Training course on InSAR

20 - 22 June, 2016
Tõravere, Estonia


Tartu Observatory is organizing a training course on InSAR – synthetic aperture radar interferometry (InSAR). It is aimed at participants from companies, scientific and governmental institutions, and universities that are interested in measuring deformations of Earth’s surface and change in altitude of man-made objects from space using satellite images.

The course will cover advanced synthetic aperture radar (SAR) topics such as differential SAR interferometry (DInSAR) and persistent scatterer SAR interferometry (PSInSAR) but information about the basics of SAR and InSAR will be provided as well. The course is practically oriented with exercises using real SAR data acting as a basis for the training. Exercises will be focused on two applications – monitoring of subsidence and uplift of (1) Earth’s surface, and (2) large infrastructure objects. 

Lectures: Karlis Zalite Ph.D and Kaupo Voormansik Ph.D

Karlis Zalite received the M.Sc. degree in computer sciences from Ventspils University College, Latvia, in 2007, and the Ph.D. degree in physics from the University of Tartu in 2016. Since 2011, he has been a researcher at Tartu Observatory. His main research topic is radar remote sensing of agricultural areas, but he is also involved in research related to urban monitoring.

Kaupo Voormansik received the M.Sc. degree in space studies from the International Space University in 2009, and the M.Sc. degree in computer science and the Ph.D. degree in physics from the University of Tartu in 2009 and 2014, respectively. Dr. Voormansik is head of the Department of Remote Sensing at Tartu Observatory. His research interests include synthetic aperture radar agricultural applications and urban area mapping.

Participation fee - 240 euros (incl. meals and coffee breaks on 3 days).
We shall send an invoice to your e-mail address noted on the registration form.  
Registration fee must be paid before the course.

Please fill out the form to register to the training course before 8 June 2016.

Information about the location: http://to.ee/eng/about_us/location

Nearby accommodation:



Time schedule

Monday, 20th June 2016    

10:00 – 10:15 Welcome Coffee
10:15 – 12:15   SAR basics (T) and SNAP intro (L)
12:15 – 13:15 Lunch
13:15 – 14:45   InSAR basics (T)
14:45 – 15:00 Coffee Break
15:00 – 17:00 InSAR basics (L): practice with along-track and across-track data

Tuesday, 21th June 2016

09:00 – 10:30 DInSAR (T)
10:30 – 10:45 Coffee Break
10:45 – 12:30 DInSAR (L): monitoring volcanic activity
12:30 – 14:15 Lunch, guided tour in TO
14:15 – 15:00 DInSAR (L): monitoring earthquake activity
15:00 – 15:15 Coffee Break
15:15 – 16:15 DInSAR (L): practice with data from Estonia

Wednesday, 22th June 2016

09:00 – 10:30 Hands on InSAR processing demo with fresh Sentinel-1 data about Ida-Virumaa (L)
10:30 – 10:45 Coffee Break
10:45 – 12:15 PSInSAR processing theory and  processing chain demo I (T)
12:15 – 13:00 Lunch
13:00 – 15:00 PSInSAR processing theory and  processing chain demo II (T)

Don't forget to bring your own laptop with you.

List of software needed:
1. SNAP from  http://step.esa.int/main/download/ (Sentinel Toolboxes)
2. Sentinel-1 Toolbox from
http://step.esa.int/main/download/previous-versions/
3. Cygwin from http://cygwin.com/install.html  We do the installation, if needed, during the course.
4. SNAPHU from:  http://web.stanford.edu/group/radar/softwareandlinks/sw/snaphu/snaphu-v1.4.2.tar.gz