About the course
Recommended semester of study: 1st semester (1st year M.Sc., WS)
Number of credits: 3
Teaching:
doc. Mgr. Michal GALLAY, PhD. Mgr. Katarína ONAČILLOVÁ, PhD.
The conditions for completing the course:
The conditions for completing the course include continuous assessment through exercises and a final evaluation at the end of the semester. The continuous assessment consists of 3 exercise assignments and a semester team project, each evaluated on a scale of 0-100 points. To pass the course, a student must score at least 50 points in each part of the assessment. The final grade is determined by the arithmetic average of the scores from the 3 assignments and the semester project. The grading scheme is as follows: A (100-90 points), B (80-89 points), C (70-79 points), D (60-69 points), E (50-59 points), FX (0-49 points).
Lectures
1. Radar Earth Observation and evolution – current and next generation missions, ESA EO Data Access and resources, applications
This lecture offers an overview of Radar Earth Observation, its evolution, and the next generation of missions, emphasizing ESA's role. It reviews the key principles of radar sensing, and chronicles key missions, discussing Sentinel-1's capabilities and upcoming radar-based initiatives. Attendees will learn about accessing and leveraging ESA EO Data, including third-party missions. The lecture also explores diverse applications of radar data, such as land cover mapping, disaster monitoring, and climate studies. Attendees will understand how radar remote sensing has advanced over the years and its transformative potential in various scientific and practical applications.
2. SAR remote sensing for land applications 1 – SAR basics
The lecture dives into Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) basics for land and terrain mapping. Attendees will understand the fundamentals of radar imaging, including concepts like backscatter, polarization, and resolution. The lecture will detail how SAR data, particularly from ESA missions like Sentinel-1, can be utilized to generate accurate and detailed land cover maps. It will explain the advantages of SAR, such as all-weather, day-and-night imaging capabilities. Practical examples and case studies will demonstrate the use of SAR data in applications like topographic mapping, land cover change, and urban planning, highlighting its value in land management and environmental studies.
3. SAR remote sensing for land applications 2 – Introduction to Interferometric SAR
The lecture provides an introduction to Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) for land applications. Attendees will learn the fundamental principles of InSAR, including phase difference, coherence, and interferograms. The session will explain how InSAR is used to generate high-resolution digital surface and terrain models and monitor land deformation phenomena like subsidence and uplift. The lecture will also discuss the importance of ESA's Sentinel-1 mission in providing consistent and reliable InSAR data. Practical examples will demonstrate the use of InSAR in areas such as earthquake monitoring, landslide detection, and infrastructure stability assessment, highlighting its critical role in geoscience and hazard management.
4. SAR remote sensing for forestry
The lecture focuses how Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data, especially from satellites like Sentinel-1, is used to monitor forests, covering concepts like backscatter, polarization, and interferometry. Attendees will learn how SAR data can penetrate cloud cover and canopy layers to provide information about forest structure and biomass. The lecture will also discuss the importance of temporal resolution in monitoring forest growth and detecting changes from deforestation or natural disasters. Real-world case studies will illustrate the critical role of SAR in forest conservation, climate change studies, and sustainable resource management.
5. SAR and optical remote sensing for precision agriculture 1
Keeping track of crop growth is crucial for evaluating food output, making the most of land use, and shaping agricultural policy. Remote sensing techniques using optical and/or radar sensors have become vital tools for garnering insights about crops. Information from optical data reflects the chemical properties of vegetation, whereas radar data conveys information about the vegetation structure and moisture content. A significant advantage of radar is its ability to capture images of the Earth’s surface under nearly all weather conditions. This lecture focuses on the utilization of Sentinel-1 (S1) and Sentinel-2 (S2) data for crop classification. Attendees will learn how to combine radar and optical remote sensing data to identify different crop types accurately. The emphasis will be on the unique benefits of S1 and S2 datasets - such as all-weather operability and diverse spectral information - for agricultural applications. The lecture will also address methods and challenges related to data integration and classification accuracy.
6. SAR and optical remote sensing for precision agriculture 2
This lecture delves into the innovative use of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) combined with Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) imagery for effective crop classification. It explores how the fusion of these technologies offers high spatial and temporal resolution data for precision agriculture. Attendees will learn how SAR's all-weather, day-night imaging capabilities complement UAV's flexibility and detailed imaging to provide an improved understanding of crop types. The lecture will also discuss real-world applications, the technology integration process, and the challenges and potential solutions associated with this approach.
7. SAR and optical remote sensing for mapping wildfires
This lecture will provide insights into how Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and optical imaging techniques assist in real-time wildfire detection, monitoring, and damage assessment. Participants will gain an understanding of how SAR, with its weather-independent imaging, and optical sensors, with their high-resolution capabilities, provide essential data for tracking the dynamics of wildfires. Practical use cases from ESA missions will further illustrate these technologies' contribution to wildfire management and post-fire recovery plans.
