prof.dr.ir. Ramon Hanssen

Background

Ramon Hanssen is Antoni van Leeuwenhoek professor in Geodesy and Satellite Earth Observation. He studied aerospace engineering and geodetic engineering at Delft University of Technology (M.Sc. 1993). In 1994, he worked as a researcher on potential field data inversion at the International Institute for Aerospace Surveys and Earth Sciences (ITC). In 1995, he returned to TU Delft to start his PhD research on the geodetic analysis of repeat-pass spaceborne radar interferometry, with emphasis on error propagation. During this research, he worked as a visiting scholar at Stuttgart University (1996), at the German Aerospace Center (DLR, 1997) and at Stanford University (1997-1998) on a Fulbright research fellowship. In 2001 he received the PhD degree (cum laude). At present, he is working in the field of radar remote sensing, geodesy and geostatistics at the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences. His current research interests are the geodetic analysis of imaging remote sensing data, the influence of the atmosphere on space-geodetic techniques, and the mathematical modeling and physical interpretation of deformation processes. In 2001, he published a text book on Satellite Radar Interferometry, which is well recognized in the scientific community. He received a Fulbright Fellowship in 1997, the Innovational Research Award (Vernieuwingsimpuls) from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and the Bomford Prize of the International Association of Geodesy in 2003. In 2007 he was a visiting scholar at the Nordic Volcanological Institute of the University of Iceland. In 2008 he was awarded the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek chair of Delft University of Technology. In 2007 and 2008 he received the SBIR award from the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs for founding a TU Delft spin-off company for radar remote sensing and monitoring of water defense works, Hansje Brinker. Hanssen is leading the department of Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

Activities in education

Professor of Radar Remote Sensing, Geodesy and Earth Observation at Delft University of Technology. He has taught

• Radar Remote Sensing and Deformation Analysis
• Multivariate Data Analysis/Geostatistics
• Instrument Analysis and Design
• Data Quality Control
• Calculus of Observations
• Adjustment theory
• Testing Theory
• Digital Terrain Modeling
• Remote Sensing
• Deformation analysis

Ramon Hanssen lectured courses for the European Space Agency (ESA) on radar in Hanoi (Vietnam), Prague, (Czech Republic), Alpbach (Austria), Buenos Aires (Argentina), Krakow (Poland), and Lima (Peru). For the IAG he taught at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, and lectured in Kyoto University, Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Sultan Qabooz University in Muscat (Oman), University of Miami, Tel Aviv, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, University of Porto, and the University of Wuhan.  He lectured tutorials at the IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing conference in Seoul, Korea.

Distinctions / Memberships

He received the Innovational Research Award (Vernieuwingsimpuls) from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and the Bomford Prize of the International Association of Geodesy in 2003. In 2007 and 2008 he received the SBIR award from the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs. In 2008 he was awarded the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek chair of Delft University of Technology. Ramon Hanssen was Editor of Journal of Geodesy (2003–2007) , guest-editor of Physics and Chemistry of the Earth (2001-2003) and writes columns in GEO-INFO, tijdschrift voor Geo-Informatie Nederland (since 2005)   Member of Netherlands Geodetic Commission (NCG), Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) Chairman of subcommission on Land Subsidence and Sea level Change, Netherlands Geodetic Commission (NCG) Chair evaluator new satellite mission proposal, 2nd call for ESA’s Earth Explorer Core Missions, Solid Earth panel, CCM2 ESA, 2006 Chairman of Review Commission Research Centre Earth, Delft University of Technology Member International Association of Geodesy, COMMISSION 4: Positioning & Applications, Sub-commission 4.4: Applications of Satellite & Airborne Imaging Systems IAG Sub- Commision 4.4 (SC4.4). Member of American Geophysical Union Member of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE) Member of the SAR advisory group, (TSAG) European Space Agency Member of Sentinel-1 Scientific advisory group, European Space Agency Member of Working Group Applied Space Research, GIN   Principal Scientist, Hansje Brinker B.V.

Selected publications

Books: Hanssen, R.F., Radar Interferometry: Data Interpretation and Error Analysis. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, 2001. 328 pp. ISBN: 0-7923-6945-9   Hanssen, R., Atmospheric heterogeneities in ERS tandem SAR interferometry. Delft University Press, Delft, 1998. 136 pp. ISBN: 90-407-1774-5   FransBarends, Douwe Dillingh, Ramon Hanssen, and Kyra van Onselen, editors. Bodemdaling langs de Nederlandse kust. Case Hondsbossche en Pettemer Zeewering. IOS press, Amsterdam, 2008.   Key papers: Hanssen, R.F., T.M.Weckwerth, H.A. Zebker, and R. Klees. High-resolution water vapor mapping from interferometric radar measurements. Science, 283:1295-1297, 1999.   Hanssen, R., and R. Bamler. Evaluation of interpolation kernels for SAR interferometry. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 37(1):318-321, 1999   Hanssen, R., I.Weinreich, S. Lehner, and A. Stoffelen. Tropospheric wind and humidity derived from spaceborne radar intensity and phase observations. Geophysical Research Letters, 27(12):1699-1702, 2000.   Hanssen, R.F., A.J. Feijt, and R. Klees. Comparison of precipitable water vapor observations by spaceborne radar interferometry andMeteosat 6.7- μmradiometry. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 18(5):756-764, 2001.   Van der Hoeven, A., R.F. Hanssen, and B. Ambrosius. Tropospheric delay estimation and analysis using GPS and SAR interferometry. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, 27:385- 390, 2002.   Kampes, B.M., and R.F. Hanssen, Ambiguity Resolution for Permanent Scatterer Interferometry IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 42(11):2446-2453, 2004.   Hanssen, R.F., Haphazard occurrences of reality: the link between opportunism, geodesy, and satellite radar interferometry. Journal of Geodesy, 77(10-11):686-688, 2004.   Hanssen, R.F., Satellite radar interferometry for deformation monitoring: a priori assessment of feasibility and accuracy International Journal of Applied Earth Observations and Geoinformation, 6(DOI: 10.1016/j.jag.2004.10.004):253-260, 2005   Roderik Lindenbergh, Maxim Keshin, Hans van der Marel, and Ramon Hanssen. High resolution spatio-temporal water vapor mapping using GPS and MERIS observations. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 29(8):2393-2409, April 2008.   Software: Delft Object-Oriented Radar Interferometric Software (DORIS) (co-developed with B. Kampes and the radar remote sensing group)