Unique performance of spaceborne SAR remote sensing in cultural heritage applications: Overviews and perspectives

Abstract

To be an innovative remote sensing technology, spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is increasingly recognized as an irreplaceable tool in cultural heritage applications, such as archaeological prospection for the discovery of new sites and monument monitoring and management, taking advantage of observation capabilities independent of sun illumination and weather conditions. In this paper, we firstly give a synoptic overview for the state-of-art of spaceborne SAR technology in cultural heritage applications. Then, the unique performance of SAR compared with optical approaches, including subsurface imaging and interferometry, is objectively exploited and assessed using simulations and case studies. Simulations indicated that long wavelength SAR is promising in the detection of relics with an extended geometric dimension, particularly when the performance of tomographic SAR (TomoSAR) in subsurface imaging is optimized. However, case studies proved that interferometic SAR (InSAR) is useful for landscape archaeology by producing digital elevation models as well as for risk monitoring and preventive diagnosis of cultural properties using motion indicators. This study showed the potentialities of spaceborne SAR applications in cultural heritage, with particular reference to TomoSAR and differential TomoSAR (D-TomoSAR).

Long-Term Monitoring of Protected Cultural Heritage Environments in Norway: Development of Methods and First-Time Application

“…Nevertheless, for current needs and the near future, we see great power in the visualisation of landscape continuity and change through aerial photography [45] and repeat on-ground photography. These methods also provide material that will be of use in combination with the new technology in the future [46][47][48].…”

On the Use of Google Earth Engine and Sentinel Data to Detect “Lost” Sections of Ancient Roads. The Case of Via Appia

“…Related to S-1, it must be considered that a correct identification and interpretation of archeological marks on the basis of radar images is not a straightforward task and requires knowledge about ground surface conditions as well as about the interaction mechanisms between radar waves and surface sensed. The reconnaissance of typical archeological marks (such as crop, shadow, and soil/damp marks) using radar is more complex than optical imaging [13]. The discriminability of archeological marks is a complex issue mainly because linked to very subtle and nonpermanent signals [14], [15] only evident in specific surface conditions, (as for example, vegetation type and phenology, moisture content, etc.)…”

Flood Detection and Susceptibility Mapping Using Sentinel-1 Time Series, Alternating Decision Trees, and Bag-ADTree Models

“…During the past decades, remote sensing (RS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have opened up new opportunities to create and assess large datasets to extract more accurate and valuable flood hazard maps [5,12,16]. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) can collect data, day or night, penetrate through clouds, and is both air-and spacebased [17,18]. European Space Agency (ESA) has provided researchers with free and comprehensive data of Sentinel for variety of purposes.…”