October 2010

Projects - First national InSAR database now in its second phase

The Italian Ministry of the Environment has decided to continue the country-wide mapping of geological instabilities over Italy into its second phase. The companies in charge of this second contract will be TRE and E-geos.

First results were obtained by processing European Space Agency (ESA) ERS satellite archives. The analysis covered more than 300,000 sqkm and primary-stage results were supplied by TRE last May. TRE is now responsible for updating the first stage by processing an additional ENVISAT dataset, containing satellite images acquired up to October 2010, and in one location also high resolution COSMO-SkyMed images will be analysed.

As ENVISAT changed its orbital path in October 2010 and is no longer suitable for interferometric monitoring, X-band high resolution sensors have become the future. An example of these, COSMO-SkyMed, is an Italian constellation of 4 satellites, each of which is equipped with a high-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) operating in X-band, with a very short revisiting time.

This is the largest InSAR project ever founded by a national Government to prevent geo-hazards and we hope other Governments will soon follow the Italian example.

Projects - SqueeSAR™ analysis to be used for historic land motion monitoring in Tunis

Climate Change Adaptation & Coastal Cities of North Africa - ACC MENA

The World Bank, together with ESA, is studying the exposure of North African coastal cities to climate change by means of Earth observation data. TRE contributed to the project by generating a land motion map of Tunis, using long‐term archives of radar sensors operated by ESA, processed with SqueeSAR™.

ESA datasets processed by TRE:

Time Period	Sensor	Geometry	# Images
Jan. 1993 – Aug. 1999	ERS 1/2	Ascending	20
Jun. 1992 – Dec. 2000	ERS 1/2	Descending	44
Sept. 2003 – Mar. 2009	ENVISAT	Descending	27

Main facts of the analysis are summarized below:

SqueeSAR™ results have provided very interesting deformation patterns, even if the low number and irregular temporal distribution of images were not favourable for analysis, especially with the ERS ascending dataset (1992-2000). Over the area of interest of 1,100 km², 781,114 measurement points with an average density of 700 per km² were identified.
A comparison between the ascending and descending ERS datasets provided consistent results and also information regarding vertical and horizontal displacement components.
Post-processing of ERS and ENVISAT data highlighted that the quaternary recent alluvial/mouth and Sabkha deposits are affected by subsidence phenomena. They also showed differential movements affecting the north area of Sebket el Sijoumi, in western Tunis, and on the Eastern boundary of the alluvial plain of the Oued Meliane. These movements may be related to tectonic activity.

Image: velocity map – vertical (left) and east-west (right) components of the displacement vector. ERS dataset.

Markets - Income from Japanese market increases with respect to 2009

Income from the Japanese market has increased significantly during 2010 with respect to 2009, giving rise to encouraging perspectives.

In Japan SqueeSAR™ is being used to monitor urban subsidence and the impact of construction on surrounding environments, specifically along metro lines under construction. Moreover first studies on subsidence generated by the extraction of gas will be carried out by the end of 2010.

Markets - RATP trials SqueeSAR™ over the Parisian metro line

For the first time, the French transport company RATP has used the SqueeSAR™ technique to check for settlement of structures surrounding a 1 km-corridor of the new Parisian metro line 3.

TRE processed ERS and ENVISAT datasets dating from 1992 to 2009, which highlighted some anomalous displacements, which RATP confirmed to be related to past works. This project shows how the technology can play a strategic role in verifying the cause-effect connection between construction and damage to neighbouring facilities, even years after the event has occurred.

Image: measurement point position map.

Company - Adrian Bohane becomes new Vice President of Marketing & Sales for TRE Canada

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Adrian Bohane to the position of Vice President, Marketing & Sales at TRE Canada. He will be part of the management team and responsible for the ongoing marketing and sales activity of TRE Canada, working from the company’s offices in Vancouver, Canada.

With a background in geophysics and having previously worked at E-Geos and MDA Geospatial Services, Adrian brings extensive experience in the Earth Observation field to TRE Canada. During the past 20 years, working in the business side of the earth observation and satellite sectors, his focus has been on both the value adding and data distribution sides of the business.