Tracking flood induced debris using a model and satellite

Abstract

At the end of August 2016, the Typhoon Lionrock landed on Primorsky Krai, Russia causing heavy rain fall over around the border between the Russia and North Korea. The rain caused flooding along the Tumen River, the border between North Korea and Russia, accompanied extreme casualties. About two weeks after the flooding, debris consisted with logs and household garbage were found along the east coast of Korea. The debris, of course, had negative impact on the local tourism, fishing activities, ship movements, and tracing the fate of the debris from the river is an important task. A Lagrangian particle tracking model utilizing ocean circulation model output is commonly used to trace marine debris. The debris due to the typhoon is episodic and more focused approached is required. In addition, to cope with potential danger posed by large flood debris near-real time tracking is indispensable. For real time monitoring satellites are very useful. Debris is too small to be identified using a satellite. Flooded water, however, could contain a large amount of sediment and could have distinct ocean color. The trajectories of the debris from Lagrangian particle tracking modelling and the patterns of anomalous ocean color are comparable. The debris move southward along the east coast of Korea due to the North Korean Cold Current primarily and wind secondarily. Model results show that a greater amount of debris beached along the