Earthquakes represent a major natural hazard, that can cause substantial human and economic losses, leading to a negative impact on the economic welfare and resilience of communities in seismic-prone areas worldwide, including Cyprus. Considering the significant increase in losses recorded in earthquake-vulnerable areas during the last decade and the requirement for countries to establish tailored civil protection mechanisms to align with EU objectives, there is a pressing socio-economic necessity to create a comprehensive tool for assessing earthquake risks and estimating potential losses in Cyprus. This paper highlights the urgent need for the development of an innovative Seismic Risk and Loss Estimation GIS-based platform for Cyprus in which the expected damage level and economic loss of the built environment including critical infrastructures and cultural heritage (monuments and sites) for various seismic scenarios will be estimated. This paper also presents the methodology to be followed for developing this platform that incorporates well-established seismic risk and loss estimation methodologies with GIS data, aiming to quantify and visualize the damage state, the risk of significant damage as well as the direct economic loss of infrastructure systems in the aftermath of earthquakes. The Cyprus Seismic Risk and Loss Estimation GIS-based Platform is expected to have a positive scientific, economic, and societal impact and it can be used as an important decision tool for the policymakers, the building owners and for insurance companies.
CyCLOPS (Cyprus Continuously Operating Natural Hazards Monitoring and Prevention System) plays a pivotal role in geophysical and geotechnical monitoring in Cyprus and the EMMENA region. This strategic research infrastructure comprises six permanent stations, each with a Tier-1 GNSS reference station and two calibration-grade corner reflectors (CRs) of 1.5m inner length. CRs are oriented to the ESA's Sentinel-1 satellite mission to account for ascending and descending tracks. Since reaching full operational status in June 2021, CyCLOPS has been instrumental in observing geodynamic phenomena and landslide activities in Cyprus. This study analyses Sentinel-1A SAR performance by exploiting the CyCLOPS network to estimate key parameters such as spatial resolution, side-lobe levels, Radar CrossSection (RCS), Signal-to-Clutter Ratio (SCR), phase stability, and localization accuracy. Results demonstrate the effectiveness of the CyCLOPS infrastructure in maintaining high-quality SAR imagery radiometric parameters, with consistent spatial resolution, controlled side-lobe levels, and reliable RCS and SCR values closely aligned with theoretical expectations. Furthermore, localization analysis has proven effective in mitigating atmospheric and dynamic Earth influences, ensuring geolocation accuracy. Consequently, the CyCLOPS infrastructure is a state-of-the-art, reliable unit for radiometric calibration and validation of SAR products, which will contribute to the precision and reliability of SAR imaging, crucial for various applications such as crustal motion monitoring.
This work presents the Cyprus Flight Campaign of ERATOSTHENES Centre of Excellence and DLR (CERAD) that took place in October 2023 within the framework of the EXCELSIOR H2020 Widespread Teaming Phase 2 project titled “ERATOSTHENES: EXcellence Research Centre for Earth SurveiLlance and Space-Based Monitoring of the EnviRonment”. The campaign's main goal was to acquire about 100.000 high-resolution stereo 3K images and hyperspectral HySpex images, complemented by ground truth measurements to perform high-resolution hyperspectral analysis and 3D mapping. The campaign aimed at the capacity development of ERATOSTHENES Centre of Excellence staff on processing these imagery, cross-calibration and validation of sensors, and analysis of land, water, and cultural heritage sites with hyperspectral sensors. This campaign captured high-resolution hyperspectral imagery across a wide spectral range (420–2500nm) in several parts of Cyprus (Paphos and Limassol Districts). Parallel to this airborne campaign, the research team of ERATOSTHENES Centre of Excellence conducted a ground-based measurement campaign, which included the collection of spectroradiometric measurements (HR 1024 and GER 1500), water samples for laboratory analysis of water (e.g., dissolved organic matter) and soil (e.g., texture, pH, organic content) samples, GPS tracking, soil moisture and meteorological sensors and on-board UAV multispectral cameras. The collected data will support various applications, such as calibration and validation of satellite products, environmental monitoring, vegetation analysis, and disaster risk assessment. According to the literature, the use of airborne hyperspectral imaging is essential since the airborne remote sensing data acts as a bridge between large-scale satellite and point-scale field observations. Furthermore, hyperspectral imaging is a simultaneous acquisition of spatial images in several spectrally adjacent bands and a highly multidisciplinary and complex field. The present campaign demonstrates the efficiency of airborne hyperspectral imaging in capturing detailed environmental data and highlights the vital role of ground-truth measurements in verifying airborne and enriching environmental data. The combined use of the methods mentioned above paves the way for advanced ecological monitoring thereby contributing to informed decision-making and sustainable development efforts.
Fishing shelters are among the critical infrastructures that necessitate continuous monitoring to ensure their functionality and safety in Cyprus. Currently, Cyprus hosts sixteen (16) operational fishing shelters, covering the coastline. In the last few decades, Advanced Interferometric SAR techniques have been the most effective methods for concurrent monitoring critical infrastructures. The current study investigates the potential of the A-InSAR techniques to identify displacements of the fishing shelters in Cyprus. Following various discussion with the relevant stakeholders, the Agios Georgios Pegeias fishing shelter in Paphos was selected as the pilot study for further investigation. The satellite dataset consists of 148 Copernicus Sentinel-1A in descending mode, covering a time span of 2019-2023, achieving comprehensive and cost-free monitoring. The PSI technique was carried out using the freely available snap2stamps and StaMPS toolboxes, as well as the Matlab and ArcGIS Pro commercial software. The results of this study presented a slight displacement of about -5 mm/year at the edge of the fishing shelter, while the broader area remains stable. The displacement rates are referred to the LoS and they are visualized in GIS environment.
