Application of Landsat −8 and Sentinel-L Images for Drought Monitoring Over the Korean Peninsula

In contrast with the other natural disasters, drought is required of continuous and regular monitoring since its damage is very gradual. Satellite images can be utilized for comprehensively monitoring changes in water resources in dam reservoirs, watersheds, and rivers. It is very difficult to obtain continuous and regular images from optical sensors since they are susceptible to weather conditions, although they can provide fine images at high spatial resolution for land surface. This study used a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) regardless of weather or daylight conditions to monitor water surface change in a dam reservoir. The 18 dam basins of Korea peninsula were monitored and the changing patterns were analyzed. The results indicated that the change in water surface area was in good agreement with the depth of drought.