The State-of-the-Art of Critical Infrastructures (CI) Monitoring/Protection

Dear Colleagues,

Critical Infrastructures (CIs) are technological systems that ensure the provision and the delivery of essential services to citizens. Therefore, they must be protected and their operational continuity guaranteed with respect to the possible occurrence of perturbations from different origins (technological, natural, anthropogenic), which can compromise their integrity and reduce (or interrupt) their functioning. Infrastructures nowadays constitute an entangled ”system of systems” as they provide services to each other. There is a large amount of literature both on the role that such functional dependence (and interdependence), induced by service sharing, plays in determining further intrinsic vulnerability and on the resulting reduction in global resilience that these functional links can produce.

Satellite remote sensing, either with onboard optical sensors or SAR (synthetic aperture radar) sensors, is an effective tool used in Earth sciences, in the monitoring of anthropogenic activities and for CI protection. Since the early 1990s, the use of SAR satellite images for detecting and measuring surface movements has been progressively expanded. Today, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensors and SAR interferometry (InSAR) techniques have a key role in Earth sciences for studying the surface effects of natural processes and anthropogenic activities. InSAR-derived maps are used in the study of tectonics, seismology, volcanology, environmental studies, surface and deep landslides, mining and gas storage, infrastructure monitoring and urban subsidence. Significant advances have been made since 1991, when the European Space Agency (ESA) launched its ERS-1 satellite SAR system, followed by ERS-2 in 1995. Nowadays, stakeholders can exploit a large fleet of SAR missions, involving, among others, the Italian X-band COSMOSkymed constellation, the European C-band Sentinel 1 platforms, the Japanese L-band ALOS PALSAR, and many others from industrial private companies. As far as optical satellite missions are concerned, since 1972 (Landsat 1 mission), various very high-resolution (VHR), high-resolution (HR), and medium-resolution (MR) optical satellites have been developed for Earth observation aims. In particular, panchromatic, multispectral, and hyperspectral sensors provide reliable instruments for observations of land (soil wetness, agriculture, forestry, mapping, and disaster monitoring), sea (fishery), and space weather.

The objective of the Special Issue is to provide an overview of the state of the art of CI monitoring/protection and natural or anthropogenic disaster management, deeply exploiting the capabilities of optical and SAR remote sensing. Outcomes can be represented by scenarios and what-if analyses, made available to scientists, stakeholders, and decision makers by means of innovative tools and applications (e.g., decision support  platforms). Papers related to data interoperability, mining, and management are warmly welcome.

Dr. Salvatore Stramondo
Dr. Maurizio Pollino
Guest Editors

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• critical infrastructures
• satellite remote sensing
• synthetic aperture radar (SAR)
• SAR interferometry (InSAR)
• landsat
• hyperspectral sensors