The analysis of remote sensing data to assess geohazards is being improved by web-based platforms and collaborative projects, such as the Geohazard Exploitation Platform (GEP) of the European Space Agency (ESA). This paper presents the evaluation of a surface velocity map that is generated by this platform. The map was produced through an unsupervised Multi-temporal InSAR (MTI) analysis applying the Parallel-SBAS (P-SBAS) algorithm to 25 ENVISAT satellite images from the South of Spain that were acquired between 2003 and 2008. This analysis was carried out using a service implemented in the GEP called “SBAS InSAR”. Thanks to the map that was generated by the SBAS InSAR service, we identified processes not documented so far; provided new monitoring data in places affected by known ground instabilities; defined the area affected by these instabilities; and, studied a case where GEP could have been able to help in the forecast of a slope movement reactivation. This amply demonstrates the reliability and usefulness of the GEP, and shows how web-based platforms may enhance the capacity to identify, monitor, and assess hazards that are associated to geological processes.

This research aims at differentiating human-induced effects over the landscape from the natural ones by exploiting a combination of amplitude and phase changes in satellite radar images. At a first step, ERS and Envisat data stacks are processed using COS software developed by the company SARMAP. Various features related to amplitude and phase as well as to their changes are then extracted from images of the same sensor. Combinations of the features extracted from one image, from several images of one sensor as well as from different sensors are performed to derive robust indicators of potential human-related changes. Finally, possibilities of exploiting and integrating other types of information sources such as various reports, maps, historical or agricultural data, etc. in the combination process are analyzed to improve the obtained results. The outcomes are used to evaluate the potential of this method applied to Sentinel-1 images.