Sentinel 1 Mission

Two of our researchers, Ran Huo and Michael Manthey have been involved in processing complex satellite data from the European Space Agency’s Sentinel 1 mission. This uses a microwave technique known as “synthetic aperture radar” to record soundings of the entire globe. These are relatively impervious to weather conditions unlike optical imaging and once “unwrapped” allow ground topography of almost any region of interest to be mapped over time. Such data is just one option which our group is investigating to model and provide early warning systems in landslide hotspots – or even on a regional scale! Previous research in this area has successfully mapped glacial movements, land subsidence and provided automated detection of land slippage in remote locations. It is our goal to utilise it to save people’s homes and lives.