Middle States Geographer, 2007, 40:114-122 ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF FLOOD INUNDATION IN THE DEVILS LAKE AREA: A REMOTE SENSING APPROACH

ABSTRACT: Devils Lake is a naturally occurring, closed water body located in northeastern North Dakota. Since the early 1990’s, it has experienced a rise in surface elevation of over 8 meters (m). The result of this change in water elevation has been the destruction of hundreds of homes, thousands of acres of farmland, and over 450 million dollars in expenses incurred to relocate roads, bridges, power-lines, and levees. While recently the rise in water has appeared to have stabilized, there is no guarantee that the water will not continue to rise in the near future. The purpose of this study is to use a combination of remote sensing and geographic information system techniques to determine the type of land cover that has been affected by the rise in elevation of Devils Lake and to project what land will be damaged in the future should Devils Lake continue to rise until it reaches its natural spill elevation of 444.7 m