ABSTRACTSAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) satellite interferometry is a helpful remote sensing technique for large areas analyses and monitoring, especially where the study area is difficult to access ...for practical or for legal reasons. As a result, the use of these techniques has significantly increased over the past three decades. Among the available different satellite constellations displaying different spatial and temporal resolutions, COSMO-SkyMed of the Italian Space Agency (ASI) represents a cutting-edge reality. COSMO-SkyMed constellation, launched in 2007 by ASI, is a valuable Earth observation tool that provides all-weather, day-and-night imaging capabilities with high resolution and a short revisit time. In this study, we produced an atlas for the entire Italian peninsula using two parameters (R-Index and Percentage of measurability of movement), in order to evaluate the quality and a-priori applicability of satellite interferometry data collected by the COSMO-SkyMed constellation. The atlas was obtained by means of the implementation of different model builders in the GIS (Geographical Information Systems) environment, providing a semi-automatic way to generate the above-mentioned outputs. The R-Index describes the likelihood of detecting Permanent Scatterers in mountainous areas, while the Percentage of measurability of movement indicates the percentage of real motion that interferometry can detect at a certain point in the analyzed region. A high-detail Digital Terrain Model (DTM) has been used to identify the most suitable areas for satellite interferometry monitoring and studying. The results of our analysis showed that the R-Index and the Percentage of measurability of movement could be used to pre-evaluate the quality of satellite interferometry data collected by the COSMO-SkyMed constellation. This research has important implications for disaster response, environmental monitoring, and scientific research and is one of a few cases in the world in which a unified representation for an entire country is provided.
The increasing availability of satellite Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images is opening new opportunities for operational support to predictive maintenance and emergency actions. With the purpose ...of investigating the performances of SAR images characterized by different geometric resolutions for post-earthquake damage detection and mapping, we analyzed three SAR image datasets (Sentinel-1, COSMO-SkyMed Spotlight, and COSMO-SkyMed StripMap) available in Norcia (Central Italy) that were severely affected by a strong seismic sequence in 2016. By applying the amplitude and the coherent change detection processing tools, we compared pairs of images with equivalent features collected before and after the main shock on 30 October 2016 (at 06:40, UTC). Results were compared against each other and then measured against the findings of post-earthquake field surveys for damage assessment, performed by the Italian National Fire and Rescue Service (Corpo Nazionale dei Vigili del Fuoco—CNVVF). Thanks to the interesting and very rare opportunity to have pre-event COSMO-SkyMed Spotlight images, we determined that 1 × 1-m nominal geometric resolutions can provide very detailed single-building damage mapping, while COSMO-SkyMed StripMap HIMAGE images at 3 × 3-m resolutions return relatively good detections of damaged buildings; and, the Sentinel-1 images did not allow acquiring information on single buildings—they simply provided approximate identifications of the most severely damaged sectors. The main outcomes of the performance investigation we carried out in this work can be exploited considering the exponentially growing satellite market in terms of revisit time and image resolution.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Constellation of Small Satellites for Mediterranean Basin Observation COSMO-SkyMed (CSK) is one of the most advanced and powerful assets in the Earth observation field in which Italy plays a key role ...at world level. CSK has been designed for dual-use purposes to fulfill both civilian and defense needs, providing useful scientific and commercial applications and strategic monitoring. Since 2008, thanks to its features, the Italian Constellation is able to provide a strong contribution in several application domains such as Geo-hazard Risk Management (seismic events, volcano eruptions, landslides monitoring, and so forth), Ocean and Marine Applications, Land Cover and Vegetation, Polar Research, Cultural Heritage Monitoring, Water Resources and Hydrology. The focus of this article is to analyze the CSK data exploitation to monitor the trend over the last 4 years (2014-2017). Specifically, statistics have been provided based on different acquisition modes, application domains, and the geographic area of interest. The article also highlights the role of the CSK system in the context of international cooperation, focusing on the ongoing partnerships and agreements signed by the Italian Space Agency to facilitate CSK data exploitation.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Spring 2014 signs the beginning of the fourth operational year of the complete Italian four-satellite dualuse system COSMO-SkyMed (COnstellation of small Satellites for the Mediterranean basin ...Observation). The constellation was stepwise deployed in the time range 2007-2010, starting with the launch of the first satellite in June 2007 and completing the system with the last one in November 2010.
