Flood Depth Mapping service tutorial
Find FLDM service description and specifications here.
Select the processing service
After the opening of the Hydromet workspace of the CopernicusLAC Platform open the Processing Services panel by clicking on the button located on the top right of the map.
The Processing panel will be displayed with the list of on-demand services available for this workspace.
Note
By default the Processing service panel will appear as a freely draggable menu placed over the map. After a mouseover you can click and drag the panel where you want on the screen (e.g. to place it over another portion of the map or in a second monitor). However if needed, it is also possible to attach it on the left side of the interface.
To Attach the panel on the left side of the UI you shall click on the button located on the right side of the panel.
Instead, to Detach the panel click on the button.
Find the Flood Depth Mapping (FLDM) service from the list and click on the button next to it.
This tab provides a quick description of the service.
Click on the Attach panel button located on the upper right corner of the panel to attach it on the left side of the UI.
In the upper part of the tab are shown:
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service full name,
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service caption,
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hyperlink to the online documentation
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version of the service.
Below that are listed all mandatory and optional parameters that the user must define when submitting the on-demand processing. Each parameter is described with:
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a grey circle on the left indicating the format of input value required for the parameter. As an example if the parameter is a string (e.g. catalog reference) or a number (e.g. a threshold),
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the identifier of the parameter,
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a brief description of the parameter.
At the bottom of the tab is located the GO TO SERVICE FORM button. Click on it to move to the next tab where the user can fill-in all service parameters and submit the on-demand job.
In the Service form panel mandatory parameters that are not-filled in will be highlighted in red.
Hint
To go back to the service panel click on the BACK TO ALL SERVICES button.
Hint
When needed, it is also possible to Attach or Detach the Service form panel. This is particularly useful when you want to fill-in the parameters of a service in the service form panel and at the same time access the result of another job (e.g. to import as input a product derived from another on-demand job submitted earlier).
To Detach the Service form panel click on the button located on the right side.
After that the service form panel will appear as a freely draggable menu placed over the map and the Service panel will be also accessible.
Fill the parameters
To start the Flood Depth Mapping service, you need to define input parameters. Access the FLDM service form and then fill-in the parameters as described in the following sections.
Hint
In case you can't find anymore the FLDM service form:
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open the Processing panel by clicking on the button on the top right of the map,
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find the FLDM service from the list of services,
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click on the button next to it,
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and then click on the GO TO SERVICE FORM button.
Job Title
First of all you can assign a name to the on-demand job you are launching. A predefined title is generated by the platform. Modify this title and assign the title you prefer. For instance, insert as Job title:
FLDM - Guayaquil Ecuador 2026-03-07
Note
If you don’t specify a name, the system automatically assigns one using the service name Flood Depth Mapping and the date and time of job creation.
SAR-FEM input
In this first parameter you shall define the input flood map derived with the SAR-FEM service.
Hint
Aren't you familiar with the SAR-based Flood Extent Mapping (SAR-FEM) service? Find the SAR-FEM service specifications here. Follow this tutorial to know how to submit a SAR-FEM job.
To insert the catalog reference of a previously generated SAR-FEM result, you first need to detach the FLDM Service form panel by clicking the button on the right side of the panel.
Now you have two panels, one for the FLDM service form (on the left) and another one (on the right) where you can navigate to previously submitted and successfully completed SAR-FEM jobs. You need to locate the required job from the list (e.g. the SAR-FEM Flood in Guayas Ecuador) and access it by clicking the button next to it.
Then you need to click on the button SHOW RESULTS ON MAP located in the JOBS tab of the specific panel.
Now, under the JOB RESULTS tab in the left panel, the SAR-FEM job results appear.
On the left panel will be listed all the items included in the job result. Each of them is a flood extent product derived from a Sentinel-1 GRD pair acquired over the same relative orbit and having the same radar geometry.
