Supporting Recovery after 2016 Hurricane Matthew in Haiti with Big SAR Data Processing in the Geohazards Exploitation Platform (GEP)

The 4 year-long Recovery Observatory project was triggered by the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) to define a sustainable vision for increased use of satellite EO in support of recovery after 2016 Hurricane Matthew struck southwestern Haiti. ESA's Geohazards Exploitation Platform (GEP) was exploited to develop a SAR-based workflow to access, process and generate value-added products with Sentinel-1, TerraSAR-X and COSMO-SkyMed imagery that Haitian end-users can use to support their decision-making processes and recovery progress monitoring. Sentinel-1 IW data were processed with SNAP and SNAC tools to generate change detection products (e.g. coherence and amplitude change maps to detect flooded areas). InSAR ground deformation products generated with PS-InSAR FASTVEL and P-SBAS tools allowed the identification of unstable areas in the town of Jérémie and along its western coastline, which highlight potential concern for urban development and reconstruction. Ground truth and evidence of land instability were collected in the field in mid-2019 to validate satellite observations. © 2020 IEEE.