Ground-based synthetic aperture radar (GBSAR) interferometry for deformation monitoring

Ph. D ThesisGround-based synthetic aperture radar (GBSAR), together with interferometry, represents a powerful tool for deformation monitoring. GBSAR has inherent flexibility, allowing data to be collected with adjustable temporal resolutions through either continuous or discontinuous mode. The goal of this research is to develop a framework to effectively utilise GBSAR for deformation monitoring in both modes, with the emphasis on accuracy, robustness, and real-time capability. To achieve this goal, advanced Interferometric SAR (InSAR) processing algorithms have been proposed to address existing issues in conventional interferometry for GBSAR deformation monitoring. The proposed interferometric algorithms include a new non-local method for the accurate estimation of coherence and interferometric phase, a new approach to selecting coherent pixels with the aim of maximising the density of selected pixels and optimizing the reliability of time series analysis, and a rigorous model for the correction of atmospheric and repositioning errors. On the basis of these algorithms, two complete interferometric processing chains have been developed: one for continuous and the other for discontinuous GBSAR deformation monitoring. The continuous chain is able to process infinite incoming images in real time and extract the evolution of surface movements through temporally coherent pixels. The discontinuous chain integrates additional automatic coregistration of images and correction of repositioning errors between different campaigns. Successful deformation monitoring applications have been completed, including three continuous (a dune, a bridge, and a coastal cliff) and one discontinuous (a hillside), which have demonstrated the feasibility and effectiveness of the presented algorithms and chains for high-accuracy GBSAR interferometric measurement. Significant deformation signals were detected from the three continuous applications and no deformation from the discontinuous. The achieved results are justified quantitatively via a defined precision indicator for the time series estimation and validated qualitatively via a priori knowledge of these observing sites.China Scholarship Council (CSC), Newcastle Universit

UAV or Drones for Remote Sensing Applications in GPS/GNSS Enabled and GPS/GNSS Denied Environments

The design of novel UAV systems and the use of UAV platforms integrated with robotic sensing and imaging techniques, as well as the development of processing workflows and the capacity of ultra-high temporal and spatial resolution data, have enabled a rapid uptake of UAVs and drones across several industries and application domains.This book provides a forum for high-quality peer-reviewed papers that broaden awareness and understanding of single- and multiple-UAV developments for remote sensing applications, and associated developments in sensor technology, data processing and communications, and UAV system design and sensing capabilities in GPS-enabled and, more broadly, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)-enabled and GPS/GNSS-denied environments.Contributions include:UAV-based photogrammetry, laser scanning, multispectral imaging, hyperspectral imaging, and thermal imaging;UAV sensor applications; spatial ecology; pest detection; reef; forestry; volcanology; precision agriculture wildlife species tracking; search and rescue; target tracking; atmosphere monitoring; chemical, biological, and natural disaster phenomena; fire prevention, flood prevention; volcanic monitoring; pollution monitoring; microclimates; and land use;Wildlife and target detection and recognition from UAV imagery using deep learning and machine learning techniques;UAV-based change detection

Generation of a Land Cover Atlas of environmental critic zones using unconventional tools

L'abstract è presente nell'allegato / the abstract is in the attachmen

Program for Technical Sessions Third International Conference on Mars Polar Science and Exploration

Contains the contents, program, abstracts, and indexes for the Third International Conference on Mars Polar Science and Exploration. The purpose of the conference is to assess the current state of Mars polar and climate research; discuss what might be learned from investigations of terrestrial analogs and the data returned from upcoming missions; and identify the potential science objectives, platform options, and instrument suites for robotic missions to the martian poles within the next decade.Lunar and Planetary Institute; National Aeronautics and Space Administration; Canadian Space Agency; International Glaciological Society; Geological Survey of Canada; University of Alberta, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences; NASA Mars Program OfficeConveners, Stephen Clifford, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Peter Doran, University of Illinois at Chicago, David Fisher, Geological Survey of Canada, Christopher Herd, University of Albert

SAR image texture tracking using a pointwise graph-based model for glacier displacement measurement

International audienc

Políticas de Copyright de Publicações Científicas em Repositórios Institucionais: O Caso do INESC TEC

