Synthetic Aperture Radar: Hazards
Course Duration: 6 weeks
Student Effort: 4 – 6 hours per week
Prerequisites:
- General proficiency in GIS
- For verified track: Basic knowledge in Python programming
- ARSET Level-0 Training “Fundamentals of Remote Sensing” or equivalent
- ARSET Level-1 Training “Fundamentals of Imaging Radar” or equivalent
Instructor Name: Franz J Meyer, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska, U.S.A.; fjmeyer@alaska.edu
Instructional Methods:
For the free track, this edX course will offer short instructional lecture videos, a wealth of online content, and regular knowledge checks to keep the learner engaged.
Learners registered for the “verified track” will additionally get the opportunity for hands-on lab exercises using Jupyter Notebooks. The verified track will also include peer discussions and a verified certificate.
Course Description:
Remote sensing observations from airborne and spaceborne platforms have become an essential tool in disaster management. They provide an immediate and large-area overview of evolving disaster situations, revealing important hazard information to disaster response personnel.
This course will introduce you to Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), a remote sensing technology that can see the ground even during darkness and through rain, clouds, or smoke. As a participant in this course, you will gain an intuitive understanding of the information contained in SAR observations and learn to use a range of analysis techniques to apply SAR data to disaster mapping and management. Specific topics will include:
- The mathematical and physical principles of SAR remote sensing
- How to access and visualize SAR data
- Interpretation of SAR images in the context of disaster monitoring
- Interferometric SAR (InSAR) concepts
- Flood mapping and SAR change detection for hazard analysis
- InSAR-based analysis of volcanoes and landslides
Learners on the Verified Track will put their learned knowledge into action in simulated disaster response exercises, in which class participants will analyze SAR data sets to create hazard information for several real-life disaster events from the recent past. Learners who select the verified track will also have access to online computational labs using Jupyter notebooks that will allow deeper exploration and practice.
Learning Outcomes:
Participants in this course will develop the following skills:
- Intuitive understanding of SAR image and phase information
- Understanding the properties of different SAR sensor types
- Ability to pick the optimal sensor for your application
- Use of SAR images to map hazards such as flooding and deforestation
- Use of interferometric SAR techniques to measure cm-scale surface deformation related to volcanic activity and landslides
Instructor and Teaching Assistant Role in Discussions:
Course instructors and teaching assistants will moderate discussion forums on a regular basis throughout each week. All instructor graded assessments will be graded and returned within five business days.
Etiquette for Discussions:
We want you to actively engage in the learning community of this course, and successfully complete the content. To this end, we require all participants to adhere to the following agreements:
- Submit thoughtful and considered contributions to the discussion.
- Check that links, images, and videos work if you include them in your post.
- Be respectful and omit offensive or inappropriate content in your contribution.
- Stay on topic yourself: before responding to a post, be sure to read it completely.
- Maintain a positive attitude.
- Provide timely responses to your posts.
- Avoid redundancy: before responding to a post, search for similar posts. Make your response to the most pertinent or active post and then copy its URL and use it to respond to the redundant threads.
Training Agenda:
Week 1: Course Introduction and Basic Capabilities of SAR
Week 1 will introduce you to the main content and structure of this course. The following items will be addressed:
- Introduction to course
- Presentation of course syllabus
- Getting familiar with SAR data
Week 2: Introduction to Synthetic Aperture Radar Remote Sensing
Week 2 will introduce the main concepts of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR imaging along with the properties and information content of SAR data). You will also learn about the lab environment that will be available for learners on the “verified track”. Specific topics will include:
- Properties of microwaves
- What is Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imaging
- Geometric and radiometric properties of SAR
- How SAR sees the world
- Verified Track: Lab exercise on exploring SAR time series for flooding events
Week 3: Introduction to Interferometric SAR
Week 3 will introduce the concepts and applications of Interferometric SAR (InSAR) processing. InSAR uses the phase signal captured in SAR data to track subtle surface movements such as those related to seismic events and volcanic activity. Specifically, Week 3 will address the following items:
- Concepts of Interferometric SAR processing and its applications to disaster monitoring
- InSAR for Topographic Mapping
- InSAR for Deformation Monitoring
- Limitations of Traditional "Single-pair" InSAR Techniques
- Verified Track: Lab exercise analyzing and interpreting InSAR products
Week 4: InSAR Time Series Analysis Techniques
InSAR time series analysis techniques enable the tracking of cm-scale surface displacements over long times. These techniques are relevant for a number of hazard applications such as landslide and volcano monitoring. In Week 4 we will address:
- The Concept of InSAR Time Series Analysis
- Point Target-Based InSAR Time Series Analysis
- Distributed Scatterer InSAR Time Series Analysis
- Verified Track: Lab exercise exploring PSI time series data over Norway
Week 5: Disaster Monitoring using SAR Image Data
SAR sensors are highly stable imaging systems that are ideal for the identification of changes on the earth surface. Week 5 will introduce participants to a range of techniques to monitor hazard events and identify changes from multi-temporal SAR images.
- Surface water signatures in SAR
- A Threshold-based surface water mapping method
- Verified Track: Hands-on flood mapping using Jupyter Notebooks
- SAR change detection techniques
- Verified Track: Lab exercise on time series change detection to map deforestation
Week 6: Disaster Monitoring using InSAR Techniques
In this part of the course, we will apply the information learned in Week 4 to monitor surface displacements at volcanoes and in landslide-prone areas. Specifically, Week 6 will address the following items:
- Review of InSAR workflow for a geophysical application
- Estimating volcano source model parameters from InSAR
- Verified Track: Lab exercise estimating Mogi source parameters for Okmok volcano, Alaska
- Landslides monitoring using SBAS InSAR
- Verified Track: Lab exercise mapping landslide motion in California using InSAR time series data