Partners
Background
The European Space Agency (ESA) is organising the 6th ESA Advanced Course on Radar Polarimetry dedicated to training the next generation of Earth Observation (EO) scientists to exploit dual and fully polarimetric data for science and applications development.
The course is part of ESA’s EO Science for Society – Scientific Exploitation element of EOEP-5 (the fifth cycle of ESA’s Earth Observation Envelope Programme).
Objectives
The main objectives of the course are to:
- Train the next generation of European and Canadian Principal Investigators (PIs);
- Explain theoretical principles, processing algorithms, data products and their use in various applications;
- Introduce available tools and methods for the exploitation of dual-pol and full-pol data;
- Provide first-hand and up-to-date information on the state of the art in Radar Polarimetry, Polarimetric SAR Interferometry and SAR Tomography;
- Provide an introduction to BIOMASS mission, data and applications.
Contents
The course provides a substantial and balanced introduction to the basics and advanced concepts of radar polarimetry, InSAR polarimetry (POLinSAR) and SAR Tomography (TomoSAR) theory and applications. The objective is to prepare participants for the scientific exploitation of the data from past, current (eg. ALOS-2, Sentinel-1, GF-3, RISAT, SAOCOM, RCM) and future SAR Missions (e.g. NISAR).This edition will include a session dedicated to introducing the future BIOMASS mission, data and applications.
The course includes theoretical lectures as well as hands-on computing exercises, where participants will be exposed to PolSAR, Pol-InSAR and TomoSAR data processing for remote sensing applications.
During the course participants will use mainly the ESA Toolbox for the exploitation of EO SAR polarimetric data – PolSARpro and ESA Sentinels Applications Platform SNAP. Moreover, the use of SAR tomography toolbox will also be introduced.
The course will focus on full-pol (ALOS-1&2, RADARSAT-2, TerraSAR-X) and dual-pol Sentinel-1 spaceborne products, as well as airborne campaign data.
Preliminary Programme
The preliminary programme below was drafted using the same contents and structure as for the face-to-face event. The practicals may need to be modified (in length or contents). More details to follow.
Participation
The 5-day course will be held online on 10-14 May 2021. Post graduate, PhD students, post-doctoral research scientists and users from European countries and Canada interested in Radar Polarimetry, BIOMASS and their applications are invited to apply.
Research scientists and students from all other countries are also welcome to apply and participate in the course subject to availability.
The official language of the training course is English.
No participation fees will be charged for the training. Participation is limited and subject to a selection process.
Application (CLOSED)
- Create a user account in the ConfTool system and fill in the on-line application form HERE
- Enter the details of your academic referee and upload a reference letter (mandatory). The reference letter should be on the official University/Company letter head paper
- Your application will be considered completed only once the reference letter has been uploaded in support of your application
- The application submission will be closed on 7 February 2021.
Contact Info
ESA course coordinators eotraining@esa.int
Schedule and Deadlines
| Application submission opening | 31 July 2020 |
| Application submission closure | extended to 7 February 2021 — > NOW CLOSED |
| Notification of acceptance | early March 2021 |
| Training Course | 10-14 May 2021 |
Lecturers and Scientific Support
Clément Albinet
ESA
Laurent Ferro-Famil
University of Rennes 1 / CESBIO
Magdalena Fitrzyk
RSAC c/o ESA
Irena Hajnsek
ETH Zürich / DLR
Marco Lavalle
JPL, NASA
Thuy Le Toan
CESBIO, France
Armando Marino
University of Stirling
Jolanda Patruno
RHEA Group c/o ESA
Eric Pottier
University of Rennes 1
Klaus Scipal
ESA
Stefano Tebaldini
Politecnico di Milano
Organizing Committee
Yves-Louis Desnos
ESA
Diego Fernandez
ESA
Francesco Sarti
ESA
Eric Pottier
University of Rennes 1
Amalia Castro Gomez
RSAC c/o ESA
Laurent Ferro-Famil
University of Rennes 1 / CESBIO
Magdalena Fitrzyk
RSAC c/o ESA
Irena Hajnsek
ETH Zürich / DLR
Armando Marino
University of Stirling
Irene Renis
Serco c/o ESA