SInCohMap

The main objective of this ESA project is to develop, analyze and validate novel methodologies for land cover and vegetation mapping by using time series of Sentinel-1 data and in particular by exploiting the temporal evolution of the interferometric coherence.

Since the Sentinel-1 constellation is operational, we are now in the fortunate position of having 6-day observation repeat intervals and hence can compute interferometric measures on this time scale. Additionally, this data is available in two different polarizations, increasing the possible feature space that can be derived further. We are looking at a 5-dimensional input data domain covering 2 temporal (observation times of master and slave), 2 spatial (north and east in geocoding or azimuth and range in SAR geometry) and 1 feature space (e.g. VV & VH of coherence) axis.

Further, the project aims at quantifying the impact and possible benefit of using Sentinel-1 InSAR (Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar) data relative to traditional land cover and vegetation mapping, using optical data (especially Sentinel-2) and traditional intensity-based SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) approaches.

The main classes sought after are: forests, agricultural areas (e.g. crops), artificial surfaces (e.g. urban), water bodies, scrub and herbaceous vegetation, open or bare land with little to no vegetation and wetlands.

Contact person: Alexander Jacob

alexander.jacob@eurac.edu