Identifying floodplain boundaries is critical to the success of many environmental protection and urban development endeavors.  Now there’s a new tool to provide high-resolution datasets of Earth’s surface properties to ensure the accuracy of floodplain mapping. It’s the work of a team of scientists that includes Enrique Vivoni, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment — one of the Fulton Schools — and ASU’ School of Earth and Space Exploration. The datasets could help in development of sustainable water management plans and enable better assessment of the environmental strain on regions seeing growing human populations.