedented coverage. To overcome limitations of on-demand flood mapping services that depend on human operators to collect and interpret satellite images, a fundamentally new approach was adopted by the Global Flood Monitoring (GFM) service. This service, which was launched in 2021 as part of the Copernicus Emergency Management Service (CEMS), processes all Sentinel-1 land images acquired in VV polarisation fully automatically in near-real time. This article presents the first comprehensive analysis of GFM’s scientific achievements and challenges during its initial years of operation. To map floods reliably under diverse environmental conditions, GFM combines three complementary flood-mapping algorithms with reference water datasets to differentiate flooded areas from permanent and seasonal water bodies. The service also offers a novel flood-likelihood layer and contextual information to highlight areas where flood mapping is unreliable or not feasible. These data layers were derived from a global 20 m backscatter datacube containing approximately 379 billion land surface pixels. This datacube also made it possible to generate the first global Sentinel-1 flood archive (2015 to present). Our performance analysis shows that GFM typically delivers flood maps within five hours of image acquisition. However, a significant percentage of floods may go undetected due to coverage gaps. Initial evaluation results show that good accuracies are achieved for larger-scale floods and regions in the temperate and tropical zones, while accuracies are lower for smaller-scale floods and arid environments. The GFM service will continue to improve service quality by enhancing flood detection capabilities using improved algorithms and additional data, such as the VH channel from Sentinel-1 or L-band data from the upcoming ROSE-L mission. (2026-01-15)
***This entry has been automatically imported via Infodoc(ASO) CSV by LIST harvest scripts. Please refer to https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2025.115108 for the original and latest version of the dataset and data downloads*** (2026-06-04)
Subject Earth and Environmental Sciences
Keyword Copernicus, Datacube, Flood monitoring, Inland water, SAR, Sentinel-1
License/Data Use Agreement

Custom Dataset Terms

There are no files in this dataset.
Edit File

This file has already been deleted (or replaced) in the current version. It may not be edited.

Restrict Access

Restricting limits access to published files. People who want to use the restricted files can request access by default. If you disable request access, you must add information about access to the Terms of Access field.

Learn about restricting files and dataset access in the User Guide.

Enable access request
You must enable request access or add terms of access to restrict file access.
Save Changes
Edit Embargo

The selected file or files have already been published. Contact an administrator to change the embargo date or reason of the file or files.
Edit Retention Period

The selected file or files have already been published. Contact an administrator to change the retention period date or reason of the file or files.
Delete Files

The file will be deleted after you click on the Delete button.

Files will not be removed from previously published versions of the dataset.

Select File(s)

Please select one or more files.

Share Dataset

Share this dataset on your favorite social media networks.

Continue
Dataset Citations

Citations for this dataset are retrieved from Crossref via DataCite using Make Data Count standards. For more information about dataset metrics, please refer to the User Guide.

Sorry, no citations were found.
Inaccessible Files Selected

The selected file(s) may not be downloaded because you have not been granted access or the file(s) have a retention period that has expired or the files can only be transferred via Globus.

You may request access to any restricted file(s) by clicking the Request Access button.

Ineligible Files Selected

The selected file(s) may not be transferred because you have not been granted access or the file(s) have a retention period that has expired or the files are not Globus accessible.

You may request access to any restricted file(s) by clicking the Request Access button.

Download Options

The files selected are too large to download as a ZIP.

You can select individual files that are below the 100.0 MB download limit from the files table, or use the Data Access API for programmatic access to the files.

Select File(s)

Please select a file or files to be downloaded.

Inaccessible Files Selected

The selected file(s) may not be downloaded because you have not been granted access or the file(s) have a retention period that has expired.

Click Continue to download the files you have access to download.

Ineligible Files Selected

Some file(s) cannot be transferred. (They are restricted, embargoed, with an expired retention period, or not Globus accessible.)

Click Continue to transfer the elligible files.

Delete Dataset

Are you sure you want to delete this dataset and all of its files? You cannot undelete this dataset.

Delete Draft Version

Are you sure you want to delete this draft version? Files will be reverted to the most recently published version. You cannot undelete this draft.

Unpublished Dataset Preview URL

Preview URL can only be used with unpublished versions of datasets.

Unpublished Dataset Preview URL

Are you sure you want to disable the Preview URL? If you have shared the Preview URL with others they will no longer be able to use it to access your unpublished dataset.

Delete Files

The file(s) will be deleted after you click on the Delete button.

Files will not be removed from previously published versions of the dataset.

Compute

This dataset contains restricted files you may not compute on because you have not been granted access.

Deaccession Dataset

Are you sure you want to deaccession? This is permanent and the selected version(s) will no longer be viewable by the public.

Deaccession Dataset

Are you sure you want to deaccession this dataset? This is permanent, and it will no longer be viewable by the public.

Version Differences Details

Please select two versions to view the differences.

Version Differences Details
 
Version:
Last Updated:
Version:
Last Updated:
Select File(s)

Please select a file or files for access request.

Select File(s)

Embargoed files cannot be accessed. Please select an unembargoed file or files for your access request.

Edit Tags

Select existing file tags or create new tags to describe your files. Each file can have more than one tag.

Request Access

 You need to Log In to request access.

Dataset Terms

Please confirm and/or complete the information needed below in order to request access to files in this dataset.

This dataset is made available under the following terms. Please confirm and/or complete the information needed below in order to continue.

Our Community Norms as well as good scientific practices expect that proper credit is given via citation. Please use the data citation shown on the dataset page.

Custom Dataset Terms - the following Custom Dataset Terms have been defined for this dataset.

Please refer to the original source for terms.
Preview Guestbook

Upon downloading files the guestbook asks for the following information.

Account Information

Package File Download

Use the Download URL in a Wget command or a download manager to download this package file. Download via web browser is not recommended. User Guide - Downloading a Dataverse Package via URL

https://lore.list.lu/api/access/datafile/

Compute Batch
Clear Batch
Dataset Persistent Identifier Change Compute Batch
Compute Batch
Submit for Review

You will not be able to make changes to this dataset while it is in review.

Publish Dataset

Are you sure you want to republish this dataset?

Select if this is a minor or major version update.

Publish Dataset

This dataset cannot be published until LIST Open Repository is published by its administrator.

Return to Author

Return this dataset to contributor for modification. The reason for return entered below will be sent by email to the author.

Curation Status History
StatusDateAssigner
No records found.
Add/Edit a Version Note
Styled Citation