The Prospect of Typhoon Landfall Observation Utilizing L-band InSAR

Abstract

The cyclonic phenomenon, particularly typhoons within the 100° E to 180° E longitude region, bring significant devastation through intense rainfall and strong winds, causing secondary effects like landslides and floods upon landfall. This results in infrastructural damage and loss of life, ranking storm-related disasters, including typhoons, second only to earthquakes in casualties, emphasizing the need for a robust observation system. While higher income countries benefit from established radar and meteorological stations for continuous monitoring, this study highlights the critical necessity for an additional monitoring system in lower income countries. We investigate the applicability of Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) during typhoon landfall, particularly in densely vegetated areas where longer wavelengths like L-band (for instance, the Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS/PALSAR) and ALOS-2/PALSAR-2) are suitable. By analyzing typhoon occurrences and confirming landfall using weather radar from 2007 to 2011 (ALOS/PALSAR observation period) and 2014 to 2023 (ALOS-2/PALSAR-2 observation period), our study successfully identifies the landfall of the Jebi typhoon on September 4, 2018. InSAR processing reveals significant phase gradients linked to dense water vapor during landfall, corroborated by comparisons with sea-level Zenith Wet Delay (ZWD) from Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) data and hourly precipitation rates from the Automated Meteorological Data Acquisition System (AMeDAS). The concurrence of InSAR results with ZWD values and rainfall data from meteorological stations validates the potential of L-band InSAR in observing typhoon landfalls.