Detection of ground movements in Montjuïc (Barcelona) using TerraSAR-X data

Luca Tanteri,Michele Crosetto,Nicola Casagli,Núria Devanthéry,María Cuevas-González

doi:10.1007/s10064-015-0840-8

Abstract

In this study, 28 StripMap TerraSAR-X images were processed using a Persistent Scatterer Interferometry technique in order to detect and analyze superficial deformation phenomena affecting the hill of Montjuic in Barcelona between December 2007 and November 2009. The results show significant displacement values in two main areas affected by different types of superficial displacements, specifically compaction in a former quarry refill and sliding processes. Displacement values of up to 12 mm/year along the line of sight of the satellite were detected in the area near the Perez de Rozas baseball stadium whereas values of up to 7 mm/year were found in the vicinity of Costa i Llobera gardens. For each deformation area, high resolution deformation velocity data were analyzed and integrated with historical images and field data to interpret the detected phenomena.

Highlights

Satellite-based radar interferometric techniques represent a powerful tool to measure and monitor ground displacements (Massonnet and Feigl 1998; Hanssen 2001)
The focus of this paper is on a particular implementation of Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI), a technique which is based on the use of a stack of images acquired by a satellite over a given area at different times
The term PSI is used in this work to indicate a number of different techniques including the Permanent Scatterers approach, other techniques based on Persistent Scatterers (PSs), those based on distributed scatterers (Berardino et al 2002), and other hybrid methods

Summary

Introduction

Satellite-based radar interferometric techniques represent a powerful tool to measure and monitor ground displacements (Massonnet and Feigl 1998; Hanssen 2001). The PSI technique allows obtaining a comprehensive outlook of the deformation phenomena occurring in wide areas while, at the same time, maintaining the capability to measure individual features such as buildings or infrastructures. There are some limitations of the PSI technique worth mentioning: (1) the PSI technique relies on coherence and, is opportunistic, which means that it is only able to estimate deformation over the available PSs, i.e., those points where PSI phases maintain good quality over time to get reliable deformation estimates, e.g., see Hanssen (2001); (2) PSI suffers limitations in its capability to measure ‘‘fast’’ deformation phenomena due to the ambiguous nature of PSI observations, which are 2pwrapped.

Methods

Results

Conclusion