Satellite-based Bridge Anomaly Detection as a Case Study of 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake

Abstract

To study the technology for detecting serious damage to structures by satellite, 275 bridges were selected and analyzed from bridges over 50 meters in the Noto Peninsula and Kanazawa Uchinada area where the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake occurred. As a result, anomalies in many of the bridges have been detected where damage occurred. On the other hand, in some cases, the damaged areas were not visible to the satellite due to typical reasons such as the influence of mountains, trees, and vegetation. While the results of this analysis do not answer the need for rapid information provision immediately after an earthquake, they do demonstrate the potential of satellites for wide-area analysis. The ability to detect anomalies with less post-earthquake observation data is a major challenge.