Quantifying earth surface processes via remote sensing technologies

In this chapter, we discuss how available remote sensing technology such as satellites and piloted or unpiloted aerial vehicles provide an unprecedented capacity to map and quantify contemporary earth surface processes affecting landscape evolution. These tools enable the quantification of topographic changes and of dynamic shifts of geomorphic units over time, supporting the monitoring of landslides, glaciers, riverine and coastal dynamics. Their increasing spatiotemporal resolution and spatial extent also contribute to the generation of sediment budgets and the estimate of water and sediment fluxes from slopes to river systems and coastal areas. The chapter highlights technologies and methods available to monitor landscape evolution with a focus on fluvial systems and slope dynamics. It also discusses the limitations of remote sensing technologies in terms of data availability, accuracy, demand of computational power, and spatial and temporal resolutions. Integrated approaches of technologies and data analyses must be adopted to link processes and disciplines toward a large-scale mapping and monitoring of contemporary earth surface processes.