8. SAR and Optical remote sensing for mapping snow
This lecture explains application of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and multispectral remote sensing in mapping snow using European Space Agency (ESA) missions. Attendees will learn about how these technologies, with their complementary capabilities, provide detailed snow cover data including depth, density, and snow-water equivalent. The discussion highlights how SAR’s weather-independent data collection complements multispectral sensors' spectral information for a comprehensive understanding of snow dynamics, relevant for meteorology, hydrology, and climate studies.
9. SAR and optical remote sensing for mapping ice
The lecture focuses on mapping and monitoring ice using SAR and multispectral remote sensing as part of ESA missions. Participants will gain insights into how the fusion of these technologies offers valuable data about ice thickness, structure, and movement. The discussion will cover how SAR’s ability to capture surface deformations blends with multispectral sensors' ice surface properties detection to contribute substantially to studies of glaciers, polar ice caps, and implications for climate change and sea level rise.
10. SAR and optical remote sensing for mapping floods
The first part of the lecture explores the use of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and multispectral remote sensing techniques in identifying flood extents through European Space Agency (ESA) missions. Attendees will learn how these technologies, with their complementary features, provide detailed and timely information about flood dynamics. The ability of SAR to penetrate cloud cover, combined with the color differentiation capabilities of multispectral sensors, enables the accurate delineation of flood boundaries, essential for real-time response and mitigation efforts.
11. SAR and optical remote sensing for post-flood assessment and recovery
This second segment delves into the use of SAR and multispectral remote sensing in post-flood assessment and recovery, drawing from ESA missions. The discussion will cover how these technologies can detect changes in land and water bodies, thereby helping to quantify flood damages and evaluate the recovery process. Attendees will learn how the integration of SAR's surface change detection with multispectral sensors' ability to discern vegetation health contributes to comprehensive post-disaster management and planning for future resilience.
12. SAR for land subsidence
This lecture explores the role of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and multispectral remote sensing in detecting and mapping land subsidence using European Space Agency (ESA) missions. Attendees will understand how these complementary technologies provide a thorough understanding of surface deformations. Emphasis will be placed on SAR's sensitivity to minor surface changes and multispectral sensors' ability to distinguish geologic and vegetative features, offering comprehensive insight into subsidence dynamics.
13. SAR for earthquake monitoring
The lecture focuses on how SAR and multispectral remote sensing aid in earthquake monitoring and mapping as part of ESA missions. The discussion will cover how these technologies help detect seismic activities and resultant surface deformations. The sensitivity of SAR in detecting minute surface movements combined with multispectral sensors' capacity to identify changes in land cover, contribute significantly to timely earthquake detection, damage assessment, and post-event recovery planning.
Practicals
1. Radar Earth Observation – ESA EO Data Access and resources, applications, Copernicus OA Hub
By the end of this practical, students will be able to access and retrieve free and open ESA EO radar data. The basic steps of how to process and visualise radar data will be shown. The attendees will also explore diverse applications of radar data, such as land cover mapping, disaster monitoring, and climate studies. Attendees will understand key principles of radar remote sensing pre-processing and processing steps to generate outputs that has potential in various scientific and practical applications.
2. SAR for Land Applications 1 – SAR basics for Land monitoring, using SNAP software
The practical covers the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) basics for land and terrain mapping. It will demonstrate the use of SAR data, particularly from ESA missions like Sentinel-1, in monitoring of land cover and its dynamics. By the end of this practical, attendees will be able to understand the fundamentals of radar imaging and processing and generate a land cover map from SAR. The advantages of SAR over optical systems for mapping land cover and land use change, the information content in SAR images relevant to land cover characteristics and the limitations of SAR for mapping land cover will be illustrated and explained.
3. SAR for Land Applications 2 – Interferometric SAR data processing, using SNAP software
The practical provides an introduction to Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) processing for land applications. By the end of this practical, attendees will be able to perform interferometric processing using Sentinel-1 IW products and use InSAR to generate high-resolution digital elevation models and monitor land deformation phenomena like subsidence and uplift. Practical examples will also demonstrate the use of InSAR in areas such as earthquake and volcano monitoring, landslide detection, and infrastructure stability assessment, highlighting its critical role in risk monitoring and geoscience.
4. Forestry with Sentinel-1: Single Image Analysis and Time Series to detect forest change using SNAP software
This practical aims to generate Radiometrically Terrain Corrected (RTC) Images from Sentinel-1 GRD products to monitor forest extent, structure and biomass. Attendees will process SAR data with SNAP using single-date and multi-temporal processing and generate a Radiometrically Terrain Corrected (RTC) Images and time series analysis of multi-temp dataset. Statistical analyses will be performed using Scatterplots, Histogram Analysis, Profile Plot etc. Practical aims to emphasize the critical role of SAR in sustainable resource management and forest conservation.
5. Crop Classification with S1 and S2 data using the SNAP software
The goal of this practical is to use radar (Sentinel-1 and ALOS-PALSAR) and optical (Sentinel-2) data, combined or separately to The goal of this practical is to use radar (Sentinel-1) and optical (Sentinel-2) data, combined or separately to classify different crop types over the selected area. First, data pre-processing will be performed, and then the crop types will be estimated by classification of the data, based on the Random Forest algorithm. In a first part, the data are processed in order to be suitable to be used as input for classification algorithm. The second part is dedicated to the classification of the study area.
