Geomatics (GM)
Email: anna.barra@cttc.catPhone: +34 93 645 29 00
Anna Barra holds a PhD in Civil Engineering (geotechnics) from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) University (Barcelona, Spain) (2022), a master’s degree in Engineering Geology (Geology Applied to Engineering, Land Use Planning and Risks) (2013), and a bachelor’s degree in Geological Sciences (2009) from Sapienza University of Rome (Italy). In 2011 she got the financial support from Sapienza University for a 4-months stay in Canada and a travel to Brazil in to carry on a collaboration with the University of Waterloo (Canada) and the Pontificia Universidade Católica (PUCrio, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). In 2014 she has been working for one year at the Earth Science Department of Sapienza University on the project FRANARISK, a research agreement between the Earth Science Department of Sapienza University of Rome and the Province of Rome, to develop a landslide susceptibility study in an area of the Province of Rome (centre of Italy).
She arrived at CTTC in March 2015 as Visitor Researcher, holding a 9-months scholarship granted by University of Rome Sapienza, then she remained as Research Assistant (2016-2022), and she is now a Researcher (since 2022), in the Geomatics Research Unit (Remote Sensing Group).
She is contributing to the lines of satellite PSI/DInSAR, supporting all the related activities of data processing improvements and applications. She is supporting the coordination activities of several projects (i.e. Safety, U-Geohaz, MOMPA, etc). She is also contributing to the coordination and formation of new people (i.e., new entries in the group, PhD students, temporal internship). The main activities of Anna Barra can be summarized in: i. improvement of processing approaches for different aims and applications ii. development of post-processing methodologies and tools for an operational exploitation of DInSAR results in geological hazard monitoring and risk management iii. analysis and interpretation of remote sensing data iiii. Dissemination activities (i.e. websites, conferences, trainings).
Her expertise allows to face both sides of the DInSAR technique: the data processing aspects and the post-processing usage and interpretation (for applicative aims). She has a good knowledge about the following topics: i. the DInSAR techniques, ii. the processing software tools developed by the Geomatics division, iii. the final users’ needs and main requirements, iiii. the deformation phenomena related with both human activities and geological-geotechnical environment (land subsidence, slope instability, landslide, mining activities, consolidation).
Her main research focus is the use of DInSAR techniques for geohazard management, from wide-area application (wide area processing and big data management and analysis) up to a very local scale application (interpretation of specific phenomena and cross-validation).
She has participated in the proposal of several projects:
– MOMPA (founded). Participant
– Living Lab. Assistant
– REMOTER. Participant
– Riskcoast (founded). Participant
– STREAM. CTTC promoter
– U-Geohaz (founded). Participant
She has been involved in the following European and Industrial projects:
European Projects:
– MOMPA “MOnitorización de Movimientos del terreno y Protocolo de Actuación” (EFA295/19) Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER), programa Interreg V-A España, Francia, Andorra (POCTEFA 2014-2020). Technical Manager
– Riskcoast “Desarrollo de herramientas para prevenir y gestionar los riesgos geológicos en la costa ligados al cambio climático”. Interreg-Sudoe. Participant
– Savemedcoas 2 “Sea Level Rise Scenarios Along the Mediterranean Coasts” (ECHO 874398) (02/12/2019 – 01/12/2021). Assistant
– U-Geohaz. Geohazard impact assessment for urban areas (UCPM-2017-PP-AG: UCPM-783169). (01/01/2018 – 31/12/2019). Participant
– SAFETY. Sentinel-1 for geohazard prevention and forecasting (ECHO/SUB/2015/718679/PREV02). (01/01/2016 – 31/12/2017). Participant
Industrial Projects:
– Atacama. “Monitorización de deformaciones del terreno en la zona del Salar de Atacama (Chile)”. SQM Iberian SA. (ES). Participant
– Glories. “Satellite-based monitoring of the deformation associated with underground construction works of the Plaça de les Glòries (Barcelona)”. Industrial contract with the public company BIMSA. Participant
– Ferrocarrils. “Estudi de la línia Plaça d’Espanya – Cornellà”. Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya. 2019-2020. Assistant
– AOSTA. Research agreement between the Research Institute for Geo-Hydrogeological Protection (IRPI) of the Italian National Research Council (CNR) and the Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Cataluña (CTTC). DInSAR monitoring, based on Sentinel-1 SAR imagery, of Deep-seated gravitational slope deformations (DSGSDs) in Valle d’Aosta region (Italy). (April 2017-April 2018) Main Investigator
– LIMUS. Landslides Interferometric Monitoring throUgh Sentinel images. Industrial project developed by Remote Sensing Department of Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya (CTTC) to detect landslides located in the Northern part of the Tuscany region (Italy) by using Sentinel data. Funded by LaMMA Consortium (Italy). (2015-2016) Main Investigator
– FRANARISK. Landslide susceptibility analysis of an area of the province of Rome (Italy). Developed by the Department of Earth Sciences, Sapienza, University of Rome. Funded by the Province of Rome. (2014) Main Investigator
Lectures:
– BGR-ADA Training. 5-hour course for the BGR-BBD (German Ground Motion Services). The course included a theory part and a practical demonstration on the use of interferometry and ADATools. Online. November 2020.
