Dam Stability Monitoring with Satellite Geodesy (Third Edition)

Dear Colleagues,

Large dams are among the most critical civil infrastructures worldwide, playing a fundamental role in water supply, energy production, flood control, and regional development. Ensuring their structural integrity over long operational lifespans remains a major technical and societal challenge, making deformation monitoring a core element of modern dam safety management. In many countries, deformation monitoring of dams is mandatory and widely recognized as accurate and reliable, but it is also time-consuming and costly. Conventional approaches rely on classical geodetic networks based on triangulation, trilateration, and precise leveling, as well as on GNSS networks designed to monitor both the structure and its surroundings. These measurements are commonly complemented by geotechnical and structural sensors, forming complex and heterogeneous monitoring systems.

Over the last decade, satellite geodesy has significantly expanded the possibilities for deformation monitoring at local, regional, and global scales. Space-based techniques, particularly GNSS and multi-temporal SAR interferometry, provide systematic, repeatable, and spatially extensive observations that effectively complement traditional in situ measurements. In parallel, ground-based monitoring techniques, such as terrestrial laser scanning and ground-based synthetic aperture radar, have demonstrated their capability to capture high-resolution deformation patterns at the structure scale, offering valuable complementary information to satellite observations.

The first and second editions of this Special Issue highlighted the growing maturity and practical relevance of these approaches for dam safety applications. Building on this foundation, the third edition aims to consolidate and extend the scientific discussion by welcoming contributions focused on satellite geodesy and its integration with classical geodetic, geotechnical, and ground-based monitoring techniques. Particular interest is placed on studies exploiting GNSS observations, alone or in combination with InSAR and complementary datasets, to improve the interpretation of deformation mechanisms, assess long-term trends, address uncertainty, and support operational monitoring and decision-making frameworks.

By bringing together the satellite geodesy, dam engineering, and monitoring communities, this Special Issue of Remote Sensing seeks to promote robust, reliable, and operationally relevant approaches for dam deformation monitoring. We are looking forward to receiving your contribution to this third edition of the Special Issue on “Dam Stability Monitoring with Satellite Geodesy”.

Prof. Dr. Antonio Miguel Ruiz Armenteros
Prof. Dr. Roberto Tomás
Dr. Joaquim João Sousa
Prof. Dr. M. Clara de Lacy
Prof. Dr. Zhenhong Li
Guest Editors

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