Date of Images

Post-event: 2026-06-21

Summary:

The Advanced Rapid Imaging and Analysis (ARIA) and Observational Products for End-Users from Remote Sensing Analysis (OPERA) teams at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the California Institute of Technology produced maps showing areas affected by flooding in Louisiana using the OPERA Dynamic Surface Water Extent from Sentinel-1 (DSWx-S1) product.

These maps provide an initial view of the surface water extent observed following the flood event. The results presented here are preliminary and unvalidated, intended primarily to support situational awareness and field response efforts. The ARIA-Share platform emphasizes rapid dissemination of satellite-based products for disaster response. All information is provisional and should be used under emergency response guidelines. These data are provided without warranty of any kind. Use at your own risk.

OPERA DSWx-S1

The OPERA DSWx-S1 was used to identify surface water for the flooding event. The images provided are a mosaic of OPERA DSWx-S1 products, producing a composite image for each date. The mosaicking applied prioritized pixels classified as open surface water to preserve water pixels in region of product granule overlap. The images are provided as GeoTIFF files.

Water (WTR) Layer Description: Masked interpreted water classification layer. This represents pixel-wise classification into one of three water classes (not water, open water and inundated vegetation), masks (HAND mask and layover/shadow mask), or no data classes.

Water (WTR) and Binary Water (BWTR) Layer Values:

• 0: Not Water - an area with valid data that is not open water (class 1), inundated vegetation (class 3), height above nearest drainage masked (class 250), or layover/shadow masked (class 251). Masking can result in "not water" (class 0) where land cover masking is applied (suggested color: #ffffff)

• 1: Open Water - an area that is entirely water and unobstructed to the sensor, including obstructions by vegetation, terrain, and buildings. (suggested color: #0000ff)

• 3: Inundated vegetation - an area that is considered inundated, extracted from the high value in dual polarization ratio and the wetland class in land cover map. (suggested color: #00ff00)

• 250: Height Above Nearest Drainage (HAND) masked - an area where topographic height is higher than the HAND threshold (suggested color: #c8c8c8)

• 251: Layover/shadow masked - an area identified as layover or shadow computed from the geometry of the digital elevation model and sensor. The area is directly copied from input burst RTC-S1 products (suggested color: #808080)

• 255: No data (suggested color: transparent)

Satellite/Sensor:

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) instrument on European Space Agency's (ESA) Sentinel-1A satellite.

Resolution:

30 meters

OPERA DSWx-S1 data availability

The post-processed products are available to download at https://aria-share.jpl.nasa.gov/20251012_Alaska_Floods/DSWx-S1/. The OPERA DSWx-S1 products have been in production since September 2024, are freely distributed to the public via NASA's Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center (PO.DAAC), and can be downloaded through NASA's Earthdata search. For more information about the Dynamic Surface Water eXtent product suite, please refer to the DSWx Product page: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/go/opera/products/dswx-product-suite.

For more information about the Caltech-JPL ARIA project, visit https://aria.jpl.nasa.gov.

For more information about the JPL OPERA project, visit https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/go/opera/.

REST Endpoint:

See URL on the right.

Product POCs:

Cole Speed (cole.speed@jpl.nasa.gov)

Mary Grace Bato (mary.grace.p.bato@jpl.nasa.gov)

Ines Fenni (ines.fenni@jpl.nasa.gov)

Alexander Handwerger (alexander.handwerger@jpl.nasa.gov)

Renato Frasson (renato.prata.de.moraes.frasson@jpl.nasa.gov)

Credits:

Sentinel-1 data were accessed through the Copernicus Open Hub and the Alaska Satellite Facility server. The product contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2026), processed by the European Space Agency and analyzed by the NASA-JPL/Caltech ARIA and OPERA team. The products are produced as part of the OPERA project, which is funded by NASA to address remote sensing needs identified by the Satellite Needs Working Group, and managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

NASA JPL-Caltech ARIA/OPERA Team

==================

Date of Images

Post-event: 2026-06-21

Summary:

The Advanced Rapid Imaging and Analysis (ARIA) and Observational Products for End-Users from Remote Sensing Analysis (OPERA) teams at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the California Institute of Technology produced maps showing areas affected by flooding in Louisiana using the OPERA Dynamic Surface Water Extent from Sentinel-1 (DSWx-S1) product.

