Co-financed by the Interreg V Program in Spain-France-Andorra (POCTEFA) the European project MOMPA (MOnitoring of ground Movements and Action Protocol) study the landslide hazard in the Eastern Pyrenees. It groups together scientific partners from CTTC (Telecommunications Centre of Catalonia), ICGC (Cartographical and Geological Institute of Catalunya) IEA (Andorran Research Institute), and Cerema (Centre for studies and expertise on risks, the environment, mobility, and development). This cross-border project provides the expertise of four partners, which are specialized in remote sensing and techniques of risk analysis and management. More specifically, the goal of this project is to improve risk management by evolving from a "reactive" approach to a "proactive" one that is rarely used today because of its financial cost. To identify movements, the technique of interferometric SAR (InSAR) based on satellite images is used. This technique is sensitive to very small ground deformations and allows early detection of movements.
Landslides are one of the most expensive hazards considering their impact on infrastructures and their direct and indirect cost. In situ monitoring is inevitably localized on specific known sites and cannot cover (very) large areas. The high cost of in situ monitoring of land movements influences the management of the associate geological risks, which is often reactive: actions are taken when problems are evident. Furthermore, landslides inventories are not complete or exhaustive and do not cover areas far from human structures. In the meantime, more and more satellite images that cover large areas are accessible at a reasonable cost, but an important question remains about their resolution and accuracy: can they be used to identify and/or to monitor landslide?
The objective of MOMPA is to improve risk management, to contribute to evolve from a reactive approach to a proactive one. The innovation element of the project is applying the interferometric SAR (InSAR) technique, based on satellite imagery, for the enhancement of geological risk management. This technique, which is sensitive to small terrain deformations, can be used for an early detection of movements, monitoring and risk assessment [1-3].