A progressiva transformação das práticas científicas, impulsionada pelo desenvolvimento das novas Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação (TIC), têm possibilitado aumentar o acesso à informação, caminhando gradualmente para uma abertura do ciclo de pesquisa. Isto permitirá resolver a longo prazo uma adversidade que se tem colocado aos investigadores, que passa pela existência de barreiras que limitam as condições de acesso, sejam estas geográficas ou financeiras. Apesar da produção científica ser dominada, maioritariamente, por grandes editoras comerciais, estando sujeita às regras por estas impostas, o Movimento do Acesso Aberto cuja primeira declaração pública, a Declaração de Budapeste (BOAI), é de 2002, vem propor alterações significativas que beneficiam os autores e os leitores. Este Movimento vem a ganhar importância em Portugal desde 2003, com a constituição do primeiro repositório institucional a nível nacional. Os repositórios institucionais surgiram como uma ferramenta de divulgação da produção científica de uma instituição, com o intuito de permitir abrir aos resultados da investigação, quer antes da publicação e do próprio processo de arbitragem (preprint), quer depois (postprint), e, consequentemente, aumentar a visibilidade do trabalho desenvolvido por um investigador e a respetiva instituição. O estudo apresentado, que passou por uma análise das políticas de copyright das publicações científicas mais relevantes do INESC TEC, permitiu não só perceber que as editoras adotam cada vez mais políticas que possibilitam o auto-arquivo das publicações em repositórios institucionais, como também que existe todo um trabalho de sensibilização a percorrer, não só para os investigadores, como para a instituição e toda a sociedade. A produção de um conjunto de recomendações, que passam pela implementação de uma política institucional que incentive o auto-arquivo das publicações desenvolvidas no âmbito institucional no repositório, serve como mote para uma maior valorização da produção científica do INESC TEC.The progressive transformation of scientific practices, driven by the development of new Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), which made it possible to increase access to information, gradually moving towards an opening of the research cycle. This opening makes it possible to resolve, in the long term, the adversity that has been placed on researchers, which involves the existence of barriers that limit access conditions, whether geographical or financial. Although large commercial publishers predominantly dominate scientific production and subject it to the rules imposed by them, the Open Access movement whose first public declaration, the Budapest Declaration (BOAI), was in 2002, proposes significant changes that benefit the authors and the readers. This Movement has gained importance in Portugal since 2003, with the constitution of the first institutional repository at the national level. Institutional repositories have emerged as a tool for disseminating the scientific production of an institution to open the results of the research, both before publication and the preprint process and postprint, increase the visibility of work done by an investigator and his or her institution. The present study, which underwent an analysis of the copyright policies of INESC TEC most relevant scientific publications, allowed not only to realize that publishers are increasingly adopting policies that make it possible to self-archive publications in institutional repositories, all the work of raising awareness, not only for researchers but also for the institution and the whole society. The production of a set of recommendations, which go through the implementation of an institutional policy that encourages the self-archiving of the publications developed in the institutional scope in the repository, serves as a motto for a greater appreciation of the scientific production of INESC TEC

Depositional History and Palaeoenvironments of the Lake Mulurulu Lunette, Willandra Lakes World Heritage Area, New South Wales

The Willandra Lakes form a dry lake system consisting of a number of ancient, formerly perennial, lakes in the western Murray basin. The area has significant scientific value, providing detailed palaeoenvironmental records of arid, ice-age Australia as well as a rich and unique archaeological record. Lake Mungo, resting place of Australia’s oldest dated aboriginal remains, is a terminal lake where studies of the lake system are concentrated. Lake Mulurulu, a flow-through lake in the northern part of the system, is relatively understudied despite abounding potential and a differing hydrological regime. A range of geochronological techniques, combined with stratigraphic and isotope palaeoecological methods, inform the palaeoenvironmental history for the Lake Mulurulu lunette. A comprehensive suite of quartz optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages is combined with detailed sedimentological analyses to build a chronostratigraphic framework. Mussel shells and fish otoliths are radiocarbon dated, and wombat teeth are analysed for electron spin resonance (ESR) and uranium series dating. Oxygen isotope analyses on fish otoliths and wombat teeth are used in an attempt to ascertain high-resolution palaeoenvironmental records for the area. The quartz was well suited for OSL dating. Very little evidence for partial bleaching was observed, though sediment mixing proved to be relatively common. A small aliquot multi-grain OSL methodology allowed the identification of sediment mixing and grain transport across unit boundaries. Many samples were found to be very young (< 200 years), and were disproportionately affected by recuperation issues, low precision and high overdispersion. Dating reveals the Mulurulu lunette comprises five major units. Unit A, dating from 60 to over 110 ka, is clay and carbonate rich with a thick palaeosol, and is equivalent to the Golgol Unit at Lake Mungo. Unit B is a clean quartz sand representing an early lake full stage, initiating around 60 ka and ending around 40 ka at the southern end of the lunette and around 32 ka at the northern end of the lunette. Unit C comprises a pelletal clay representing a drying phase, dated to 40-32 ka and 32-28 ka at the southern and northern ends of the lunette, respectively. Unit D is a 28-17 ka quartz sand representing another lake full stage. A thin, previously unrecognised, pelletal clay layer at the southern end of the lunette caps this unit. Unit E comprises laminated quartz sands derived from reworked lunette materials dating to less than 200 years old, indicating a significant amount of recent lunette remobilisation. Unconsolidated mobile sands are present on the crests and leeward side of the dunes. Oxygen isotope analyses of fish otoliths provided evidence of flood events and potentially a lake drying signal that was not expected in this flow-through lake. The oxygen isotope analyses of wombat teeth on the other hand, proved less successful for gaining insight into high-resolution palaeoenvironmental events. This research provides a new chronology of deposition for the Lake Mulurulu lunette. This forms a similar but distinctive local hydrological history compared to the previous regional understanding, built primarily on the events recorded at Lake Mungo, a terminal lake situated further downstream