Heavy rain caused widespread flooding in parts of Scotland in the last few days of December 2024. This recent publicly reported event may be useful for the GEP community as a starting point for EO data discovery, flood-related change detection, and workflow preparation. For public context, users can refer to the Disaster Charter activation page.
The source event page provides several public reference products. These are shown as external reference examples, not as GEP outputs.
Image: Flood delineation monitoring over Aviemore, Scotland, United Kingdom, 01 January 2025. Source: Disaster Charter public event page. Licence: source/licence should be verified before publication. Credit: Disaster Charter public event page. Product shown as a public reference example, not as a GEP output.
Image: Flood delineation over the Aberfoyle, Scotland, United Kingdom, 01 January 2025. Source: Disaster Charter public event page. Licence: source/licence should be verified before publication. Credit: Disaster Charter public event page. Product shown as a public reference example, not as a GEP output.
For EO data discovery, Sentinel-1 acquisitions are a useful starting point for flood-related analysis, especially where cloud cover may limit optical observations. Sentinel-2 imagery can still support visual interpretation and spectral-index analysis where clear scenes are available. Multi-temporal comparison and co-location of relevant datasets may also help users prepare a first screening of affected areas.
Data discovery on GEP
Users can start from the GEP Geobrowser to inspect available EO data before choosing a processing workflow. An initial Sentinel-1 search has been prepared for the event area from 30 December 2024:
Image: Example GEP Geobrowser search results over the event area. Credit: GEP operator.
These services may be useful starting points for preparing EO workflows around this event. This does not imply that they have already been run for the event.
- SAR-Change — SAR Amplitude Change — SAR amplitude change analysis between acquisitions, useful for event-driven change screening where SAR data are available.
- SAR-COIN — Coherence and Intensity Composite — coherence and intensity composites to help highlight surface change or loss of coherence between SAR acquisitions.
- OPT-Index — Optical Spectral Index Generation — optical indices such as NDVI, NDWI, and NBR for surface, vegetation, water, and burn-related analysis.
- STACK — Co-located Stacking — co-location and stacking of multiple EO products for comparative multi-temporal or multi-sensor analysis.
A practical first step would be to review Sentinel-1 acquisitions before and after 30 December 2024, compare suitable image pairs for flood-related change, and then add Sentinel-2 observations where cloud-free scenes are available. The public reference products above can be used only as external examples for comparison.
*This topic is shared for community awareness, EO data discovery, and workflow preparation. It is not an official emergency response communication and does not imply that GEP produced the public reference products or is providing operational emergency response support.*