ESA 2026 InSAR Training Course

Background

The training course will provide participants with a fundamental understanding of Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) for monitoring and analysing the dynamics of the Earth’s surface and the objects upon it. Emphasis will be placed on how InSAR can be used to address safety‑ and risk‑related challenges, both for diagnostic assessment and anomaly detection.

Participants will gain insight into methodologies that are optimal and fit‑for‑purpose across domains such as civil engineering, energy, geology, and geophysics. The goal is to equip attendees with the necessary tools and critical reasoning for selecting and implementing appropriate InSAR processing and parameter estimation approaches.

Drawing on expertise from TU Delft, the British Geological Survey (BGS), the Polish Geological Institute (PGI), the COMET Centre at the University of Leeds, and other research partners, this course targets undergraduate and graduate students, early‑career scientists, and professionals seeking to apply Earth Observation (EO) methods within operational or research workflows.

Pre‑requisites:

• Arithmetic with complex numbers (addition and multiplication)

• Experience running and adapting Python Jupyter notebooks

• Basic understanding of radar and SAR

Objectives

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Understand the underlying geometry, datums, and error models in InSAR processing for geodetic applications.

• Apply time‑series analysis and parameter estimation methods to retrieve ground motion signals.

• Interpret InSAR products such as velocity maps and deformation trends in the context of geological and environmental hazards.

• Integrate InSAR outputs with geological, seismic, and environmental datasets for multi-disciplinary studies.

• Recognize the advantages and limitations of current InSAR services and ground motion portals.

Content

The course provides a substantial and balanced introduction to the basics and advanced concepts of:

The objective is to prepare participants for the scientific exploitation of the data from past and current SAR Polarimetric Missions (eg. ALOS-2, Sentinel-1, GF-3, RISAT, SAOCOM, RCM) with the emphasis on the new full Polarimetric Missions i.e., BIOMASS and NISAR and preparation to future SAR missions like ROSE-L.

Preliminary Programme:

Day 1 – Thursday 11 June (TU Delft)
InSAR Geodesy & Time Series Methods (Part 1)

• InSAR fundamentals, state‑of‑the‑art and applications

• Geometry, datums, and displacement parameterization

• Scatterers, arcs, and triple‑A product concepts

Day 2 – Friday 12 June (TU Delft)
InSAR Geodesy & Time Series Methods (Part 2)

• Phase reduction, stochastic models, and parameter estimation

• Error propagation, quality control, and ambiguity resolution

• Advanced methods: 3D displacement, SPAMS model, Instantaneous State InSAR

Day 3 – Saturday 13 June (PGI / BGS / COMET)
InSAR Applications

• National and European ground motion services

• Interpreting InSAR products and AI/ML‑based anomaly detection

• Seismic and volcanic deformation monitoring (COMET / LiCSAR)

• Landslides and mining: detection, monitoring, and risk mapping

Day 4 – Sunday 14 June (PGI)
Field Visit – Kraków Region

• On‑site demonstrations of ground deformation, mining subsidence, and landslide monitoring

Participation

Participation is free of charge, but subject to the 30‑person capacity limit. Priority will be given to students and early‑career professionals attending the FRINGE 2026 symposium. Participants are expected to bring their own laptops configured with Python and Jupyter environments for hands‑on exercises. Instructions and example notebooks will be provided prior to the course.

A certificate of attendance will be issued upon completion of the 3‑day training and field trip.

Contact Info