Estimation of ground subsidence of New Delhi, India using PS-InSAR technique and Multi-sensor Radar data

Abstract

Globally the land subsidence is a significant problem of the rapidly growing urban area. The factor responsible for the land subsidence caused by over-exploitation of the underground fluid such as water, petroleum, and gas respectively. In present study we present the result of detail investigation of active ground subsidance in New Delhi, National Capital Region (NCR). This area indicates a high rate of urban growth during the past decades. To analyze the land subsidence, we used multiple SAR sensor data and exploited the PS-InSAR technique. The data used for this study are Cosmo-skymed acquired between 08/06/2011 to 15/11/2017, Sentinel-1A-B (18-12-2014 to 27-11-2018), and ALOS PALSAR acquired between 19/01/2007 and 20/01/2011. These radar sensors operate in X, C, and L-band, which covers over ten years, from 2007 to 2018. The PSI results of Cosmo-skymed reveals that the Delhi NCR region has undergone an average deformation ± 15 mm/y, a maximum surface deformation observed from ALOS-PALSAR is 10 to 18 mm/y and the ground displacement observed from the SENTINAL-1A data is −2 to 16 mm/y. Groundwater level data also collected for the same period and a ground water level depletion compared with the subsidence. Monitoring land subsidence with ground-based conventional technology is time-consuming and can be carried out in a limited area due to the financial implication. PS-InSAR is an established method to detect the surface movement using the SAR sensor's time-series data. The result shows that a twenty centimeter of land subsidence is visible in some areas, validated with the collected ground evidence. The affected area is also showing resemblance to the groundwater depleting condition in those areas. This study also establish that multiple sensor data can be used to monitor the long term land subsidence.