Speditive COSMO-SkyMed SAR quick-look analysis for change detection in support to disaster management and environmental monitoring

Only a small percentage of SAR data are immediately used after the acquisition, the remaining part is archived for a future use. Those data could potentially contain unexploited valuable environmental information. In this paper it is explored the possibility to use quick look (QL) images, generated for cataloguing purposes also to provide information on changes occurred on the scene. In the proposed approach a change map is first generated, then it is integrated with a priori external data, like DEM and finally a possible change classification is proposed. At the present stage of development three classes have been considered: rain cell, flooded areas and unspecific changes. The methodology has been applied to a data set of 30 images not all of them affected by the previously mentioned phenomena. The results obtained are encouraging and can justify the use of quick look data for public utility. © 2015 IEEE.