Beyond the Fringe: Pushing the Boundaries of Precision in Earth Observation
This webinar explores the frontiers of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Earth observation, moving beyond conventional InSAR to advanced techniques that redefine measurement precision. We know that multi-stack PSInSAR reveals millimeter-scale urban subsidence and structural instability, but it is less well known that SAR coherence analysis enables rapid change detection, for example in conflict and disaster zones. The session further introduces SAR geodesy for centimeter-to-decimeter absolute positioning without ground control points, showcasing the path for enabling GCP-free mapping. This talk bridges interferometric phase analysis with precise geodetic positioning and reveals how modern SAR is transforming from a displacement tool into a comprehensive geodetic observation system.
Prof. Timo Balz
Vice-Director of the International Academy of GeoInformation at Wuhan University
Timo Balz was born in Stuttgart, Germany. He received the Diploma degree (Dipl.-Geogr.) in geography and the Doctoral degree (Dr.-Ing.) in aerospace engineering and geodesy from the University Stuttgart, Stuttgart, in 2001 and 2007, respectively. From fall 2001 to the end of 2007, he was a Research Assistant with the Institute for Photogrammetry, University Stuttgart. Between 2004 and 2005, he was a Visiting Scholar with Wuhan University, Wuhan, China. From 2008-2010, he was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the State Key Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying, Mapping and Remote Sensing (LIESMARS), Wuhan University. From 2010-2015, he was an Associate Professor for Radar Remote Sensing with LIESMARS. Since 2015, he has been a Full Professor with LIESMARS. Since 2021, he has been Vice-Director of the International Academy of GeoInformation, Wuhan University. He serves as Associate Editor for the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine and MDPI’s Remote Sensing. He is a member of the editorial board of Geo-Spatial Information Science and the Journal of Digital Earth. He is Chair of an ISPRS Commission I Working Group on SAR from 2016-2022 and again from 2022-2026. He has authored and co-authored more than 150 scientific articles in journals, books, and conference proceedings. Timo Balz’s research interests include surface motion estimation with SAR, data visualization, SAR geodesy, and SAR-optical fusion.
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