Using Sentinel-1/2 time series data to investigate surface water changes after the Nova Kakhovka dam destruction in Ukraine

Kurzfassung

In recent years, remote sensing analysis in the context of armed conflicts have gained increasing interest due to the capability of providing continuous and objective information over large areas. The destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam and the subsequent discharge of the Kahkovske reservoir marked an significant event in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine with far-reaching consequences for water management, agriculture and energy planning. In this contribution, we reconstruct the drying out of the Kakhovske reservoir using Sentinel-1/2 time series data. We utilize existing, well-established methodologies to extract surface water information from optical and SAR satellite imagery and build multi-sensor time series. Water segmentation results are validated using very high resolution (VHR) WorldView-2 acquisitions.