DInSAR estimation of land motion using intermittent coherence with application to the South Derbyshire and Leicestershire coalfields

Abstract

Differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar (DInSAR) is a recognized remote-sensing method for measuring the land motion occurring between two satellite radar acquisitions. Advanced DInSAR techniques such as persistent scatterers and small baseline methods are excellent over urban and rocky environments but generally poor over more rural and natural terrain where the signal can be intermittently good and bad. Here, we describe the Intermittent Small Baseline Subset (ISBAS) method, which appears to improve results over natural, woodland and agricultural terrain. This technique uses a multi-looked, low-resolution approach, which is particularly suitable for deriving the linear components of subsidence for large-scale deformations. Application of the ISBAS method over a coal mining area in the UK indicates that it is able to significantly improve upon a standard small baseline approach.