Copernicus EMS Global Flood Monitoring (GFM)

Copernicus EMS Global Flood Monitoring (GFM) is a Level-3 systematic flood detection product from the Copernicus Emergency Management Service, using Sentinel-1 C-band SAR as its primary input. The product launched operationally on 2021-10-27.^[1]

Spatial resolution is 20 m. Flood detection uses an ensemble of three independent algorithms contributed by the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), and Technische Universitaet Wien (TUW). The ensemble approach produces a blended flood confidence layer; individual algorithm contributions are tracked within each product.^[2]

All-weather, day-night operation is enabled by C-band SAR. Latency from satellite acquisition to product availability is under 8 hours. Coverage is global, constrained by Sentinel-1 acquisition planning.^[1]

The product and associated flood confidence outputs are freely and openly available at global-flood.emergency.copernicus.eu. No registration is required.^[3]