Pablo Marzialetti

Oil spill monitoring on water surfaces by radar L, C and X band SAR imagery: A comparison of relevant characteristics

During last years, several studies related to remote sensing technologies analyzed the processes to extract and classify slicks from SAR imagery. These images are used, among other purposes, for monitoring coastal and marine waters pollution where oil floating on the surface becomes visible because it damps the short gravity-capillary waves that are responsible for the radar backscattering [14]. Nowadays an important number of SAR images are available and this number will increase in coming years thanks the launch of Cosmo-Skymed 2nd generation, recent availability of Sentinel-1, ALOS Palsar-2 products and future SAOCOM launch. That will provide information suitable to support decision makers in managing emergencies or potential disasters. The present study show the results obtained from 190 regions of interest extracted from a set of X, C and L Band images, where a database related to spatial, textural, spectral and contextual characteristics of the features detected was ingested into a neural network algorithm. The classification process reached percentages of up to 95% of cases of oil spills and look-alikes correctly classified depending on the wavelength, the polarization and incidence angle.

Sinergistic use of radar and optical data for agricultural data products assimilation: A case study in Central Italy

The paper describes the preliminary results of the January-August 2015 multi-frequency EO data acquisition campaign conducted over the Maccarese (Central Italy) farm. From January to May radar Cosmo SkyMed Ping-Pong (HH-VV), RapidEye and ZY-3 multispectral VHR optical images, as well as in situ data, have been acquired to retrieve biophysical and/or bio-chemical characteristics of soil and crops. LAI trend has been analyzed and compared by using both polarimetric and optical retrieval algorithms while soil moisture measurements have been compared with the radar backscattering.

The PREFER FP7 project: Damage severity maps validation results

PREFER is one of the Copernicus FP7 Emergency projects funded in 2012. It is uniquely devoted to forest pre-and post-fire management. The overall goal of the project is to develop and demonstrate a pre-operational portfolio of products, based on Earth Observation data for helping fires management at Mediterranean scale. Samples of the PREFER (Space-based Information Support for Prevention and REcovery of Forest Fires Emergency in the MediteRranean Area) information products are available to stakeholders through the project Geoserver (prefer.cgspace.it). The project foresees the utilization of satellite images optical and SAR at low (MODIS), medium (Landsat, Spot) and high (Kompsat, RapidEye, Pleiades, Cosmo-SkyMed, TanDEM-X, etc.) spatial resolution and a refresh rate of the products varying from high (days) to low (twice a month) to very low (once a year). The present paper is devoted to introduce the methodology developed for computing the maps of the level of damage caused in vegetated areas by fires and to present the results of the validation process just started.

Sugarcane biomass estimate based on sar imagery: A radar systems comparison

SBAM (Satellite Based Agricultural Monitoring) is a project funded by Italian Space Agency in the framework of Italian-Kenya cooperation. The project has four main objectives: a) to produce an updated map of the agricultural areas for Kenya based on Landsat 8 and Sentinel 2 imagery; b) to develop an automatic monitoring system able to classify agricultural areas and detect land use changes; c) to develop and deliver to the Kenyan partner of the project a system capable to download and process automatically Landsat8, Sentinel2, MODIS and MSG/SEVIRI images by providing standard products (vegetation indices, statistics, temporal analysis, etc.); d) to provide a tool for assessing changes in the agricultural area stability and crop yield. and study the feasibility of a tool capable to forecast crop yields. The paper is devoted to describe the activity carried out in the field of forecasting crop yield by using biomass estimate based on SAR images. The results obtained by using images acquired by X-band (Cosmo-Skymed), C-Band (Sentinel-1) and L-band (PALSAR) systems on a study area devoted to sugarcane will be described.

Satellite based products for supporting forest fires prevention and recovery in Europe

The main purpose of the FP7 PREFER project is to set up a space-based service infrastructure and up-to-date cartographic products, based on remote sensing data, to support the preparedness, prevention, recovery and reconstruction phases of the Forest Fires emergency cycle in the European Mediterranean Region. This region is particularly affected by uncontrolled forest fires, with negative consequences on ecosystems, such as desertification and soil erosion, as well as on the local economy and, in extreme situations, causing also the loss of human lives. The present paper aims at illustrating the potential improvement in the forest fires fighting that may result from the use of information obtained by exploiting satellite imagery. The potentiality of satellite based information products will be demonstrated by reporting the results of the demonstration activity carried out during the 2015 summer season.

Are the PREFER project products devoted to support fire prevention and recovery suitable to South-America?

PREFER (Space-based information support for the Prevention and Recovery of Forest Fires Emergency in the Mediterranean Area) is a three years project devoted to develop a satellite based service infrastructure capable to provide up-to-date information to support the preparedness, prevention, recovery and reconstruction phases of the Forest Fires emergency cycle in the European Mediterranean Region. The project has been successfully completed at the end of 2015. This paper aims at illustrating some of the project achievements and discuss their applicability to manage forest fires in South-America.

Satellite-based products for forest fire prevention and recovery: the PREFER experience

PREFER is a three years projects funded in 2012 in the framework of the FP7 Emergency call. The project objective was to set up a space-based service infrastructure and up-to-date cartographic products, based on remote sensing data, to support the preparedness, prevention, recovery and reconstruction phases of the Forest Fires emergency cycle in the European Mediterranean Region. The products of PREFER were tested and evaluated during the training and the demonstration period of the project, which coincided with the forest fire season of 2015. The products were tested using the online PREFER service and the tests were linked to the pilot areas of the project which are Minho (Portugal), Messenia (Greece), Andalucía (Spain), Sardinia (Italy) and Corse (France). Testing was performed by members of the User Advisory Board (UAB) starting from the training event organized in Coimbra, Portugal in June 2015. The tests continued till the end of the fire season (October 2015) and the end users were provided with updated information for the areas of interest during the entire demonstration period. Due to data availability restrictions (in particular to ancillary required data) not all products were available for testing in all the test areas. However all the PREFER products were tested at least in one pilot area and in cooperation with at least one end user organization. It has to be mentioned that beyond the product suitability and usefulness to the end users the tests included evaluation of the usability of the web-based service of PREFER and the respective quality of service provided. This paper aims at presenting the results of the demonstration activity, the lessons learned and ideas for further enhancement of the developed products devoted to support prevention and recovery phases of the wildfire cycle.

COSMO SkyMed AO projects -multi-temporal SAR and optical data integrated approach for weed infested inland waters

In this paper we deal with the integrated use of time-series of SAR and MODIS images to derive the temporal behavior, the abundance and the distribution of the floating macrophytes in the Winam Gulf (Kenyan portion of the Lake Victoria). The proliferation of invasive plants and aquatic weeds is of growing concern. Starting from 1989, Lake Victoria has been interested by the highest infestation of water hyacinth with significant socio-economic impact on riparian populations. The information provided by satellite can play an important role in supporting a decision system for the management of the water resources allowing also an easy and inexpensive way of monitoring the environment response to any action that might be undertaken to contrast its degradation. This paper aims at assessing the capability of medium/high resolution (Wideregion and Stripmap) COSMO-SkyMed ScanSAR time series imagery to support/supplement optical data, frequently affected by clouds, in the knowledge of temporal macrophytes growing cycles and sustain the monitor and management of the Lake Victoria waters.