Inflation Reduction Act: Improving Alaska Flood Monitoring with Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Imagery

The Alaska and Arctic regions are significantly affected by climate variability and change. Risks of flooding and inundation present the region with economic, health, safety, and security challenges. As part of its mission to provide secure and timely access to global environmental data and information from satellites and other sources, NOAA's National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) is working to enhance flood monitoring capabilities in Alaska.

This award will provide Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funding for grantees to acquire and evaluate the potential of using commercial Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery to help monitor the extent and impacts of flooding in Alaskan communities. NOAA’s current flood monitoring products for Alaska have significant limitations as compared to capabilities possible over the contiguous United States. Challenges include limited satellite data coverage, frequent cloud cover, snow melt, dense forest cover, ice jams, un-managed rivers, and limited user access. Acquisition and evaluation of SAR imagery through this award will explore how to address these challenges, improving utilization of satellite observations and enhancing data accessibility. 

Satellites with SAR sensors measure how energy reflects off the Earth to map surface features such as rivers, land, and floodwaters. Currently, SAR observations in Alaska are limited to coastal areas. There is limited SAR imagery coverage over Central Alaskan rivers, delaying the ability for emergency management personnel and forecasters to address the flood impacts. Additionally, current SAR observations can lack the resolution, low latency, frequencies, polarizations, and swath width to provide the timely and actionable data needed to support flood hazards. Adding targeted SAR observations from commercial imagery may address observation gaps.

As authorized by the IRA, P.L. 117-169, Section 40004, this NOFO aligns with the direction to “accelerate advances in research, observation systems, modeling, forecasting, assessments, and dissemination of information to the public.” Funds will support products and information that are Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR), analysis-ready, actionable, and authoritative.