Remote sensing observations from airborne and spaceborne SAR satellite platforms have become an essential tool in earth observation. They provide an immediate and large-area overview of the evolving earth environment, revealing important information on the state of ecosystems, unfolding natural hazards, as well as geodynamic phenomena across the earth’s surface such as volcanoes, earthquakes, and the cryosphere.

This certificate program will introduce you to the concepts and applications of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), a remote sensing technology that can see the ground even during darkness and through rain, clouds, or smoke. As a participant completing the certificate, you will gain an intuitive understanding of the information contained in SAR observations. You will learn about the concepts of interferometric SAR and experience how SAR data acquired at different polarizations can reveal a wealth of information about the earth environment. Based on these foundations of SAR, interferometric SAR, and polarimetric SAR, participants will learn about how SAR and change detection techniques can be applied to the monitoring of natural hazards and to the analysis of the Earth’s ecosystems.

Specific topics include:

The mathematical and physical principles of SAR remote sensing.
How to access and visualize SAR data.
Interpretation of SAR imagery at different wavelengths and polarizations.
Interferometric SAR (InSAR) concepts.
The principles of Polarimetric SAR (PolSAR).
Application of SAR and InSAR to hazard monitoring with a focus on natural hazards such as earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, wildfires, and flooding.
Application of SAR and polarimetric SAR data to the analysis of ecosystems and their change including monitoring agriculture extent, forest monitoring for forest fires and deforestation, and forest biomass estimation.

Learners on the verified track will put their learned knowledge into action in data analysis and data processing exercises, in which class participants will analyze SAR, InSAR and polarimetric SAR data sets, and apply them in hazard and ecosystems monitoring case studies. Learners who select the verified track will also have access to online computational labs using Jupyter notebooks that will allow deeper exploration and practice.

Recommended Prerequisites

In order for learners to succeed in the courses in this professional certificate, the following prerequisites and trainings are recommended:

General proficiency in GIS
For verified track: Basic knowledge in Python programming
ARSET Level-0 Training “Fundamentals of Remote Sensing” or equivalent
ARSET Level-1 Training “Introduction to Synthetic Aperture Radar” or equivalent