Flooding is a common feature associated to spring runoff in many areas across Canada and the United States. Flood related damages are often substantial, and loss of life is not uncommon. In order to quickly and accurately estimate flood damages and to better manage the flood plain, it is desirable to delineate the flood extent at any given time. Traditional methods for flood delineation are time consuming and expansive. Radar remote sensing appears to be a promising substitute to those methods.In the spring of 1987, a series of ice jams occurred in the Saint-John River, New Brunswick. In response to a need for information by the provincial Department of Environment, the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar was flown on April 3, 1987 to map the flood extent. An analysis of the resulting radar images, in conjunction with digital cartographic data, has shown that it is possible to extract information such as the flooded extent, water levels, and physical characteristics of ice jams, and to obtain information conducive to the estimation of flood Induced damages.
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