Remote Sensing for Cultural Heritage Assessment and Monitoring: The Case Study of Alba Iulia

Cristian Moise,Cristina Elena Mihalache,Iulia Dana Negula,Alexandru Badea,Gabriel Tiberiu Rustoiu,Andi Mihai Lazar,Andreea Luminita Dedulescu,Ioan Constantin Inel

doi:10.3390/su13031406

Cristian Moise, Cristina Elena Mihalache + Show 6 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/su13031406

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Abstract

In recent times, satellite-based remote sensing has a growing role in archaeology and inherently in the cultural heritage management process. This paper demonstrates the potential and usefulness of satellite imagery for the documentation, mapping, monitoring, and in-depth analysis of cultural heritage and the archaeological sites located in urban landscapes. The study focuses on the assessment and monitoring of Alba Iulia, which is one of the Romanian cities with the richest historical past. Multitemporal analysis was performed to identify the land use/land cover changes that might contribute to an increased cultural heritage vulnerability to natural disasters. A special emphasis was dedicated to the assessment of the built-up area growth and consequently of the urbanization trend over a large time interval (30 years). Next, the urbanization and urban area expansion impact was further analyzed by concentrating on the urban heat island within Alba Iulia city and Alba Iulia Fortress (located in the center of the city). As temperature change represents a key element of climate change, the temperature trend within the same temporal framework and its impact on cultural heritage were determined. In the end, with regard to the cultural heritage condition assessment, the research was complemented with an assessment of the urban ground and individual building stability, using persistent scatterer interferometry. The results contribute to the detailed depiction of the cultural heritage site in such a manner that the site is monitored over an extensive timeframe, its current state of conservation is accurately determined, and the future trends can be identified. In conclusion, the present study offers reliable results regarding the main factors that might endanger the cultural heritage site as a basis for future preservation measures.

Highlights

The increasing contribution of remote sensing to the archaeology and cultural heritage domain is favored by the variety of satellite sensors, data policies that enable free and open access to satellite imagery, and the use of combined techniques in order to maximize the spectrum of complementary information that can be generated through the exploitation of satellite data for a more accurate and extensive analysis of the archaeological sites and their surroundings [1]
The time series supervised classification facilitates the identification of significant urbanization expansion (Figures 6–9), a process that was presented as a threat to the cultural heritage by Agapiou et al [16] and Drahor [68]
The study contributes to a better understanding of the extent and impact of the primary and secondary factors that affect Alba Iulia’s cultural heritage sites

Summary

Introduction

The increasing contribution of remote sensing to the archaeology and cultural heritage domain is favored by the variety of satellite sensors, data policies that enable free and open access to satellite imagery, and the use of combined techniques in order to maximize the spectrum of complementary information that can be generated through the exploitation of satellite data for a more accurate and extensive analysis of the archaeological sites and their surroundings [1]. Using very high resolution (VHR) multispectral satellite imagery, Megarry et al [2]. Promoted the use of automatic methods (i.e., machine-learning and classification techniques) that strengthen the archaeological prospection process. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), Balz et al [3] determined that remote sensing imagery represents a useful tool for the analysis of the archaeological landscape. Steward et al [4]

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