Italian COSMO-SkyMed atlas: R-Index and the percentage of measurability of movement

SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) satellite interferometry is a helpful remote sensing technique for large areas analyses and monitoring, especially where the study area is difficult to access for practical or for legal reasons. As a result, the use of these techniques has significantly increased over the past three decades. Among the available different satellite constellations displaying different spatial and temporal resolutions, COSMO-SkyMed of the Italian Space Agency (ASI) represents a cutting-edge reality. COSMO-SkyMed constellation, launched in 2007 by ASI, is a valuable Earth observation tool that provides all-weather, day-and-night imaging capabilities with high resolution and a short revisit time. In this study, we produced an atlas for the entire Italian peninsula using two parameters (R-Index and Percentage of measurability of movement), in order to evaluate the quality and a-priori applicability of satellite interferometry data collected by the COSMO-SkyMed constellation. The atlas was obtained by means of the implementation of different model builders in the GIS (Geographical Information Systems) environment, providing a semi-automatic way to generate the above-mentioned outputs. The R-Index describes the likelihood of detecting Permanent Scatterers in mountainous areas, while the Percentage of measurability of movement indicates the percentage of real motion that interferometry can detect at a certain point in the analyzed region. A high-detail Digital Terrain Model (DTM) has been used to identify the most suitable areas for satellite interferometry monitoring and studying. The results of our analysis showed that the R-Index and the Percentage of measurability of movement could be used to pre-evaluate the quality of satellite interferometry data collected by the COSMO-SkyMed constellation. This research has important implications for disaster response, environmental monitoring, and scientific research and is one of a few cases in the world in which a unified representation for an entire country is provided.