5 Sqn Sentinal mapping floods
I don't know how it is in the UK, or how much real time information is available elsewhere, but in the many floods I've been involved with, uncorrected aerial photography has proven invaluable for immediate operations, and even seeing where the flood is going in remote areas. I appreciate that the UK may not have many of those, but I'm sure that it would still be fairly useful.
As for it's use later on, ground truthing it is not a problem, and it is a valuable extension to the usually limited systematically recorded data.
As for it's use later on, ground truthing it is not a problem, and it is a valuable extension to the usually limited systematically recorded data.
If Sentinel needs justification I'd prefer that it be reconfigured to fly the Royal Family around on worthwhile worldwide official engagements
Not really - but I was AOC 2 Grp's DS in his Staff College days.
Does that count?
But apologies for being sarcastic - I posted mid-chunter about a contractor sending out missives about the vital importance of wearing name badges at all times, somehow giving slightly more critical matters a stiff ignoring, and this time didn't do my usual trick of completing the post and then deleting all of it and writing a better one.
The more measured posting you should've got would have suggested that there was a request for this support (rather than it being simple grand-standing as some wish to imply) for reasons articulated by others.
Does that count?
But apologies for being sarcastic - I posted mid-chunter about a contractor sending out missives about the vital importance of wearing name badges at all times, somehow giving slightly more critical matters a stiff ignoring, and this time didn't do my usual trick of completing the post and then deleting all of it and writing a better one.
The more measured posting you should've got would have suggested that there was a request for this support (rather than it being simple grand-standing as some wish to imply) for reasons articulated by others.
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Did you guys know the Environment Agency operate their own airborne mapping capability?
https://www.geomatics-group.co.uk/geocms/
The Environment Agency's LIDAR plane by Environment Agency, on Flickr
You can follow them on Twitter
https://twitter.com/EnvAgencyGeomat
They look pretty busy!
Wonder how the RAF is integrating with them
https://www.geomatics-group.co.uk/geocms/
The Environment Agency's LIDAR plane by Environment Agency, on Flickr
You can follow them on Twitter
https://twitter.com/EnvAgencyGeomat
They look pretty busy!
Wonder how the RAF is integrating with them
Think Defence
From your link...
I suspect this is somewhat amateurish compared to some of the capabilities offered by the mil. Nice toy, though! 
LJ
From your link...
We offer a variety of elevation data products, all with a vertical accuracy in the range of 5cm to 15cm, with spatial resolutions ranging from 25cm to
2 metres.
2 metres.
LJ
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Thanks Leon, 5cm vertical accuracy sounds pretty impressive to me
I wrote about this over the weekend
There is a wide and deep commercial and public sector market for airborne mapping using a wide range of technology, everyone from the Ordnance Survey to the Environment Agency and a tonne of commercial providers in between.
The UK is one of the most accurately mapped places on the planet.
Just wonder what exactly the RAF bring to the mix that satisfies the 3 guiding principles for MoD involvement; Last Resort, Lack of Capability and Urgency
Interesting stuff this
I wrote about this over the weekend
There is a wide and deep commercial and public sector market for airborne mapping using a wide range of technology, everyone from the Ordnance Survey to the Environment Agency and a tonne of commercial providers in between.
The UK is one of the most accurately mapped places on the planet.
Just wonder what exactly the RAF bring to the mix that satisfies the 3 guiding principles for MoD involvement; Last Resort, Lack of Capability and Urgency
Interesting stuff this
The 5cm vertical accuracy would be off the LIDAR ( AFAIK a sensor not carried by any operational RAF asset)
From the EA site I see they are using RADARSAT 2 to get cloud free imagery to update their mapping.
ASARS 2 imagery from the U-2 has been used in support of civil disaster monitoring, so presumably a similar application could be derived from the Sentinel product.
PS Just read this little gem from HMG regarding the use of servicemen to check flood defences:
Defence Secretary Philip Hammond has announced that more than 200 personnel from the Royal Navy, Army and RAF will be trained by the Environment Agency over the next week to act as flood defence assessors.
"As we bring our troops back from Afghanistan and from Germany, we would like to see the military playing a bigger role in this kind of homeland resilience task in the future."
So when you're trudging around the dykes in the p*ssing rain lads remember:
You are "Flood defence assessors, playing your role in homeland resilience".
