Description and objectives

The MITIGATE Project aims to bring together different CNR competences to identify and analyze displacements associated with complex risk scenarios—both natural and anthropogenic—across multiple spatial scales, from the territorial level (volcanic crises, earthquakes, subsidence, landslides) to the smaller scale of individual buildings and infrastructures, and to monitor their temporal evolution.

To this end, the project employs innovative satellite radar remote sensing techniques, specifically the Full Resolution Parallel Small BAseline Subset (FR P-SBAS) multi-temporal interferometric approach. This method enables the processing of a large number of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite data over wide areas, providing accurate and systematic measurements of displacements affecting both the natural and built environment, with the goal of supporting risk mitigation and territorial surveillance.

The project focuses on the urban area of Naples and its surroundings, including the urbanized zone of the Campi Flegrei caldera, an area characterized by bradyseismic and volcanic risk, with significant impacts on the built environment and infrastructure. For this area, an extensive archive of high spatial resolution SAR images is available, acquired by the X-band sensors of the Italian COSMO-SkyMed constellation—both first (CSK) and second (CSG) generation—developed by the Italian Space Agency (ASI). These data allow for detailed spatial monitoring of both broad and highly localized ground displacements.

Additionally, for the Naples area, a number of L-band SAR images acquired by the SAOCOM-1 constellation (Argentina) have been utilized, providing enhanced interferometric coherence in vegetated areas even over long time spans.

Finally, part of the project focuses on the use of in situ measurements—including corner reflectors, GNSS stations, and accelerometer/inclinometer sensors—for the structural monitoring of specific infrastructures located in the Campi Flegrei area. This activity aims to analyze the effects of environmental variables and operational conditions on the natural frequencies of buildings located in seismic areas, in order to identify significant variations in such frequencies, for instance, following earthquake events.