Institute for Earth Observation - Earth Observation for Environmental Monitoring

Earth Observation for Environmental Monitoring

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The main objective of our work is to apply Earth Observation (EO) techniques to monitor and understand key environmental processes such as water cycles or vegetation dynamics in mountain regions. We exploit satellite imagery in combination with climate and in-situ data using advanced methodologies and physically based models to better understand and predict processes such as snow melt, run-off, or vegetation phenology. The results enable us to provide highly accurate, reliable, and customized methodologies and products, which are shared with the scientific community and users of Alpine services.

Cryosphere

The cryosphere research line aims at developing new methods to monitor the alpine cryosphere by combining optical and radar satellite images with in-situ meteorological observations and snow model simulations. The application of these new methods allows us to better understand the processes related to cryosphere dynamics thus improving the management of the water resources e.g., snow water equivalent estimation and the related risks e.g., permafrost deformation.

Water resources monitoring for agriculture and hydrology

We estimate soil moisture, evapotranspiration, and combined biophysical/meteorological indices using satellite data, physical and machine learning models, and ground observations. Our aim is to contribute to the understanding of related processes and to develop applications related to water use, water availability and land-vegetation-atmosphere interactions in close collaboration with hydrological models and agricultural stakeholders.

Vegetation and Land-use Dynamics

Our research aims to monitor and understand the temporal dynamics and spatial distribution of highly variable mountain vegetation. Specifically, we focus on the mountain forests and grasslands that dominate the alpine environment. We use optical and radar data together with a variety of data from ground stations to monitor land-cover dynamics as well as bio-physical vegetation parameters at different scales in order to understand short and long-term impacts of climate and land use change.

The scientific publications of this research group are the following:

Review

On the left is a snow-free surface. The satellite signal (red line) touches the ground and returns to the base following a linear path. Right: the snow deflects and interacts with the signal (blue line) which, in order to return to the satellite, takes a more complex route than it would have done had it not encountered the snow (dotted red line). © Eurac Research | Fabio Dalvit