Abstract
Multi-temporal synthetic aperture radar interferometry techniques (MT-InSAR) are nowadays a well-developed remote sensing tool for ground stability monitoring of areas afflicted by natural hazards. Its application capability has recently been emphasized by the Sentinel-1 satellite mission, providing extensive spatial coverage, regular temporal sampling and free data availability. We perform MT-InSAR analysis over the wider Upper Nitra region in Slovakia, utilizing all Sentinel-1 images acquired since November 2014 until March 2017. This region is notable for its extensive landslide susceptibility as well as intensive brown coal mining. We focus on two case studies, being impaired by recent activation of these geohazards, which caused serious damage to local structures. We incorporate a processing chain based on open-source tools, combining the current Sentinel Application Platform (SNAP) and Stanford Method for Persistent Scatterers (StaMPS) implementation. MT-InSAR results reveal substantial activity at both case studies, exceeding the annual displacement velocities of 30 mm/year. Moreover, our observations are validated and their accuracy is confirmed via comparison with ground truth data from borehole inclinometers and terrestrial levelling. Detected displacement time series provide valuable insight into the spatio-temporal evolution of corresponding deformation phenomena and are thus complementary to conventional terrestrial monitoring techniques. At the same time, they not only demonstrate the feasibility of MT-InSAR for the assessment of remediation works, but also constitute the possibility of operational monitoring and routine landslide inventory updates, regarding the free Sentinel-1 data.
Highlights
Slope deformations are the most significant geohazards in Slovakia which annually cause an extensive economic damage, seriously limit the rational use of land and in rare cases threaten human lives
This approach preserved a valuable amount of 28,101 points for the ascending track and 25,957 points for the descending track, that would have been otherwise discarded by standard coherence thresholding
We have demonstrated the capabilities of open-source MT-InSAR tools Sentinel Application Platform (SNAP) & Stanford Method for Persistent Scatterers (StaMPS) in conjunction with the open-access Sentinel-1 data to monitor the most significant geohazards in the
Summary
Slope deformations are the most significant geohazards in Slovakia which annually cause an extensive economic damage, seriously limit the rational use of land and in rare cases threaten human lives. This is conditioned by the complex geological setting of Slovakia, especially in Flysch regions and periphery of Neovolcanic regions, where landslides threaten up to 60% of the territory. Slopes within Neogene and Paleogene depressions are substantially affected. Since 2010, more than 700 new slope failures have been registered and their activation was driven mainly by climatic anomalies, such as extraordinary rainfalls and melting snow cover. Many of Geosciences 2017, 7, 87; doi:10.3390/geosciences7030087 www.mdpi.com/journal/geosciences
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