Estimativa de áreas inundadas em grandes bacias com o modelo MGB-IPH e pacote de geoprocessamento IPH-HydroTools

Large floodable areas provide important environmental services worldwide, including regulation of climate and floods. Thus, comprehension of their temporal and spatial variation is important to foster understanding of possible anthropic and natural alterations. Given their large scale extent and remoteness, techniques such as remote sensing and hydrological modelling arise as important tools for such studies. In this work, we present four study cases of application of MGB-IPH model together with IPH-Hydro Tools geoprocessing package in large basins with important flooded areas: Bananal Island (Araguaia river), Purus river and Patos Lagoon in South America and Niger Inland Delta in Africa. The MGB-IPH hydrological model was coupled to the local inertial flow routing method, an simplification of the full 1D hydrodynamic equations that allows the simulation of backwater effects and floodplain attenuation in rivers. For validation, remote sensing estimates of flooded areas were obtained from multi-satellite products, including optical (MODIS and LANDSAT) and radar (JERS-1) images. The model was able to represent large-scale variation of water level and flooding extent, where results analyses indicate a good representation of hydrodynamic and hydrological processes within these areas. Such studies are important for highlighting the importance of coupling remote sensing and modeling estimates to increase our predictability and comprehension of such areas.