Abstract
Cultural heritage sites are rare and irreplaceable wealth of human civilization. The majority of them are becoming unstable due to a combination of human and natural disturbances. High-precision, efficient deformation monitoring facilitates the early recognition of potential risks and enables preventive diagnosis of heritage sites. In this study, an advanced Multi-Temporal Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (MTInSAR) approach was developed by jointly analyzing Persistent Scatterers (PSs) and Distributed Scatterers (DSs) using high-resolution SAR images. Taking the World Heritage Site of Summer Palace in Beijing as the experimental site, deformation resulting from PSs/DSs showed that overall the site was generally stable except for specific areas and/or monuments. Urbanization (construction and demolition) triggered new subsidence in the vicinity of East and South Gate of the site. Slight to moderate (mm/cm-level) instabilities of ruins and monuments on Longevity Hill were detected, perhaps due to a combination of destructive anthropogenic activities and long-term natural decay. Subsidence was also detected along the Kunming Lakeside and was probably attributable to variation of the groundwater level, excessive visitor numbers as well as lack of maintenance. This study presents the potential of the MTInSAR approach for the monitoring and conservation of cultural heritage sites.
Highlights
As the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a society, cultural heritage is inherited from past generations and serves in the understanding of cultural diversity as well as the evolutionary relationship between earth and humans
According to the motion phenomena detected by the proposed Multi-Temporal Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (MTInSAR) technique, the whole palace was divided into the following four components for further interpretation and discussion: Longevity Hill, East Gate region, Kunming Lakeside and islands, and surrounding landscapes
An advanced MTInSAR approach for monitoring deformation risks of cultural heritage sites surrounded by a semi-natural landscape was tested using high-resolution space-borne
Summary
As the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a society, cultural heritage is inherited from past generations and serves in the understanding of cultural diversity as well as the evolutionary relationship between earth and humans. Considering educational and inspirational functions, cultural heritage contributes to world peace and security [1]. Cultural heritage sites, referring to the locations of historical structures and monuments such as ancient palaces, churches, tombs and bridges, are rare, irreversible and irreplaceable wealth of humanity [2]. They are often impacted by natural calamities and anthropogenic activities. The former includes landslides, earthquakes, floods, adverse weather and abrupt climate change. Monitoring and preventive diagnosis are essential for the safeguarding and conservation of cultural heritage sites
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