DInSAR for the Monitoring of Cultural Heritage Sites, Differential SAR Interferometry for the Investigation of Deformations Affecting Cultural Heritage Sites: The Case Study of the Ancient Roman City of Pompeii (Italy)

Detection and monitoring of deformations affecting cultural heritage sites and their surroundings represent a key issue for developing strategies for their preservation, particularly in the case of extended archaeological areas. In this chapter, we first introduce the differential SAR interferometry (DInSAR) techniques that, thanks to their capability of performing noninvasive deformation analyses, provide valuable information about the spatial and the temporal evolution of the detected displacements. Subsequently, we present the DInSAR results achieved over the whole archaeological site of the ancient Roman city of Pompeii (Italy), and focus on some historical buildings where small displacements, involving portions or the whole complex structure, have been detected. The performed analysis confirms the relevance of the DInSAR techniques for developing sustainable strategies aimed at the preservation of cultural and historical heritage sites.