Monitoring sandy shorelines using SAR imagery and LiDaR measurements

This study is to demonstrate the ability of C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite data to extract the coastline and monitor coastal erosion against ancillary information extracted by the Unmanned Aerial System (UAS)-based Light Detection and Ranging (LiDaR) measurements. Experiments are carried out on a key data set collected over the Ionian coast of Basilicata region, in the South of Italy. Preliminary results demonstrate the added-value provided in the framework of coastal area observation by integrating spaceborne radar and drone-based optical sensor technologies.