Remote sensing responses to hazard and damage assessment over archaeological and cultural heritage sites at risk

Marzban, Pouria - Research Assistant - Remote sensing; Ducke, Benjamin - Head of IT department, Iacono, Elvira - Research Assistant/GIS; Fritsch, Bernhard - Data Manager Scientific Computing Unit, Central Research Services, German Archaeological Institute, Germany

ISSN 2975-190X – ISBN 978-88-6864-548-9

Natural hazards and anthropogenic land-use pressure result in destructive events occurring at increasingly higher frequencies, causing severe damage to archaeological and cultural heritage sites. The German Archaeological Institute (DAI), together with its partner organisations, has initiated the Cultural Heritage Response Unit (CHRU) to assist with heritage disaster recovery around the globe.

As part of this project, the remote sensing and monitoring unit must provide cost-effective support based on multi-source satellite datasets to assess damages and planning on the ground. To this end, three main approaches are followed: preventive measures, times-series analysis (or monitoring), and rapid response. This paper gives a general overview of each of them, the types of available data, methods and their application in case of emergencies.
Furthermore, it shares how this Unit get access to different datasets through its partner institutions or subscriptions.

KEYWORDS: remote sensing, monitoring, cultural heritage, archaeological sites, preventive measures, response, datasets, damage assessment. In PROCULTHER-NET 2 Project. Technical Bulletin N. 4, December 2024, pp 72 - 77

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