Potentials of earth observation virtual constellations and big data: moving beyond current archaeological prospection practices

Abstract

Nowadays, a variety of satellite images have become accessible to researchers. Fleets of nanosatellites can collect images up to 2 million km² per day, while satellite optical videos have also been recently introduced. Moreover, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and European Space Agency (ESA) provide a unique opportunity for researchers to work with a significant amount of open access and freely distributed earth observation imageries by exploiting big data cloud platforms and services . These changes are expected to impact the up to now traditional methodologies applied in the scientific field of archaeological prospection, thus moving beyond data complexities and current practices. However, despite the increasing availability of senso rs, earth observation related research will be still restricted by the mismatch observed between the individual sensors’ characteristics and operational wavelength range. This communication raises some thoughts linked towards the synergistic and coordinat e use of earth observation sensors, developed in the framework of the virtual space based constellations, as proposed by the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS). Earth observation virtual constellations can increase data availability and provi de further information for future archaeological prospection research. This will allow us to fully exploit the capacity of existing sensors and understand their potential synergies, expanding thus the scope of individual datasets, aiming to meet the needs and challenges of archaeological research. This short communication will showcase preliminary examples from this effort.