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One of the main risk factors which affect the archaeological heritage is the looting which causes the destruction of stratigraphic data and the 'cultural context' that are lost forever and cannot be restored any more. The use of appropriate technologies, including Earth Observation (EO), for the identification of sites exposed to the destructive action of grave robbers, the timely detection and quantification of the extension of the looted areas is a mandatory step for setting effective in situ monitoring strategies in particular for remote and inaccessible archaeological areas. In this paper a remote and close range sensing based approach, including satellite and UAS based image processing, and GPR, has been applied to the Inca settlement of Paredones, in desert environment in Southern Peru, for the detection of looting features. The approach includes also the use of an automatic algorithm named ALFEA (Archaeological Looting Feature Extraction Approach), developed and already experienced by the same authors for other desert sites in South, Central and North of Peru. ALFEA is based on the integration of spatial autocorrelation statistics, unsupervised classification and segmentation. To improve the capability in discriminating and extracting looting features a segmentation step including the setup of multi threshold parameters has been added (ALFEA-I method). Close range analyses based on UAS have been performed with the twofold aims: i) to validate, along with in situ surveys, ALFEA-I method, thus evidencing a good rate of success; ii) to analyze the morphological characteristics of looting features, useful to understand the technique and the depth of digging. With this latter respect complementary information have been provided by also GPR prospecting.

The "ATHENA" H2020 Twinning project seeks to establish a Center of Excellence in the field of Remote Sensing for Cultural Heritage through the development of an enhanced knowledge base and innovative methods in the areas of Archaeology and Cultural Heritage. This paper presents an overview of the ATHENA twinning project as well a review of the remote sensing in archaeology. The ATHENA stakeholder hub is presented through a WEBGIS platform. The importance of capitalizing on the experience of running the ATHENA project for the benefit of the ERATOSTHENES Centre of Excellence (ECoE) is explained. In recent years, Earth Observation (EO) techniques have been used extensively for archaeological and cultural heritage applications, which makes the ECoE a key player in EO activities in the Eastern Meditteranean region. The different areas that are under the umbrella of the remote sensing in archaeology sector are categorized based on the review findings. Finally, how Earth observation and remote sensing is spread out through research activities in the Eastern Meditteranean region from 1998 to 2018 is presented based on the Scopus engine.

Since the mid-1980 s satellite remote sensing data have been used in forest fire monitoring for applications related to the diverse phases of fire management as, fire prevention, danger estimation, detection of active fires, estimation of fire effects (burned area mapping, fire severity estimation, smoke plumes, biomass losses, etc), post fire recovery, fire regime characterization, etc. Today satellite technologies can fruitfully support both research and operational activities for fire monitoring and management at different temporal and spatial scales and with cost effective tools. This paper provides a short overview of satellite remote sensing for forest fire danger estimation at different scale of observations.

The importance of applying remote sensing to archaeological research has been paid great attention worldwide, due to the following aspects: (i) the improvement in spectral and spatial resolution reveals increasing detailed information for the detection of archaeological features and the study of ancient landscapes; (ii) the development of remote sensing data processing approaches in the context of GIS help us to manage the complexity of archaeological investigations at a variety of different scales; (iii) the availability of different sensors available for remote sensing activities allows to obtain several information for different purposes, from site detection to landscape archaeology up to risk analysis Moreover, archaeologists are ever more aware of the benefits of remote sensing applications for their investigations, such as: i) maps and profiles of existing and potential sites without extensive excavation; ii) reduction of costs, time and risk associated with archaeological excavation; iii) creation of site strategies, conservation, preservation; iv) assessment of the integrity of historical structures useful for their conservation. The result is the development of a scientific approach based on the integration of archaeology with earth observation technologies. An example of this approach is the Italian heritage Conservation and Archaeo-geophysics (ITACA) Mission. It applies different scientific methodologies which rely on the most advanced remote sensing techniques, to contribute to the study of the pre-Columbian civilizations and the cultural heritage conservation and management in Southern America. This paper [1] deals with the results of investigations performed in Southern Peru with the twofold aim to study and map the palaeoenvironment, the hydrography and underground aqueducts in the Nazca drainage basin by using High (HR) satellite data and to detect archaeological features near the Ceremoniale Center of Cahuachi near Nazca, by using Very High Resolution (VHR) satellite imagery. In Cahuachi the investigations have performed on two areas, one characterized by bare and arid soil, the second covered by vegetation and crossed by the Nazca river.

In this study, we analyzed the dynamics of semi-natural vegetation observed before and after fire occurrence. Investigations were carried out for two test areas located in Southern Italy using Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) from Terra MODIS data. The MOD09A1 (Level 3) was taken into consideration. It is an 8-day composite product available at a spatial resolution of 500 m. NDVI time series ranging from 2001 to 2009 have been analyzed using a physical-statistical method called Detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA). The same method has been previously adopted by the same authors group for analyzing VEGETATION/ NDVI time series recorder before and after fire for natural (i.e. unmanaged) vegetation covers. Results from this paper clearly pointed out the diverse vegetation behavior observed for natural and managed areas before and after fire occurrence.

Satellite remote sensing can successfully cope with different aspects of fire management problems, such as danger estimation, fire detection, burned area mapping and post-fire vegetation recovery. In particular, remote sensing can provide valuable data on type (namely distribution and amount of fuels) and status of vegetation in a consistent way at different spatial and temporal scales. The characterization and mapping of fuel types is one of the most important factors that should be taken into consideration for wildland fire prevention and pre-fire planning. In this paper, we provide a brief overview on the use of satellite data for the characterization and mapping of fuel type. Such research activities are part of the FUELMAP project, funded by JRC and focused on the development of fuel models for European ecosystems.