– “RISKCOAST”. GeoTalk seminar at CTTC. March 2020
– “The SPI chain. General overview. What can we get from it? Main outputs. Main challenges to face in order to have a more user-friendly tool”. GeoTalk seminar at CTTC. October 2019
– “PSIG and ADA software”. U-Geohaz training, at the Greek Institute of Geology and Mineral Exploration (IGME), 3-4 of June 2019, Athens, Greece-
– “Metodología para generar mapas de deformación mediante imágenes radar Sentinel-1” (“Methodology to generate deformation maps through Sentinel-1 radar images”) at the “Safety Workshop Canarias, 2017: Gestión de riesgos geológicos en las Islas Canarias, en el ámbito de la Protección Civil”. Tenerife, Spain, 12-13 December 2017.
– “Exploitation of Sentinel-1 data to periodically map active deformation areas at territorial scale” at the international workshop “Safety project Workshop”. Madrid, Spain, 29 November 2017.
– “Generation and use of the Active Deformation Areas maps” at the international short course “Safety training: Sentinel for Geohazards regional monitoring and forecasting”. Madrid, Spain, 27-28 November 2017.
Supervisor of Final Master’s works:
– Student: Valenzuela Martel Silvia. Recursos Minerales y Riesgos Geológicos – Especialidad: Riesgos Geológicos (UB/UAB). Master’s theses “Detección de actividad en grandes deslizamientos en el Pirineo Central mediante Sentinel-1 y InSAR”. Supervisors: Guinau, M. (UB), Barra, A. (CTTC), 2019.
– Student: Akram Bakhtiari. Geologia Applicata all’Ingegneria, al Territorio e ai Rischi (Sapienza University of Rome, Earth Science Department). Master’s theses “Landslide susceptibility study of an area of the Province of Rome (Lazio Region)”. Supervisors: Della Seta, M., Esposito C., Barra A. 2015.
Grants:
– Scholarship (9 months) “post-graduated scholarship for a specialization in a foreign country”. By Sapienza, University of Rome. March 2015 – December 2015, at “Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya (CTTC)”. Castelldefels, Barcelona, Spain.
Research Scholarship (3 months). By the Earth Science Department of Sapienza, University of Rome. November 2014 – January 2015, at Earth Science Department of Sapienza University. Rome, Italy
– Award for the attendance at “The Second World Landslide Forum”. By the Earth Science Department of Sapienza, University of Rome. 3 – 9 October 2011, at Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Headquarters. Rome, Italy.
– Collaboration Scholarship (3 months). By the Earth Science Department of Sapienza, University of Rome. Abril 2011 – July 2011, at Earth and Environmental Sciences Department of University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
– Research trip financing (two weeks). By the Earth Science Department of Sapienza, University of Rome. July 2011 at Pontificia Universidade Católica (PUCrio). Rio de Janeiro, Brasil.