Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar Technique Research Articles

An integrated geophysical approach for urban underground characterization: the Avigliano town (southern Italy) case study

A geophysical approach, based on the integration of satellite differential interferometric SAR technique and in situ geoelectrical and seismic methods, was applied with the aim to characterize a portion of urban area of Avigliano (PZ) town in Basilicata Region (southern Italy) affected by ground instability phenomena. Satellite analysis helped to discriminate areas of the town affected by superficial deformations and to monitor the dynamic behaviour of the structures located in these areas. Results from geoelectrical and seismic (active and passive) methods were compared with direct data (stratigraphic) and were interpreted with the aim to reconstruct the geometry of the subsoil. The joint application of both in situ techniques allowed the overcoming of the specific limits of each method and to improve the poor quality of the data due to the noise conditions typical of measurements carried out in urban areas. A preliminary geophysical model of the subsoil was obtained. The geophysical contrasts highlighted the presence of lithological discontinuities due to the superficial deformation processes that are affecting the portion of the investigated urban area. All the information has been transferred to the public administration technicians involved in the mitigation of hydrogeological risk in Basilicata Region.

Monitoring surface changes in discontinuous permafrost terrain using small baseline SAR interferometry, object-based classification, and geological features: a case study from Mayo, Yukon Territory, Canada

Permafrost-induced deformation of ground features is threating infrastructure in northern communities. An understanding of permafrost distribution is therefore critical for sustainable adaptation planning and infrastructure maintenance. Considering the large area underlain by permafrost in the Yukon Territory, there is a need for baseline information to characterize the permafrost in this region. In this study, the Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (DInSAR) technique was used to identify areas of ground movement likely caused by changes in permafrost. The DInSAR technique was applied to a series of repeat-pass C-band RADARSAT-2 observations collected in 2015 over the Village of Mayo, in central Yukon Territory, Canada. The conventional DInSAR technique demonstrated that ground deformation could be detected in this area, but the resulting deformation maps contained errors due to a loss of coherence from changes in vegetation and atmospheric phase delay. To address these limitations, the Small BAseline Subset (SBAS) InSAR technique was applied to reduce phase error, thus improving the deformation maps. To understand the relationship between the deformation maps and land cover types, an object-based Random Forest classification was developed to classify the study area into different land cover types. Integration of the InSAR results and the classification map revealed that the built-up class (e.g., airport) was affected by subsidence on the order of −2 to −4 cm. The spatial extent of the surface displacement map obtained using the SBAS InSAR technique was then correlated with the surficial geology map. This revealed that much of the main infrastructure in the Village of Mayo is underlain by interbedded glaciofluvial and glaciolacustrine sediments, the latter of which caused the most damage to human made structures. This study provides a method for permafrost monitoring that builds upon the synergistic use of the SBAS InSAR technique, object-based image analysis, and surficial geology data.

Assessment of Land Surface Subsidence Due to Underground Metal Mining Using Integrated Spaceborne Repeat-Pass Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (DInSAR) Technique and Ground Based Observations

Differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar (DInSAR) is a novel remote sensing technique to measure earth surface deformation. It is capable of obtaining dense information related to the deformation of a large area efficiently, economically and effectively. Therefore, DInSAR is a promising technology for monitoring the earth surface deformation related to some natural hazardous events, such as earthquake, volcano eruption, land subsidence, landslide. In present study, Conventional DInSAR technique have been applied to a mineral rich zone, coming under the Khetri copper belt, a part of Northern Aravali range of hillocks in India, predominant with mining activities since late 1960’s to address the possibility of deformation phenomena due to hard rock underground metal mining. Four interferometric SAR data sets of Radarsat-2 was used for the study area to address the subsidence/uplift phenomena. Further, results obtained from conventional DInSAR technique using Radarsat-2 data sets compared with results obtained from ground based observation technique for its validity. In both the techniques, deformation results obtained in terms of average subsidence rate in mm (quarterly basis) of points under study within mining zone of Mine-A has well agreed to each other. Further, it has been observed that average subsidence rate in mm (quarterly basis) obtained from space based observation and ground based observation are 5.6 and 6.67, respectively over the points under study in mining zone of Mine-A.

Land surface deformation parameter estimation using persistent scatterer interferometry approach in an underground metal mining environment

ABSTRACTPersistent scatterer interferometry (PSI) is a major advancement in radar interferometry for detecting and monitoring land deformation. PSI is the most advanced class of differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar (DInSAR) techniques. The technique conquers the main drawbacks of the conventional DInSAR technique by identifying radar targets having stable backscattering characteristics in time. These targets are termed as persistent scatterers (PSs). The higher the number of PSs for a study area the higher the accuracy of the results will be, which is most common for deformation analysis in urban areas. However, for non-urban or highly de-correlated areas, PSs density collapses significantly, which needs to increase for optimal results. For this purpose, partially coherent/distributed scatterers (DSs) are being exploited in addition to the PSs. The field surface of this study is one of the copper-rich mining belts in India, which consists of two major underground metal mines. Scatterer characterziation of the field surface under study suggests that most of the scatterers are DSs and very few scatterers under the influence of the mining zone are PSs. In addition to this, a preliminary investigation of deformation characteristics of the field surface under study reveals that the spatial extent of deformation is small/localized along with slow and non-linear deformation. Keeping in view scatterer and deformation characteristics of the field surface under study, in this research paper, a Quasi-Persistent Scatterer based PSI approach has been applied using high-resolution TerraSAR-X interferometric data stack (10 images) to generate deformation time series and deformation velocity. Furthermore, results obtained from the applied PSI approach and ground-based observations (using GNSS) have shown good agreement with each other, in the order of −5.20 mm/year (LOS) and −5.38 mm/year (subsiding), respectively.