6. Crop Classification with S1 data using the SNAP software
This practical delves into the innovative use of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) for effective crop and soil classification. It explores how the fusion of these technologies provide an improved understanding of crop types for precision agriculture. Attendees by the end of this practical will be able to understand how SAR's configurations affect response from crops and soils, what are the optimal sensor parameters for agriculture applications, how to ingest, pre-process, and process SAR data for use in crop classification and soil moisture estimation.
7. Wildfire Mapping with Sentinel-1 & Sentinel-2 using the SNAP software
This practical will provide insights into mapping forest fire progression with Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-1 data. The Sentinel-2 Short wave infrared (SWIR) composite lets us draw conclusions about water content in soil and plants, as water strongly reflects in SWIR wavelengths. The Sentinel-1 SAR will be the perfect supplement with its ability to penetrate clouds and the recorded backscatter conveying information about vegetation and soil moisture levels. Participants will gain an understanding of how by combining data from two different satellite sensors avoid data gaps and clearly monitor different development stages of the forest fire, even during highly inconsistent weather conditions.
8. Sentinel-1 & Sentinel-2 for Snow and Ice using the SNAP software
There are multiple methodologies designed to observe snow and ice cover using optical and SAR satellites. The first part of the segment will concentrate on processing the Sentinel-1 data using the SNAP toolbox to create ice velocity maps. This accurate ice information is crucial to understand and monitor the changes in the environment and global climate change.
9. Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2 for Snow and Ice using the SNAP software
The second part of the practical for Snow and Ice will concentrate on the retrieval of sea ice type using texture analysis in the form of Gray-Level Co-occurrence Matrices (GLCMs) and supervised classification trained with existing ice chart data and SNAP. This accurate ice information is also crucial to understand and monitor the changes in the environment and global climate change. Moreover, the decline in ice extent is creating possibilities for new sea routes and the exploration of natural resources.
10. Flood Monitoring with Sentinel-1 & Sentinel-2 using the SNAP software
The first part of the practical focuses on detection of flooded areas using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Sentinel-1 data. Attendees will learn how to search, download and process the data and perform image analysis and generate water mask to provide detailed and timely information about flood dynamics. The SAR's ability to penetrate the cloud cover enables precise delimitation of flood borders, essential for response and mitigation efforts in real time.
11. Flood Monitoring with Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2 data using the SNAP software
The second segment of the practical for Flood Monitoring delves into the use of SAR and multispectral remote sensing in post-flood assessment and recovery. The practical will cover how the fusion of these technologies can detect changes in land and water bodies, thereby helping to quantify flood damages and evaluate the recovery process. Attendees will learn how the integration of SAR with multispectral sensors contributes to comprehensive post-disaster management and planning for future resilience.
12. Land subsidence mapping using SAR interferometry (InSAR) using the SNAP software
In this practical session, participants will explore the role of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) in detecting and mapping land subsidence using Sentinel-1 data. Participants will understand how to process SAR data to obtain information and understanding of surface deformations. Emphasis will be placed on the sensitivity of SAR to small surface changes and provide a comprehensive view of the subsidence dynamics. Attendees will also learn how to detect displacement by means of band Math expression and visualize results of displacement in Google Earth.
13. Earthquake deformation with Sentinel-1 using the SNAP software
In this practical students will analyse the earthquake using observation imaging technology - interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR), that has become essential for describing the dimensions and spatial complexity of earthquakes. The Sentinel-1 SLC products will be used to derive the deformation caused and combine it with geological data. Attendees will use the capabilities of Sentinel-1 SAR to understand deformation monitoring and produce value-added products to support the monitoring of earthquake disasters and global earthquake emergency response.
References
Lillesand, T., Kiefer, R. W., & Chipman, J. (2014). Remote Sensing and Image Interpretation. Wiley.
Maselli, F. (2018). Remote Sensing for Land Use Management. CRC Press.
Pukanská, K., Bartoš, K., Kseňak, Ľ (2022). Earth Observation with ESA missions (in Slovak). https://eo-esa.fberg.tuke.sk/en/university-textbook/
Jensen, J. R. (2007). Remote Sensing of the Environment: An Earth Resource Perspective. Pearson Prentice Hall.
Campbell, J. B., & Wynne, R. H. (2011). Introduction to Remote Sensing. Guilford Press.
Aschbacher, J. (2017). The European Space Agency's Earth Observation Programme. In The European Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics. European Physical Society.
Websites:
COPERNICUS Programme (https://www.copernicus.eu/en)
Exploring ESA Sentinel Data: (https://www.sentinel-hub.com/)
European Space Agency's Earth Observation Portal (https://eoportal.org/)
NASA Earth Observatory (https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/)
USGS Earth Explorer (https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/)
