Characterization of geohazards and Earth surface processes from SAR remote sensing

Generalizing and quantifying geohazards and Earth surface processes are challenging due to the stochastic nature of the environment. The unprecedented high-accuracy and high-resolution remote sensing and environmental datasets from the ground, air, and space empower the human to identify the natural or anthropogenic driving mechanisms of Earth processes and their responsiveness to environmental variabilities. As an active remote sensing tool, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) has been widely used to monitor the spatiotemporal ground deformations and land alterations. A joint analysis of geodetic observations, hydroclimatic data, and geological records, together with hybrid data processing methods, cross-disciplinary statistical, analytical, and numerical models, as well as machine learning framework, allow us to rely on SAR-derived spatiotemporal displacements to explicitly quantify the kinematics and dynamics of our planet in various landscapes and geodynamic settings such as landslides, aquifers, coasts, earthquakes, and critical infrastructures.

Speaker Bio

Dr. Xie Hu is an Assistant Professor in Geosensing at the University of Houston. She received her PhD in Geophysics from Southern Methodist University in 2018, M.Sc. in Remote Sensing from Wuhan University in 2013, and B.Sc. degree in GIS from China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) in 2011. Her research focuses on using SAR remote sensing to characterize ground deformation in various landscapes and geodynamic settings such as landslides, aquifers, dams, mines, delta, and earthquakes. She is also engaged in investigating their natural or anthropogenic triggers and mechanisms using statistical, analytical, and numerical models. Xie was awarded the NASA New (Early Career) Investigator Program in Earth Science in 2021 and NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship in 2015. She is currently served as the Editor of Pure and Applied Geophysics. 

Learn more about Xie Hu's research here.

Host: Jeff Catalano

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