Finding floods

Using NASA's advanced Earth-observing satellites, scientists have discovered a new opportunity to build early detection systems that might protect thousands of people from floods and landslides.

According to NASA, this potential breakthrough in disaster monitoring and warning links satellite observations of soil type, vegetation and land slope with observations of rainfall, rivers and topography.

"Flood and landslides are the most widespread natural hazards on Earth, responsible for thousands of deaths and billions of dollars in property damage every year," said Bob Adler, project scientist for the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, and lead scientist of one of four projects that share a similar focus. "Between 1985 and 2000 over 300,000 people lost their lives to flooding and their associated landslides. Currently, no system exists at either a regional or a global scale to monitor rainfall conditions that may trigger these disasters."