%0 Journal Article
%T Rapid Mapping and Deformation Analysis over Cultural Heritage and Rural Sites Based on Persistent Scatterer Interferometry
%A D. Tapete
%A F. Cigna
%J International Journal of Geophysics
%D 2012
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2012/618609
%X We propose an easy-to-use procedure of ¡°PSI-based rapid mapping and deformation analysis,¡± to effectively exploit Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI) for multispatial/temporal hazard assessment of cultural heritage and rural sites, update the condition report at the scale of entire site and single building, and address the conservation strategies. Advantages and drawbacks of the methodology are critically discussed based on feasibility tests performed over Pitigliano and Bivigliano, respectively, located in Southern and Northern Tuscany, Italy, and representative of hilltop historic towns and countryside settlements chronically affected by natural hazards. We radar-interpreted ERS-1/2 (1992¨C2000) and ENVISAT (2003¨C2010) datasets, already processed, respectively with the Permanent Scatterers (PSs) and Persistent Scatterers Pairs (PSPs) techniques, and assigned the levels of conservation criticality for both the sites. The PSI analysis allowed the zoning of the most unstable sectors of Pitigliano and showed a good agreement with the most updated hazard assessment of the cliff. The reconstruction of past/recent deformation patterns over Bivigliano confirmed the criticality for the Church of San Romolo, supporting the hypothesis of a correlation with local landslide phenomena, as also perceived from the annual motions observed over the entire site, where several landslide bodies are mapped. 1. Introduction One of the main challenges in conducting a technological transfer process consists in communicating developments and achievements of science to the potential stakeholders, to effectively contribute to the building and strengthening of their capabilities in the use of new technologies for the specific fields of application. This issue is currently particularly relevant in the perspective of spreading and encouraging the use of satellite radar data for deformation analyses, not only in geological and environmental applications but also in the management and conservation of built heritage in cultural and rural sites. In this regard, in the last decades, the standard approach of Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (InSAR) [1, 2] has increasingly found successful implementation in ground motions monitoring and deformation analyses at multiple scales, mainly relating to natural hazard events [3¨C6], geological processes [7, 8], and human-induced phenomena [9, 10]. But a significant improvement, especially for analyses over urbanized areas, infrastructure, and human settlements [11¨C14], has been achieved with the multi-interferogram approaches referred
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijge/2012/618609/