Degree Study Track in Earth Dynamics

Period: first semester

Course Units Contents: 

• Theoretical concepts: physical principles related to light and spectrophotometry.
• Remote sensing: introduction to multispectral sensors, SAR and Lidar technology and platforms such as satellites, aerial vehicle and drones. Examples will be provided of their most common applications for geomorphological and geological applications: ranging from land use classification to spectroscopy of minerals, rocks and soils, to geomorphological processes interpretation, such as mapping of glacier dynamics and of river channel geomorphic trajectories.
• Image analysis:

1. Image pre-processing: atmospheric correction, geocoding, contrast enhancements, and convolution filters;
2. Image classification: Unsupervised methods such as band ratios and spectral indexes (e.g., vegetation indexes), Principal Component Analysis, and clustering;

• Supervised methods based on machine learning algorithms; time series image classification.
• Photogrammetry: introduction to SfM “Structure from Motion” technique to generate orthophotos and digital elevation model from drone acquisitions.
• In the laboratory the student will utilize GIS (Geographic Information Systems), the language Python, and dedicated softwares to image analysis.

Planned learning activities and teaching methods:  24 h lectures + 42h practical exercises.

Lectures will be dedicated to acquisition methodologies and remote sensing analysis to support geological and geomorphological process interpretation. The practical exercises will be devoted to learn and apply image processing, spectral signature analysis and image interpretation.