Remote, Proximal Sensing and Geophysics for Cultural Heritage Knowledge and Conservation (Second Edition)

Dear Colleagues,

We are launching the second Special Issue of Remote Sensing to be released under the title “Remote, Proximal Sensing and Geophysics for Cultural Heritage Knowledge and Conservation”.

The use of non-invasive sensing techniques to explore the internal and superficial structures of precious and delicate targets is becoming a very important research field in the context of cultural heritage knowledge and conservation. Moreover, the capability to infer the changes in geometrical and physical properties across the inspected surfaces or volumes is the unifying tool that allows researchers to discover new historical sites or to image their spatial extension and material features at different scales, with applications ranging from landscapes to artifacts.

Knowledge and documentation issues associated with cultural heritage assets require reliable, non-invasive techniques that jointly provide a fundamental tool in order to assure the preservation of these assets and to collect more comprehensive information.

Based on analogous physical principles and similar knowledge goals, diagnostics can work alone or in integrated protocols across different scales. Satellite and aerial remote sensing of exposed surfaces (and the immediate subsurface) at potential cultural heritage sites are often integrated by geophysical imaging of the shallowest layers of the inspected medium in order to reconstruct underground/underwater features of potential interest. Automated high-resolution geophysical measurement systems have been developed in the last decades, with application varying epending on the dimensions of the sites and the logistics. Recently, diagnostics have been customized for application to small targets such as historical building elements or decorative finishes, paintings, statues or ancient papers. In some cases, the contribution of the so-called micro-geophysical methods is still relevant to the documentation of cultural sites. Proximal sensing techniques are very feasible methods to be chosen for very thin targets. In some of these cases, proximal sensing techniques can work in rare configurations like transmission modes.

Geophysical and micro-geophysical methods are also very useful to assess conservation and stability issues of precious artifacts, allowing researchers to inspect soil foundations, mechanical properties of structural elements, possible subsidence issues, seismic site effects, and dynamic structural behavior. For the same topics, at times these can also be applied jointly with remote and proximal sensing techniques like satellite or ground-based (real and synthetic aperture) radar interferometry. Some important advances are linked to the growing integration of geomatics and image processing techniques in diagnostics and documentation protocols.

Finally, the integration of different diagnostics techniques has recently led to advances in many aspects of knowledge construction and applications developed specifically for cultural heritage targets, including data collection, processing, visualization, interpretation, data fusion, scenarios reconstruction, virtual fruition and musealization, virtual restoration, hazard reduction, preservation and, repair actions.

This Special Issue invites contributions focusing on all recent and upcoming advances in the application of remote/proximal sensing and geophysics/micro-geophysics for cultural heritage reconstruction and diagnostics. Contributions involving different methods and approaches are particularly welcome, as are both theoretical selected case studies showing the use of knowledge and conservation issues in controlled physical models, numerical simulations and processing advances.

Dr. Luca Piroddi
Dr. Nasser Abu Zeid
Dr. Patrizia Capizzi
Dr. Marilena Cozzolino
Dr. Sebastiano D’Amico
Dr. Sergio Vincenzo Calcina
Dr. Ilaria Catapano
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• methods and techniques for cultural heritage knowledge and conservation
• geophysical and micro-geophysical methods
• ground penetrating radar
• electrical resistivity methods
• magnetic and electromagnetic methods
• seismic and acoustic methods
• wide area geophysics
• archaeological surveys
• optical and infrared photogrammetry
• infrared thermography
• terahertz and microwave imaging
• geomatics for imaging (LiDAR, laser scanner, structure for motion, etc.)
• image and data processing
• NDT and diagnostics methods
• satellite and aerial remote sensing
• vulnerability studies
• satellite and terrestrial radar interferometry (RAR, SAR)
• radar polarimetry
• multispectral and hyperspectral remote sensing
• motion magnification technique
• integrated methods
• virtual restoration and musealization