Damage Assessment Mapping in Mariupol (Ukraine) with Multi-Temporal Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)

The use of multi-temporal Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery to assess damage caused by directed attacks in conflict zones is explored. This paper focuses on the Russia-Ukraine war as an example and emphasises the need for a reliable method to measure damage to urban infrastructure. The study presents a methodology that utilises a technique called Coherent Change Detection (CCD) using SAR imagery from Sentinel-1 to assess damaged areas in the city of Mariupol, Ukraine. The authors acquired SAR images before and after an artillery shelling event and measured the change in coherence between these images to assess the damage. They also compared the SAR results with contextual information from media reports and community-based projects to validate the findings. The paper provides specific examples of damage level classification maps for various types of infrastructure, such as a metallurgical factory, shopping mall and a maternity hospital. The results show good visual correlation between the bomb impact locations and the severity of damage. The authors conclude that multi-temporal SAR can complement other sensors in damage assessment mapping, especially in adverse weather conditions. Future work will focus on improving the damage assessment index and validating the damage level thresholds.