# Diffusion Models for Earth Observation Use-cases: from cloud removal to urban change detection

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.06222 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.06222/

## Key facts

- Cited by 4 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in Inverse problems and image restoration, one of 14 directions in Diffusion models.
- Builds on 24 of its 64 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 10 Nov 2023.

## Placed in

- Diffusion models / [Inverse problems and image restoration](https://mlsanity.com/diffusion/inverse-problems-and-image-restoration/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 24 of 24)

- [Deep Residual Learning for Image Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1512.03385/) (2015)
- [Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.11239/) (2020)
- [U-Net: Convolutional Networks for Biomedical Image Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1505.04597/) (2015)
- [High-Resolution Image Synthesis with Latent Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.10752/) (2021)
- [Deep Unsupervised Learning using Nonequilibrium Thermodynamics](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1503.03585/) (2015)
- [Generative Adversarial Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.00667/) (2022)
- [Zero-Shot Text-to-Image Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.12092/) (2021)
- [Auto-Encoding Variational Bayes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1312.6114/) (2013)
- [Image Super-Resolution via Iterative Refinement](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.07636/) (2021)
- [Palette: Image-to-Image Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.05826/) (2021)
- [DeepAR: Probabilistic Forecasting with Autoregressive Recurrent Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1704.04110/) (2017)
- [Temporal Fusion Transformers for Interpretable Multi-horizon Time Series Forecasting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.09363/) (2019)
- [Supervised learning with quantum enhanced feature spaces](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1804.11326/) (2018)
- [Barren plateaus in quantum neural network training landscapes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1803.11173/) (2018)
- [Urban Change Detection for Multispectral Earth Observation Using Convolutional Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1810.08468/) (2018)
- [Exponential concentration in quantum kernel methods](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.11060/) (2022)
- [Effect of barren plateaus on gradient-free optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2011.12245/) (2020)
- [Quantum principal component analysis only achieves an exponential speedup because of its state preparation assumptions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1811.00414/) (2018)
- [On Circuit-based Hybrid Quantum Neural Networks for Remote Sensing Imagery Classification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.09484/) (2021)
- [UnCRtainTS: Uncertainty Quantification for Cloud Removal in Optical Satellite Time Series](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.05464/) (2023)
- [Quantum algorithms applied to satellite mission planning for Earth observation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.07181/) (2023)
- [Detecting Clouds in Multispectral Satellite Images Using Quantum-Kernel Support Vector Machines](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.08270/) (2023)
- [From LAION-5B to LAION-EO: Filtering Billions of Images Using Anchor Datasets for Satellite Image Extraction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.15535/) (2023)
- [Generative Adversarial Networks for Realistic Synthesis of Hyperspectral Samples](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1806.02583/) (2018)

## Built on by (most cited first, 4 of 4)

- [Diffusion Models Meet Remote Sensing: Principles, Methods, and Perspectives](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.08926/) (2024)
- [Detecting Out-Of-Distribution Earth Observation Images with Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.12667/) (2024)
- [COP-GEN-Beta: Unified Generative Modelling of COPernicus Imagery Thumbnails](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.08548/) (2025)
- [Bridging Modalities and Tasks: A Unified Hierarchical ViT for SAR-to-Optical Translation and Semantic Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.04726/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

The advancements in the state of the art of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) brought by diffusion models can be highly beneficial in novel contexts involving Earth observation data. After introducing this new family of generative models, this work proposes and analyses three use cases which demonstrate the potential of diffusion-based approaches for satellite image data. Namely, we tackle cloud removal and inpainting, dataset generation for change-detection tasks, and urban replanning.