Deformation Time-Series Generation in Areas Characterized by Large Displacement Dynamics: The SAR Amplitude Pixel-Offset SBAS Technique

Abstract

We exploit the amplitude information of a sequence of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images, acquired at different times, in order to generate displacement time-series in areas characterized by large and/or rapid deformation, the size of which is on the order of the image's pixel dimensions. We follow the same rationale of the Small BAseline Subset (SBAS) differential SAR interferometry (DInSAR) approach, by coupling the available SAR images into pairs characterized by a small separation between the acquisition orbits. We exploit the amplitudes of the selected image pairs in order to calculate the relative across-track (range) and along-track (azimuth) pixel-offsets (PO). Finally, we apply the SBAS inversion strategy to retrieve the range and azimuth displacement time-series. This approach, referred to as pixel-offset (PO-) SBAS technique, has been applied to a set of 25 ENVISAT SAR observations of the Sierra Negra caldera, Galapagos Islands, spanning the 2003-2007 time interval. The retrieved deformation time-series show the capability of the technique to detect and measure the large displacements affecting the inner part of the caldera that, in correspondence to the October 2005 eruption, reached several meters. Moreover, by comparing the PO-SBAS results to continuous GPS measurements, we estimate that the accuracy of the PO-SBAS time-series is on the order of 1/30th of a pixel for both range and azimuth directions.