Data and code from: Pre-Failure Operational Anomalies of the Kakhovka Dam Revealed by Satellite Data

Qing Yang, Xinyi Shen, Kang He, Qingyuan Zhang, Sean Helfrich, William Straka III, Josef M. Kellndorfer, Emmanouil N. AnagnostouAbstract:On June 6, 2023, the Kakhovka Dam in Ukraine experienced a catastrophic breach that led to the loss of life and substantial economic values. Prior to the breach, the supporting structures downstream of the spillway had shown signs of being compromised. Here, we use multi-source satellite data, meteorological reanalysis, and dam design criteria to document the dam’s pre-failure condition. We find that anomalous operation of the Kakhovka dam began in November 2022, following the destruction of a bridge segment, which led to persistent overtopping from late April 2023 up to the breach, contributing to the erosion of the spillway foundation. Moreover, our findings also highlight safety and risk-reduction measures pivotal in avoiding such scenarios. To help prevent future disasters, we advocate for greater transparency in the design parameters of key water structures to enable risk management, and conclude that remote sensing technology can help ensuring water infrastructure safety.Data repository corresponding to: [e-mail] repository contains underlying data and code for the main manuscript figures. Data for Figure 2 is from PlanetScope. Other raw data source are also concluded as follows:The Sentinel-2 and Landsat images used in this study are accessible at https://www.sentinel-hub.com/index.html. The PlanetScope images are obtained through https://www.planet.com/. The Sentinel-1 images were acquired from https://asf.alaska.edu/. The reservoir water levels can be found at https://ipad.fas.usda.gov/cropexplorer/global_reservoir/. The GloFAS-ERA5 river discharge reanalysis data are available at https://cds.climate.copernicus.eu/cdsapp#!/dataset/cems-glofas-historical?tab=overview.