From the EA site I see they are using RADARSAT 2 to get cloud free imagery to update their mapping.
ASARS 2 imagery from the U-2 has been used in support of civil disaster monitoring, so presumably a similar application could be derived from the Sentinel product.
PS Just read this little gem from HMG regarding the use of servicemen to check flood defences:
Defence Secretary Philip Hammond has announced that more than 200 personnel from the Royal Navy, Army and RAF will be trained by the Environment Agency over the next week to act as flood defence assessors.
"As we bring our troops back from Afghanistan and from Germany, we would like to see the military playing a bigger role in this kind of homeland resilience task in the future."
So when you're trudging around the dykes in the p*ssing rain lads remember:
You are "Flood defence assessors, playing your role in homeland resilience".
Last edited by Haraka; 17th Feb 2014 at 11:07.
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Guys,
Just thought I'd post this one from the Somerset levels:
Actually, to be honest, we don't need Sentinel here. We know where the flood water is. It's in the same frigging places that it's appeared in for around 600 years now. The difference is that it's not draining away like it used to.
And that is down to lack of maintenance of the Somerset Levels drainage systems started by the Romans, expanded by the Saxons, developed in the Middle Ages, massively upgraded in the 17th Century, just about cracked by the Victorians and kept running by local Drainage Boards until 2005.
That's about when the Environment Agency declared that the Levels were 'natural wetlands' and should be allowed to return to their 'natural state'. The then Head of the Agency declared that she would be happy to see 'limpet mines attached to every pumping station on the Levels'. I rather think that Somerset has had enough high tech help from the 'centre'.
Down here, we don't need Sentinel. We need sandbags now, pumps tomorrow and dredging machinery soon afterwards. Less glamorous I know, but effective.
Best regards as ever (and heartfelt thanks to the local marines and sailors who are doing a magnificent job 24/7)
Engines
Just thought I'd post this one from the Somerset levels:
Actually, to be honest, we don't need Sentinel here. We know where the flood water is. It's in the same frigging places that it's appeared in for around 600 years now. The difference is that it's not draining away like it used to.
And that is down to lack of maintenance of the Somerset Levels drainage systems started by the Romans, expanded by the Saxons, developed in the Middle Ages, massively upgraded in the 17th Century, just about cracked by the Victorians and kept running by local Drainage Boards until 2005.
That's about when the Environment Agency declared that the Levels were 'natural wetlands' and should be allowed to return to their 'natural state'. The then Head of the Agency declared that she would be happy to see 'limpet mines attached to every pumping station on the Levels'. I rather think that Somerset has had enough high tech help from the 'centre'.
Down here, we don't need Sentinel. We need sandbags now, pumps tomorrow and dredging machinery soon afterwards. Less glamorous I know, but effective.
Best regards as ever (and heartfelt thanks to the local marines and sailors who are doing a magnificent job 24/7)
Engines
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Same story in Norway. For the last 2-300 years farmers and industry has extracted gravel from rivers and flood plains. Suddenly that became a big environmental no-no, and was prohibited.
....fast forward 20 years, and the rivers are clogged up, and floods create much more damage than before. And the rules where reversed.
Environmentalists really are from mars it seems.
....fast forward 20 years, and the rivers are clogged up, and floods create much more damage than before. And the rules where reversed.
Environmentalists really are from mars it seems.
Quite. Mrs Archi is a Somerset girl and made this very point about the (mis)management of the Levels which saw centuries of experience thrown out in a 'we've got qualifications, how could we not know more?' fashion...
Hope that your need for sandbags declines swiftly, Engines (although from here in Oxon, we're told that plywood boards with a silicon based impregnating material are a better option...)
Hope that your need for sandbags declines swiftly, Engines (although from here in Oxon, we're told that plywood boards with a silicon based impregnating material are a better option...)
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you don't need fully corrected and interpreted imagery for this song & dance - just where the damn water is, where there are landslips and where trees are down
We're not planning to launch a cruise missile at them (are we?)
We're not planning to launch a cruise missile at them (are we?)
5 Sqn Sentinal mapping floods
It might be the conspiracy theorist in me, but has anybody else noticed that these floods tie in with 617's operational stand down - après moi le deluge ?!