Identify the product from the list by visually inspecting each of them in the map
also using the dedicated buttons located under the title of each item:
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Zoom/pan on item
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Hide item
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Show only this item
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Show item details
For instance, to show on the map only the SAR-FEM result from S1C ASCENDING 18 10 2026-02-23 / 2026-03-07 click on the Show only this item button underneath the title of this item.
Assuming this is the desired flood map to be used in input for the water depth estimation, drag and drop the item into under the SAR-FEM input field of the FLDM service form.
After that the field value is automatically populated with the catalog reference of the SAR-FEM job.
Area of interest
The second mandatory parameter allows you to specify the geographic area contained within the extent of the SAR-FEM product, and thus will be the area where the water depth estimation will be made by the FLDM service. The field value for the AOI must be a WKT string representing the geometry of the area (polygon).
To do so in the FLDM Service form panel click on the drawing icon :material-select-arrow-up: located next to the Area of Interest field on the left.
Draw a square AOI over the map. The first click defines the upper left and bottom right corners of the BBOX that are needed to define the AOI geometry.
After that the field value is automatically populated with the WKT string.
POLYGON((-80.04615521516837 -2.1224568081093906,-79.36292657541631 -2.1224568081093906,-79.36292657541631 -1.565931119472225,-80.04615521516837 -1.565931119472225,-80.04615521516837 -2.1224568081093906))
Threshold step
In the third mandatory parameter you shall insert the increment step size used for the threshold optimization search (decimal). Leave the value as the default one: 0.1.
Patch and overlap sizes
In the fourth and fifth mandatory parameters you shall insert respectively the patch size and the overlap size to be used for the division of input HAND into small overlapping patches. Leave the values suggested by the service of respectively 512 and 0.5.
Smoothing window size
In the last mandatory parameter you shall define the window size for smoothing transitions between patches. Leave the value as the default one: 256.
Note
In case you don't want to apply this smoothing, you can insert the value 0 to disable it.
Run the job
After filling in all the required parameters, click SUBMIT JOB to start the service.
Once submitted, you will be automatically redirected to the JOBS tab, where you can view the list of all previously submitted jobs. Your newly created job will appear at the top of the list.
From this tab, you can monitor the progress of your job, which can have one of the following statuses: running, succeeded or failed.
Note
Typically, the service execution is ranging from a few minutes depending on the extent of the user’s AOI, and the allocation of processing resources for the job to be executed. As an example, to employ the FLDM service over an AOI of about 5000000 ha with standing water having an extent of approximately one third of the entire area the processing time is approximately 10 minutes.
Results
Once the job is successfully accomplished, click on the button next to the title of the job.
Under the job details click on the button SHOW RESULTS ON MAP located in the JOBS tab of the left panel.
After that, all the product generated by the service will be displayed on the map.
On the right panel under the DETAILS tab is shown a list with the 3 layers that you can visualize on the map:
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output water depth estimation,
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input flood map,
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input HAND map.
By default the layer shown on the map is the first one from the list which is the one derived from the rendering of the water-depth asset. From the DETAILS tab in the left panel it is also possible to:
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set the opacity of the layer,
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visualize the legend of the product,
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under view options consult the render applied to the layer and, its histogram (when available), and apply a custom render,
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download the product.
Consult the Metadata available. You can find for instance more information about how to interpret the result under Description, or you can retrieve the list of IDs of the Sentinel-1 GRD product employed by the service under Derived from.
Hint
Do you want to see both the result and the underneath satellite imagery baselayer? Try using the Layers opacity (global) bar, and set the opacity as 50% to better see for instance also the labels of the basemap layer.
Note
Aren't you satisfied with the default render of the product available under Layers in the View options? You can customize it by clicking on Customize under View options in the left panel. Please note that when you apply a custom render to the asset the legend will be updated accordingly.
To download the product from the left panel click on the Downloads dropdown button and then on the hyperlink to download one of assets:
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flood,
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hand,
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water-depth.
More information about each product can be found in the LFDM service specifications.