Multi-Index Image Differencing Method (MINDED) for flood extent estimations

Satellite remote sensing data are often used to extract water surfaces related to extreme events like floods. This study presents the Multi INDEx Differencing (MINDED) method, an innovative procedure to estimate flood extents, aiming at improving the robustness of single water-related indices and threshold-based approaches. MINDED consists of a change detection approach integrating specific sensitivities of several indices. Moreover, the method also allows to quantify the uncertainty of the Overall flood map, based on both the agreement level of the stack of classifications and the weight of every index obtained from the literature. Assuming the lack of ground truths to be the most common condition in flood mapping, MINDED also integrates a procedure to reduce the subjectivity of thresholds extraction focused on the analysis of water-related indices frequency distribution. The results of the MINDED application to a case study using Landsat images are compared with an alternative change detection method using Sentinel-1A data, and demonstrate consistency with local fluvial flood records.