Earth observations to mitigate flood impacts in Central America: translating research to decision-making and actions

Central America, comprising Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama, faces recurring disruptions due to floods. While Earth observations (EO) can inform decision-making processes to mitigate floods, little practical guidance to appropriately link these data and tools to specific actions is available for Central America. Using the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Application Readiness Level (ARL) framework, we assessed a selection of use cases, literature, and reports to understand the current actionability of satellite-based EO in Central America, organized by four potential flood mitigation decisions that authorities may face. We then mapped EO use in each decision category to an ARL Phase (I-III). While much EO work aligned to the fundamental research stage, there are also substantive ways in which the region uses EO operationally related to flood mitigation. Finally, we discuss several overarching themes and barriers to advance EO applications across the ARL scale, providing a roadmap to link EO-based research to flood mitigation actions and decisions in Central America.