Geomatics and Remote Sensing

Glacier- and permafrost-related hazards such as glacier floods, ice and rock avalanches, mass movements, or ice-clad volcanoes represent a continuous threat to human lives and infrastructure in high mountain regions. Disasters associated with the glacial and periglacial environment can cause thousands of casualties and damage in the order of millions of Euro in one event.

Project areas

Tasman Glacier, New Zealand	Spaceborne optical remote sensing of glaciers Glacier mapping and change detection Digital elevation models (DEM) from stereo Ice flow Water resources and glacier hazards Mainland Norway, Svalbard, Alps, Himalaya, New Zealand, Caucasus, Central Asia, ... ESA, NASA, GLIMS, EU FP6, ...
Glacier lakes and outburst, Bhutan	Remote sensing of geohazards Glacier-related hazards (floods, avalanches, surges, etc.) Permafrost-related hazards (slope instability, debris flows, etc.) Landslides Hazard assessment and disaster management Mainland Norway, Svalbard, Alps, Himalaya, Caucasus, Central Asia, ... IACS / IUGG, IPA, ICG, NATO, ESA, ...
SAR interferogram over Austfonna (Svalbard)	SAR and SAR interferometry DEMs from spaceborne SAR Differential SAR interferometry SAR speckle tracking High-resolution SAR Persistent scatterer interferometry
Ruth Glacier (Alaska)	Image matching algorithms Spatial domain matching Frequency domain matching SAR speckle tracking Sub-pixel matching Applications to glaciers, ice shelves, permafrost, landslides, etc.
	Combination of optical and SAR satellite data Glacier mapping Glacier volume changes Ice flow Arctic
	Permafrost creep Rockglacier surface displacements and velocity fields Volume changes Climate impact and hazards Swiss Alps, Svalbard, Canada
	Digital photogrammetry DEM generation Elevation changes Terrain displacements