In the framework of the AI-OBSERVER project, the capabilities of ERATOSTHENES Centre of Excellence (CoE) on Earth Observation (EO) based Disaster Risk Reduction are significantly enhanced through a series of capacity building activities on Artificial Intelligence (AI) that are provided by the project’s two advanced partners, the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) from Germany, and the University of Rome Tor Vergata (UNITOV) from Italy. These were designed, following a gap analysis of the existing staff and scientific capacity of the ERATOSTHENES CoE researchers, on the thematic research areas of: (i) Land movements (Earthquakes, Landslides and Soil erosion); (ii) Forest fires; (iii) Floods and extreme meteorological events; and (iv) Marine Pollution (oil spills, illegal waste damping, etc.). DFKI and UNITOV are transferring their scientific expertise through several workshops, webinars, short-term staff exchanges, summer schools and expert visits covering a combination of these AI-related topics, aiming to fill the identified gaps. All these will enable the ERATOSTHENES CoE researchers to build AI models for large scale image processing and Big EO data. Up to date, over thirty early stage and senior researchers have participated in these trainings. The knowledge transferred to ERATOSTHENES CoE will be utilised by its staff in a research exploratory project applying Artificial Intelligence on Earth Observation for multi-hazard monitoring and assessment in Cyprus, with the support of the advanced partners, leading to the development of the first ERATOSTHENES CoE product integrating EO and AI for Disaster Risk Reduction.
Pissouri village located in Limassol, Cyprus, has been experiencing an active and fast-moving landslide, resulting to devastating consequences in the village. Since 2017, the impact of the landslide, especially during intense rainfall events in winters, has led to necessitated evacuations, severe damage to properties and the wider landscape. Since 2021, the Laboratory of Geodesy of Cyprus University of Technology has established the CyCLOPS (Cyprus Continuously Operating Natural Hazards Monitoring and Prevention System). One of the case studies that CyCLOPS focuses on is Pissouri, installing three (3) GNSS mobile stations, three (3) GNSS antennas withing the sliding zone, resulting to continuous monitoring of the landslide-affected zone. This study presents an initial attempt to investigate the displacement rates of the landslide, especially during heavy rainfalls seasons, utilizing the CyCLOPS strategic infrastructure unit. Sentinel-1 acquisitions are obtained in ascending mode, covering an interval time from July 2021 to January 2023. Amongst others, rainfall data are complementary used and processed in a GIS environment for visualization purposes. The results of the study indicated that there is a significant relationship between the heavy rainfall seasons and the displacement trends. In cases of an active and fast-moving landslide, the integration of both Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) data is essential to monitor, estimate and understand the displacement rates of the landslide and the impact of the intense rainfall events in those cases.
Turkey due to its location within the collision zone between the Eurasian, African and Arabian Plates, is a region prone to earthquakes. The country mostly lies on the Anatolian micro-plate, bounded by two major strike-slip fault zones, i.e., the North and the East Anatolian Fault. On 6 February 2023, the activation of a large segment of the East Anatolian Fault generated two earthquakes of 7.8 and 7.5 magnitude, in southern Turkey. The seismic risk is greater along the plate boundaries, however due to the frequency of earthquake occurrence throughout Turkey, detailed seismic risk maps are crucial and need to be continuously updated towards operational purposes, and as the optimal means towards decision making for disaster risk reduction. Extensive Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite image analysis was performed to determine ground displacements caused by the seismic sequence in the wider area around the two epicenters. Pre-seismic line of sight displacements, as well as co-seismic deformation, were estimated, providing critical information about the surface rupture and the overall ground deformation in the affected areas. Earthquakes can induce landslides and other ground displacements causing extensive damage to buildings and infrastructure. Therefore, optical (e.g., Sentinel-2, PlanetScope) and SAR (Sentinel-1) imagery were exploited as a useful tool for assessing the impact of earthquakes on the ground. The monitoring and mapping of these changes, in conjunction with SAR analysis, as well as information on building infrastructure and population density, highlight the overall damage assessment in the region, thus, allowing a better understanding of the impact of earthquakes while providing a more effective response and recovery efforts for decision makers and local authorities towards disaster risk reduction.
Over the years, passive and active reflectors are becoming indispensable parts in ground deformation monitoring using Interferometric SAR geodetic techniques. The evolution and the need for more practical and compact in size reflectors motivated the implementation of Electronic Corner Reflectors, namely ECR Transponders. ECR Transponders are compact active permanent scatterers, which are used in the estimation of physical or man-induced deformation processes. Their main advantage lies their compact size and the fact that a sole unit accounts for both ascending and descending tracks, instead of having two opposite-facing ordinary Corner Reflectors configuration. To date, ECR transponders mainly operate in C-band and, thus, are compatible with Sentinel-1 and Radarsat. Although experiments are in initial stage, the results seem quite promising with respect to the classic passive corner reflectors in many sectors. In this paper, an analysis of the ECR-C band transponders is carried out, along with a worldwide overview and a comparison of their results in various application sectors using different satellite radar missions and techniques.
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