Temporal gravimetry, campaign and permanent GNSS, and interferometric radar techniques: A comparative approach to quantifying land deformation rates in coastal Texas

Abstract

Land subsidence and local sea-level rise are well-known on-going hazards that negatively impacting coastal regions, exacerbating coastal flooding, threatening infrastructure stability, accelerating erosion, and amplifying the risks of inundation and property damage. This study used four techniques to quantify land deformation rates in the Texas Coastal Bend region and to investigate the controlling factors on two different spatiotemporal scales: (1) local scale, where biweekly temporal gravity and campaign Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) measurements were acquired at six locations over 2 years (October 2020–September 2022); and (2) regional scale, where vertical displacement time series were extracted from the Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) and 15 permanent GNSS stations over 5 years (January 2017–November 2021). The observed inconsistency between land deformation rates derived from gravity (range: −33.32 ± 149.30 to +338.68 ± 107.93 mm/yr) and campaign GNSS (range: −17.91 ± 14.90 to +5.69 ± 9.93 mm/yr) surveys could be attributed to the short campaign period and the infrequency of data acquisition. The InSAR-derived deformation rates (range: −12.16 ± 0.12 to +11.70 ± 0.00 mm/yr) were consistent with the permanent GNSS-derived rates (range: −14.0 ± 0.6 to +9.0 ± 3.0 mm/yr); both indicated spatiotemporal variability in land deformation rates across the Texas Coastal Bend. A total of 4 coastal towns (−2.3 ± 3.3 mm/yr), 3 cities (−1.4 ± 2.6 mm/yr), 3 inland towns (−3.6 ± 4.2 mm/yr), and 7 industrial plants (−3.8 ± 5.8 mm/yr) were found to have significant land subsidence rates due to sediment compaction, growth faulting, oil/gas extraction, and groundwater extraction. Results of this study emphasize the advantages and limitations of four different techniques in quantifying land deformation rates; can enhance estimates of local sea-level rise; and offer valuable insights to support coastal communities in mitigating the impacts of land subsidence and improving their resilience.