Imaging Radar in Archaeological Investigations: An Image Processing Perspective

Holcomb, Derrold W.; Shingiray, Irina

doi:10.1007/0-387-44455-6_1

Cited by 10 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…The utility of SAR for archaeology has been demonstrated previously in many cases (e.g. Holcomb and Shingiray, ). The sensitivity of SAR to topography and surface roughness (Ford et al ., ) and the dielectric properties of soil, a major contributing factor of which is the soil moisture content (Fung and Ulaby, ), render it potentially valuable to archaeological research.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 80%

ALOS PALSAR Analysis of the Archaeological Site of Pelusium

Stewart

Lasaponara²,

Schiavon

2013

Archaeological Prospection

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An analysis of the archaeological site of Pelusium on the northeastern edge of the Nile Delta, Egypt, was carried out using phased array type L-band synthetic aperture radar (PALSAR) data. The aim was to assess the potential of PALSAR to identify buried archaeological structures. The 18 PALSAR images acquired in various polarimetric modes were obtained for the analysis through a European Space Agency Category-1 project. Processing included coregistration and summation of images for each polarimetric mode in order to reduce speckle. The summed images were then compared with each other and with optical imagery to identify any features that may be of archaeological interest. Features identified on the summed images were also viewed in the individual images to assess their ephemeral nature. One image was available in quadrupole polarization (quad-pol) mode with which polarimetric analysis was undertaken, including extraction of target decompositions and analysis of the scattering characteristics of the study area. Linear and geometric features that may be archaeological structures were visible in the processed SAR imagery. Possible palaeolandscape features were also identified. Some of these are visible in the optical imagery, but not clearly delineated. The results of the polarimetric analysis show that single-bounce scattering dominates over the study area, and that over the sandy regions the signal is much weaker in all polarizations, with mixed scattering. Although the spatial resolution did not enable clear identification and characterization of the physical scattering properties of small-scale features, the PALSAR data demonstrate a capability to highlight features that become almost invisible in optical imagery at the synoptic scale (even if they are visible up close) leading to the conclusion that PALSAR may be a useful tool in the first stages of archaeological surveys to analyse the spatial pattern of features, and identify where to focus smaller scale surveys in areas with land cover similar to that of the study area.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 80%

ALOS PALSAR Analysis of the Archaeological Site of Pelusium

Stewart

Lasaponara²,

Schiavon

2013

Archaeological Prospection

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“…Medium-resolution satellite SAR imagery has played an important role in tropical and semi-arid contexts due to the capability of microwaves to penetrate clouds, as well as detect soil moisture content in all weather conditions. The detection of soil moisture is key in the study of long-term landscape dynamics as it allows detecting palaeohydrological features, which provide evidence for resource spots important for past human occupation (see [39][40][41][42][43]). …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This method was preferred rather than other available geocoding methods [39,57], requiring the use of a DEM to orthorectify the imagery. However, the flat topography characterizing the dune and interdune fields limit the possibility of using DEMs as available datasets (SRTM v4 or ASTER GDEM v2) proved to be too coarse for this purpose [14].…”

Section: Georeferencing Of Subsets Of Interestmentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of Satellite SAR for Understanding Long-Term Human Occupation Dynamics in the Monsoonal Semi-Arid Plains of North Gujarat, India

et al. 2014

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This work explores the spatial distribution of monsoonal flooded areas using ENVISAT C-band Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) in the semi-arid region of N. Gujarat, India. The amplitude component of SAR Single Look Complex (SLC) images has been used to estimate the extent of surface and near-surface water dynamics using the mean amplitude (MA) of monsoonal (July to September) and post-monsoonal (October to January) seasons. The integration of SAR-derived maps (seasonal flooding maps and seasonal MA change) with archaeological data has provided new insights to understand present-day landscape dynamics affecting archaeological preservation and visibility. Furthermore, preliminary results suggest a good correlation between Mid-Holocene settlement patterns and the distribution and extension of seasonal floodable areas within river basin areas, opening interesting inroads to study OPEN ACCESSRemote Sens. 2014, 6 11421 settlement distribution and resource availability in past socio-ecological systems in semi-arid areas.

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“…The fact that SAR is an active sensor measuring microwave backscatter makes it sensitive to differences in surface roughness which can be seen as variations of brightness and texture in images of SAR backscatter amplitude (Ford et al, 1983;Holcomb and Shingiray, 2007;Cigna et al, 2013;Tapete et al, 2013). SAR backscatter is very much dependent on the dielectric properties of targets, such as soils with a major contributing factor is the soil moisture content (Ulaby et al, 1982;Holcomb and Shingiray, 2007).…”

Section: Remote Sensing In Archeologiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…SAR backscatter is very much dependent on the dielectric properties of targets, such as soils with a major contributing factor is the soil moisture content (Ulaby et al, 1982;Holcomb and Shingiray, 2007). This property has been exploited for archaeological prospection in identifying moisture anomalies that indicated the presence of sites of archaeological interest (Moore et al, 2006).…”

Section: Remote Sensing In Archeologiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Filtering Techniques on Analysis of Archeology Areas Using Radarsat Images: Case Study of Lembah Bujang, Malaysia

Norzailawati

Akma

Alias

et al. 2016

ISPRS Ann. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci.

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Commission VI, WG VI/4KEY WORDS: Remote Sensing, GIS, Filtering Techniques, Land Use Planning and historical sites ABSTRACT:Speckle noise present in radar imagery caused by interaction of out -of-phase waves with a target, the objective of this paper is attempt to test filtering techniques consist of Lee, Frost and Gamma Map to identify a potential shrines area in Lembah Bujang using RADARSAT imageries. The multi-temporal images of RADARSAT for years 2003 and 2014 have been used filtering techniques in identifying potential shrines consist of have been used and tested to selected study areas with using processing software of ENVI 4.8 and ArcGIS 10.2. Based on mathematical morphology, the speckles in these images were reduced, once the reduction is achieved, the enhancement of archaeological sites is accomplished. The finding shows that Local Adaptive Filtering on GAMMA Map filter is the best techniques in identifying potential shrines areas at once as guidance to pursuing an area as official gazette historical site in Malaysia context .

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Imaging Radar in Archaeological Investigations: An Image Processing Perspective

Cited by 10 publications

References 35 publications

ALOS PALSAR Analysis of the Archaeological Site of Pelusium

ALOS PALSAR Analysis of the Archaeological Site of Pelusium

Use of Satellite SAR for Understanding Long-Term Human Occupation Dynamics in the Monsoonal Semi-Arid Plains of North Gujarat, India

Filtering Techniques on Analysis of Archeology Areas Using Radarsat Images: Case Study of Lembah Bujang, Malaysia

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