Analyses of surface deformation can help to define the evolution of areas, structures and infrastructures menaced by hazardous phenomena. To this end, space-borne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data provides direct measures of surface movements. Specific techniques to handle SAR data have been recently applied to monitor not only natural hazardous phenomena, such as earthquakes, subsidence and landslides, but even structural health of buildings and infrastructure. The large spread of these techniques is supported by the non-invasiveness of radar signals, the possibility to cover vast areas and the availability of a large database of data acquired since the ‘90s, despite they do not give any indication about the triggering factors and the strain source or the tensile condition of a structure. STEADY Project (SaTEllyte synthetic Aperture radar interferometry to model Dam stability) is aimed to use SAR data to monitor dam structural health and, even more, to apply an innovative approach, exploiting deformation fields as a starting point to re-create a simplified analytical model, providing preliminary hints about the stress-strain status of the dam in a short time if compared with traditional finite element models. The relevance of this process emerges when environmental or logistic conditions do not allow to monitor dams through traditional geodetic and numerical techniques. In such cases, results obtained from SAR data combined with an analytical model constitute a reliable diagnostic tool of dam structural health to avoid any extraordinary failure that may lead to loss of lives. The method will be tested on an emblematic real case, the Mosul dam, facing the following goals: (i) analysis of satellite SAR data available over the area, (ii) identification of an analytical model to reproduce dam deformation behaviour and tensile condition, (iii) implementation of a semi-automatic tool to perform numerical simulations, applicable to further cases.

HERCULES brings together a multidisciplinary team crossing boundaries within technology, systems thinking and society to develop a step change in the understanding and monitoring capabilities of geohazards and in turn produce ground breaking new methods to boost the resilience of current infrastructure under changing climates. The programme will undertake fundamental research to ascertain the pathways and grow our capacity to assess and predict risks due to geohazards. The proposed study will employ a range of novel research approaches across multiple scales, from the macro-scale through to the micro scale including the integration of Earth Observation techniques, laboratory investigation and by investigating the ground behaviour at the scale of soil particles experimentally using tomography and numerical techniques such as the Discrete Element Method. Our approach is unique in that the design and implementation of the technology is informed not only through the combination of laboratory and field studies, data interpretation and numerical simulations, but also coproduced through consultation with the local community. We will use crowdsourced geographic information with real-time environmental data and models to provide a decision-making framework to be adapted to local needs for the monitoring and early-warning of geozahards to improve urban resilience. The goals of the project are to: i) exchange knowledge in a multidisciplinary environment between academia and industry; ii) develop new insights, approaches and technologies that support the needs of end-users to make both the built environment and infrastructure more resilient to the increasing threat of natural hazards due to the effect of a more variable climate; iii) train Early Stage Researches (ESRs) during their secondments between Institutions who will form the next generation of researchers leading academic and industrial technological developments in this field.