How Missile Detection Technology Can Help Us Predict Floods

In June, as rain flooded Paris, scientists from the Ecole des Ponts ParisTech huddled around their laptops to read data from a sensor atop a campus building. The scientists were creating the most detailed map of urban flooding in existence. And they did it using a state-of-the-art rainfall detection system being tested in Paris and Rotterdam, in the Netherlands.

Here's how it works -- scientists perch dual-polarization X-band radars on top of semi-tall buildings. (This is the same technology used to measure oncoming short-range missiles in combat.)