These maps provide an initial view of the surface water extent observed following the flood event. The results presented here are preliminary and unvalidated, intended primarily to support situational awareness and field response efforts. The ARIA-Share platform emphasizes rapid dissemination of satellite-based products for disaster response. All information is provisional and should be used under emergency response guidelines. These data are provided without warranty of any kind. Use at your own risk.

OPERA DSWx-S1

The OPERA DSWx-S1 was used to identify surface water for the flooding event. The images provided are a mosaic of OPERA DSWx-S1 products, producing a composite image for each date. The mosaicking applied prioritized pixels classified as open surface water to preserve water pixels in region of product granule overlap. The images are provided as GeoTIFF files.

Water (WTR) Layer Description: Masked interpreted water classification layer. This represents pixel-wise classification into one of three water classes (not water, open water and inundated vegetation), masks (HAND mask and layover/shadow mask), or no data classes.

Water (WTR) and Binary Water (BWTR) Layer Values:

• 0: Not Water - an area with valid data that is not open water (class 1), inundated vegetation (class 3), height above nearest drainage masked (class 250), or layover/shadow masked (class 251). Masking can result in "not water" (class 0) where land cover masking is applied (suggested color: #ffffff)

• 1: Open Water - an area that is entirely water and unobstructed to the sensor, including obstructions by vegetation, terrain, and buildings. (suggested color: #0000ff)

• 3: Inundated vegetation - an area that is considered inundated, extracted from the high value in dual polarization ratio and the wetland class in land cover map. (suggested color: #00ff00)

• 250: Height Above Nearest Drainage (HAND) masked - an area where topographic height is higher than the HAND threshold (suggested color: #c8c8c8)

• 251: Layover/shadow masked - an area identified as layover or shadow computed from the geometry of the digital elevation model and sensor. The area is directly copied from input burst RTC-S1 products (suggested color: #808080)

• 255: No data (suggested color: transparent)

Satellite/Sensor:

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) instrument on European Space Agency's (ESA) Sentinel-1A satellite.

Resolution:

30 meters

OPERA DSWx-S1 data availability

The post-processed products are available to download at https://aria-share.jpl.nasa.gov/20251012_Alaska_Floods/DSWx-S1/. The OPERA DSWx-S1 products have been in production since September 2024, are freely distributed to the public via NASA's Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center (PO.DAAC), and can be downloaded through NASA's Earthdata search. For more information about the Dynamic Surface Water eXtent product suite, please refer to the DSWx Product page: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/go/opera/products/dswx-product-suite.

For more information about the Caltech-JPL ARIA project, visit https://aria.jpl.nasa.gov.

For more information about the JPL OPERA project, visit https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/go/opera/.

REST Endpoint:

See URL on the right.

Product POCs:

Cole Speed (cole.speed@jpl.nasa.gov)

Mary Grace Bato (mary.grace.p.bato@jpl.nasa.gov)

Ines Fenni (ines.fenni@jpl.nasa.gov)

Alexander Handwerger (alexander.handwerger@jpl.nasa.gov)

Renato Frasson (renato.prata.de.moraes.frasson@jpl.nasa.gov)

Credits:

Sentinel-1 data were accessed through the Copernicus Open Hub and the Alaska Satellite Facility server. The product contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2026), processed by the European Space Agency and analyzed by the NASA-JPL/Caltech ARIA and OPERA team. The products are produced as part of the OPERA project, which is funded by NASA to address remote sensing needs identified by the Satellite Needs Working Group, and managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

NASA JPL-Caltech ARIA/OPERA Team

==================