Recruiting university : UNITBV (Romania) / Co-supervising university : USMB (France)
Summary
Distinct agricultural crops and practices play a central role in shaping the culture and cultural heritage of rural communities in specific regions. The Brașov region in Romania, for instance, is particularly renowned for its potato and sugar beet cultivation, which has earned it the designation ‘Potato Country’. However, these traditional crops are increasingly being replaced by others, such as rapeseed, which are more resilient and better adapted to changing climate conditions. This shift contributes to the loss of cultural heritage. Remote sensing, and in particular Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), provides valuable insights into vegetation structure, soil roughness, and soil moisture. The Copernicus program of the European Commission, together with other space agencies, offers free and regularly updated data for
the long-term monitoring of agricultural systems. In this project, conducted in close collaboration between French and Romanian research units, we aim at contributing to the preservation of cultural heritage in the selected region of Romania, while the ultimate goal is to take steps towards the development of global strategies to address climate change. In order to reach the aim, we leverage multi-modal, multi-temporal SAR data to (i) quantify the impact of climate change on traditional agricultural crops, (ii) estimate the water demand of these crops, (iii) evaluate nature-based solutions to preserve soil quality, and (iv) predict future dynamics.
Field of study
Computer Sciences, Environment and Geosciences, Information Science and Engineering
Supervisors
Mihai Ivanovici (UNITBV)
Yajing Yan (USMB)
Full description of the project