The application of geophysical prospection methods to detect earthen remains is one of the major challenging issues to be addressed in archaeological investigations. The subtle geophysical contrast between earthen buried remains and the surroundings makes the detection of archaeological features very difficult. In this paper, we address this challenge using a multi-technique approach. The integration of different geophysical methods has been used to identify archaeological remains in Cahuach. Peru, which is the largest adobe ceremonial centre in the world. The investigations herein presented are focused on two different geophysical campaigns carried out in 2008 in an area of the Tempt del Escalonado, which is highly representative of the whole archaeological site. It is a desert environment where the archaeological features are covered by sand and alluvial material. The geophysical prospection, required by the archaeologists to guide excavation planning, was performed using both ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and geomagnetics with a gradiometer system. The first allowed the detection of significant anomalies, the latter confirmed the presence of these anomalies and also provided additional features not visible from GPR. Trial excavations were carried out in correspondence of some anomalies. The archaeologists unearthed a ceremonial offering in correspondence of an anomaly detected using both GPR and geomagnetic methods. Moreover, an altar and precious archaeological materials were discovered in the area characterized by a magnetic anomaly. From an archaeological perspective, these findings were very significant, because they enabled us to cast new light on the Templo del Escalonado. From a geophysical perspective, our results pointed out the high potentiality of magnetic and GPR techniques to detect, investigate and document adobe archaeological remains in a desert environmental setting.

The investigation of the temporal fluctuations in forest fires is an important topic in the context of environmental sciences. Time-scaling scale-invariant methodologies have been used to characterize the temporal properties of forest-fire sequences detected in the Italian territory. Our findings reveal that the fire sequences can be considered as fractal processes with a high degree of time-clusterization of the events. The time-clustering phenomenon is clearly visible from timescales of order of days. Furthermore the fire sequences observed with decreasing latitude tend to be more time-clusterized.

What are the ecological effects of fires? The evaluation of fire- affected areas and fire severity is of primary importance to answer this question, because fire strongly affects the ecological processes, such as, productivity level, creation of altered patches, modification in vegetation structure and shifts in vegetation cover composition, as well as land surface processes (such as sur- face energy, water balance, carbon cycle). Traditional methods of recording fire burned areas and fire severity involve expensive and time -consuming field sur- vey. The available remote sensing technologies may allow us to develop stan- dardized burn-severity maps for evaluating fire effects and addressing post fire management activities. This paper is focused on preliminary results we obtained from ongoing research focused on the evaluation of spatial variability of fire ef- fects on vegetation. For the purposes of this study satellite ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer) data have been used. Both single (post-fire) and multi-date (pre and post fire) ASTER images were processed for some test areas in Southern Italy. Spatial autocorrelation sta- tistics, such as Moran's I, Geary's C, and Getis-Ord Local Gi index (see Anselin 1995; Getis and Ord 1992), were used to measure and analyze the de- gree of dependency among spectral features of burned areas.

Temporal dynamical analysis in fire sequences recorded from 1992 to 2005 in a fire-vulnerable area of Patagonia (Argentina) was performed by using the Allan Factor statistics. Three typologies of fires were investigated: forest, steppe and urban. The obtained results show the presence of annual periodicities, superimposed to a time-scaling behaviour, which characterize the point processes of fires as fractal time processes with a rather high degree of time-clusterization of the events.

Airborne laser scanning (ALS) is an optical measurement technique for obtaining high-precision information about the Earth's surface including basic terrain mapping (digital terrain model, bathymetry, corridor mapping), vegetation cover (forest assessment and inventory) and coastal and urban areas. Recent studies examined the possibility of using ALS in archaeological investigations to identify earthworks, although the ability of ALS measurements in this context has not yet been studied in detail. This paper focuses on the potential of the latest generation of airborne ALS for the detection and the spatial characterization of micro-topographic relief linked to archaeological and geomorphological features. The investigations were carried out near Monteserico, an archaeological area in the Basilicata region (Southern Italy) which is characterized by complex topographical and morphological features. The study emphasizes that the DTM-LiDAR data are a powerful instrument for detecting surface discontinuities relevant for investigating geomorphological processes and cultural features. The LiDAR survey allowed us to identify the urban shape of a medieval village, by capturing the small differences in height produced by surface and shallow archaeological remains (the so-called shadow marks) which were not visible from ground or from optical dataset. In this way, surface reliefs and small elevation changes, linked to geomorphological and archaeological features, have been surveyed with great detail.

This paper is focused on the jointly use of satellite Quickbird (QB) images and Ground Probing Radar (GPR) for assessing their capability in the detection of archaeological adobe structures (sun-dried earth material). Such detection is particularly complex. due to the low contrast generally existing between the archaeological features and the background. Two significant test areas were investigated in the Ceremonial Centre of Cahuachi (in the Nasca territory, Southern Peru) dating back to 6th century BC to 4th century AD. Our results showed that both satellite and GPR data provided valuable indications for unearthing precious ancient remains. Our preliminary analyses pointed out that the integrated use of non destructive remote sensing techniques has high potentiality for its important scientific implications and for its significant contributions to cultural resource management.