Southeast Texas Networked Flood Monitoring Sensors

Floods are common natural disasters worldwide and pose substantial risks to life, property, food production, and natural resources. Effective measures for flood mitigation and warning are important. Southeast Texas is still at substantial risk of flooding and Lamar University is assisting the region with asset management of a flood sensor network for flooding events. This network provides real-time water stage information. To make these data more useful for flood monitoring and mapping, Lamar University developed a program to measure elevation and coordinates for the various sensor locations. This paper overviews the measurement of the elevation and coordinates of 74 networked flood sensors and various thresholds at critical points used by flood decision-makers for reference at each site. These sensors, in the first phase of this program, were deployed throughout a 7-county region spanning nearly 6000 square miles in Southeast Texas. The latitude and longitude of the sensors, along with their elevations, were determined using survey-grade Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) technology. This is an accurate, rapid, and relatively low-cost surveying method. Various Continually Operating Reference Stations (CORS) were examined during post-processing to achieve the most accurate horizontal and vertical results. After differential corrections were applied, accuracies of 0.4 in. (or better) were achieved. Each site's critical points and thresholds were also established using this method. The thresholds, elevations, and positions of these sensors and their surrounding critical points are transmitted to various dashboards on websites. These data are used to aid with decisions related to road closures or modeling efforts by mitigation decision-makers, emergency managers, and the public, including the Texas Department of Transportation, Houston Transtar, the National Weather Service, and the Sabine River Authority of Texas (SRA). This data may also be used in the development of flood hydrological models in Southeast Texas watersheds and sub-basins. This program currently involves the Flood Coordination Study team which is part of the Center for Resiliency at Lamar University in collaboration with various entities such as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate, the Southeast Texas Flood Control District, and various other regional agencies, municipalities, and industries.

洪水是全球范围内频发的自然灾害，对生命安全、财产、粮食生产及自然资源均造成严重威胁。高效的防洪减灾与预警措施至关重要。得克萨斯州东南部地区目前仍面临严峻的洪水风险，拉马尔大学正协助该地区搭建洪水传感器网络的资产管理体系，以应对各类洪水事件。该网络可实时传输水位数据。为提升此类数据在洪水监测与制图工作中的应用价值，拉马尔大学开发了一套专用程序，用于测定各传感器部署点位的高程与坐标。

本文概述了74个联网洪水传感器的高程与坐标测量工作，以及洪水决策者在各站点参考使用的关键点位阈值。本项目第一阶段的传感器已部署于得克萨斯州东南部覆盖近6000平方英里的7个县域范围内。研究团队采用测量级全球导航卫星系统（Global Navigation Satellite System, GNSS）技术，完成了传感器经纬度及其高程的测定工作。该方法具备精度高、效率快且成本相对较低的优势。在后处理阶段，研究人员对多个持续运行参考站（Continually Operating Reference Stations, CORS）进行分析比对，以获取最精准的水平与垂直测量结果。施加差分改正后，测量精度可达0.4英寸（或更高水平）。各站点的关键点位与阈值亦通过该方法完成确定。

上述传感器及其周边关键点位的阈值、高程与位置信息，会被同步传输至多个网页端仪表盘。减灾决策者、应急管理人员及社会公众（包括得克萨斯州交通运输部、休斯顿交通指挥中心、国家气象局以及得克萨斯州萨宾河管理局（SRA））可依托这些数据辅助开展道路封闭决策或洪水建模工作。该数据集还可用于开发得克萨斯州东南部流域及子流域的洪水水文模型。目前，本项目由拉马尔大学韧性中心下属的洪水协调研究团队牵头实施，合作方包括美国国土安全部科学技术局、得克萨斯州东南部防洪区，以及各类区域机构、市政部门与行业主体。