Satellite Remote Sensing for the Analysis of the Micia and Germisara Archaeological Sites

The capabilities of satellite remote sensing technologies and their derived data for the analysis of archaeological sites have been demonstrated in a large variety of studies over the last decades. Likewise, the Earth Observation (EO) data contribute to the disaster management process through the provision of updated information for areas under investigation. In addition, long term studies may be performed for the in–depth analysis of the disaster–prone areas using archive satellite imagery and other cartographic materials. Hence, satellite remote sensing represents an essential tool for the study of hazards in cultural heritage sites and landscapes. Depending on the size of the archaeological sites and considering the fact that some parts of the site might be covered, the main concern regards the suitability of satellite data in terms of spatial and spectral resolution. Using a multi–temporal Sentinel–2 dataset between 2016 and 2019, the present study focuses on the hazard risk identification for the Micia and Germisara archaeological sites in Romania as they are endangered by industrialisation and major infrastructure works and soil erosion, respectively. Furthermore, the study includes a performance assessment of remote sensing vegetation indices for the detection of buried structures. The results clearly indicate that Sentinel–2 imagery proved to be fundamental in meeting the objectives of the study, particularly due to the extensive archaeological knowledge that was available for the cultural heritage sites. The main conclusion to be drawn is that satellite–derived products may be enhanced by integrating valuable archaeological context, especially when the resolution of satellite data is not ideally fitting the peculiarities (e.g., in terms of size, underground structures, type of coverage) of the investigated cultural heritage sites

Development of a downstream emergency response service for disaster hazard management based on Earth observation data

The number of hydrological (flood, mass movement), meteorological (tropical storm, extratropical storm, convective storm, local storm), climatological (extreme temperature, drought, wildfire) and geophysical (earthquake, tsunami, volcanic activity) events continue to increases in the last decades at global level. According to different research, statistics and databases (UNISDR, EM-DAT) floods are the most frequent in the last decades worldwide and especially in Romania. On the other hand, the probabilistic hazard results for Romania indicate that, in the future, the highest damages will be produced by floods and earthquakes. In this context, it has become necessary to develop an emergency response service. The emergency service, named GEODIM, integrates the GIS geodatabases: roads, rivers, administrative units, land cover/land use, satellite data (optical and synthetic aperture radar), in-situ measurements, in order to support the disaster management. The Earth Observations data offers the capabilities to monitor the disasters at a large scale, being able to identify areas where the events are not in-situ observed or to monitor large vulnerable areas potentially affected by disasters. The paper presents the downstream emergency response service for disaster hazard in Romania, based on Earth Observation data and other geo-information information