Fractal Models and Tools for Disaster Monitoring

The fractal geometry is the most appropriate mathematical instrument to describe the irregularity of a natural scene, by means of few effective and reliable parameters. Therefore, fractal concepts can be used to model and to identify geometrical changes occurred in areas hit by disasters. An overall framework employing fractal based models, algorithms and tools to support identification of natural area changes due to natural or man-made disasters is considered and applied on simulated SAR imagery. Such a framework provides an innovative instrument for disaster monitoring applications and helps to improve the understanding of the mechanisms underlying SAR image formation. In the last section, a case study is discussed, showing the potentiality of our framework for flooding detection.