Mediterranean maquis is a complex and widespread ecosystem in the region, intrinsically prone to fire. Many species have developed specific adaptation traits to cope with fire, ensuring resistance ...and resilience. Due to the recent changes in socio-economy and land uses, fires are more and more frequent in the urban-rural fringe and in the coastlines, both now densely populated. The detection of fires and the monitoring of vegetation regrowth is thus of primary interest for local management and for understanding the ecosystem dynamics and processes, also in the light of the recurrent droughts induced by climate change. Among the main objectives of the COSMO-SkyMed radar constellation mission there is the monitoring of environmental hazards; the very high revisiting time of this mission is optimal for post-hazard response activities. However, very few studies exploited such data for fire and vegetation monitoring. In this research, Cosmo-SkyMed is used in a Mediterranean protected area covered by maquis to detect the burnt area extension and to conduct a mid-term assessment of vegetation regrowth. The positive results obtained in this research highlight the importance of the very high-resolution continuous acquisitions and the multi-polarization information provided by COSMO-SkyMed for monitoring fire impacts on vegetation.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
This study aims at demonstrating the ability of full-polarimetric X-band synthetic arperture radar measurements provided by the COSMO-SkyMed second generation satellite constellation to extract the ...waterline of inland water bodies and to classify the land use/cover of the surroundings. The former task is undertaken using a state-of-the-art unsupervised method that exploits a global threshold constant false alarm rate method together with morphological filters and a Sobel edge detection algorithm; while the latter goal is pursued considering an unsupervised scattering-based approach the relies on the Wishart distribution and the eigendecomposition parameters of the coherency matrix.Experiments are carried out on satellite data set collected over the San Giuliano reservoir, in the South of Italy, where a full-polarimetric COSMO-SkyMed second generation image and a Sentinel-2 optical image are collected. Results show that the adopted methodologies allow effectively extracting the profile of the reservoir and providing classification outputs of the surroundings according to the dominant scattering mechanisms.
In this paper the role of the COSMO-SkyMed constellation data in the framework of the Italian Space Agency (ASI)'s "Multimission and Multifrequency SAR" program has been analyzed. The key aspects ...regarding the provenance of the Principal Investigators, the application fields and information about the exploitation of the COSMO-SkyMed data, for both the first- and second-generation satellites, are highlighted in the study.
This study is to analyze the multi-polarization/multi-frequency backscattering from intertidal areas using polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery collected by the C-band Radarsat-2 (RS2) ...and the X-band Cosmo-SkyMed Second Generation (CSG) satellite missions.
The "Multi-mission and multi-frequency SAR" program (2021-2023) of the Italian Space Agency supported the national community to develop algorithms combining SAR data collected in C, X and L-bands. ...Main achievements in terms of SAR data exploitation, integration and data fusion, and new products prototyping are presented with regard to agriculture, natural hazards, urban areas, cryosphere, sea and coast. Perspectives are finally outlined with regard to future SAR missions and towards downstream applications.
In continuity with the investments made on SAR technologies in the last two decades by the Italian Space Agency (ASI), the "Multi-mission and multi-frequency SAR" program currently supports ten R&D ...projects aiming to design, develop and test innovative algorithms for exploitation of multi-mission/multi-frequency SAR data. Perspectives of engineering and pre-operational development are demonstrated with regard to various application domains (i.e. agriculture, urban areas, natural hazards, cryosphere, sea and coast). Access to COSMO-SkyMed and SAOCOM images is facilitated by ASI to allow the research consortia to achieve an effective multi-frequency SAR data integration. The program represents a foundational step in the ASI's roadmap towards "scientific downstream applications", i.e. applications enabled by the exploitation of mature and validated algorithms that have been originally developed to answer scientific questions and/or retrieve geophysical parameters, and have been brought to the stage that they can generate products that address specific user needs beyond scientific and academic purposes only.
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