Microwave D-InSAR technique for assessment of land subsidence in Kolkata city, India

An effective microwave Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (D-InSAR) technique was used to rapidly assess the potential land subsidence with high precision by exploiting the phase difference of two temporally separated SAR data in the region of Kolkata city, India. The objective of this study is to assess land subsidence using D-InSAR technique and to delineate the regions of land subsidence caused by over exploitation of groundwater by minimising the errors by applying topographic and atmospheric corrections. The study area forms a part of Indo-Gangetic plain. Three ENVISAT Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) images of the years 2003, 2007 and 2010 were acquired to study the temporal evolution of land subsidence in the study area. The phase changes due to topography in the interferograms were removed by using Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) degital elevation model data. Medium Spectral Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) data were applied to remove the atmospheric noise in the interferogram. The deformation fringes were observed in the northern and central part of the study area where the land subsidence was 12 and 18 mm during the years of 2003–2007 and 2007–2010. The regional variation in the piezometric head compares well with the fringes of the interferogram. This confirms over extraction of groundwater is the main cause for land subsidence in this region. Hence, it is necessary to reduce groundwater pumping and to augment rainfall recharge in northern part of the study area.

A Methodology to Detect and Update Active Deformation Areas Based on Sentinel-1 SAR Images

This work is focused on deformation activity mapping and monitoring using Sentinel-1 (S-1) data and the DInSAR (Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar) technique. The main goal is to present a procedure to periodically update and assess the geohazard activity (volcanic activity, landslides and ground-subsidence) of a given area by exploiting the wide area coverage and the high coherence and temporal sampling (revisit time up to six days) provided by the S-1 satellites. The main products of the procedure are two updatable maps: the deformation activity map and the active deformation areas map. These maps present two different levels of information aimed at different levels of geohazard risk management, from a very simplified level of information to the classical deformation map based on SAR interferometry. The methodology has been successfully applied to La Gomera, Tenerife and Gran Canaria Islands (Canary Island archipelago). The main obtained results are discussed.

ESTIMATION OF PHASE DELAY DUE TO PRECIPITABLE WATER FOR DINSARBASED LAND DEFORMATION MONITORING

Abstract. In this paper, we present a method for using the estimated precipitable water (PW) to mitigate atmospheric phase delay in order to improve the accuracy of land-deformation assessment with differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar (DInSAR). The phase difference obtained from multi-temporal synthetic aperture radar images contains errors of several types, and the atmospheric phase delay can be an obstacle to estimating surface subsidence. In this study, we calculate PW from external meteorological data. Firstly, we interpolate the data with regard to their spatial and temporal resolutions. Then, assuming a range direction between a target pixel and the sensor, we derive the cumulative amount of differential PW at the height of the slant range vector at pixels along that direction. The atmospheric phase delay of each interferogram is acquired by taking a residual after a preliminary determination of the linear deformation velocity and digital elevation model (DEM) error, and by applying high-pass temporal and low-pass spatial filters. Next, we estimate a regression model that connects the cumulative amount of PW and the atmospheric phase delay. Finally, we subtract the contribution of the atmospheric phase delay from the phase difference of the interferogram, and determine the linear deformation velocity and DEM error. The experimental results show a consistent relationship between the cumulative amount of differential PW and the atmospheric phase delay. An improvement in land-deformation accuracy is observed at a point at which the deformation is relatively large. Although further investigation is necessary, we conclude at this stage that the proposed approach has the potential to improve the accuracy of the DInSAR technique.

Ground Motion in Areas of Abandoned Mining: Application of the Intermittent SBAS (ISBAS) to the Northumberland and Durham Coalfield, UK

In this paper, we investigate land motion and groundwater level change phenomena using differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar (DInSAR) over the Northumberland and Durham coalfield in the United Kingdom. The study re-visits earlier research that applied a persistent scatterers interferometry (PSI) technique to ERS (European Remote Sensing) and ENVISAT (Environmental Satellite) data. Here, the Intermittent Small Baseline Subset (ISBAS) DInSAR technique is applied to ERS, ENVISAT and Sentinel-1 SAR datasets covering the late 1990s, the 2000s and the mid-2010s, respectively, to increase spatial coverage, aid the geological interpretation and consider the latest Sentinel-1 data. The ERS data identify surface depressions in proximity to former collieries, while all three data sets ascertain broad areas are experiencing regional scale uplift, often occurring in previously mined areas. Uplift is attributed to increases in pore pressure in the overburden following the cessation of groundwater pumping after mine closure. Rising groundwater levels are found to correlate to ground motion measurements at selected monitoring sites, most notably in the surrounding area of Ashington. The area is divided by an impermeable EW fault; to the south, surface heave was identified as groundwater levels rose in the 1990s, whereas to the north, this phenomenon occurred two decades later in the 2010s. The data emphasize the complexity of the post-mining surface and subsurface environment and highlight the benefit that InSAR, utilizing the ISBAS technique, can provide in its characterization.

Glacier Surface Velocity Retrieval Using D-InSAR and Offset Tracking Techniques Applied to Ascending and Descending Passes of Sentinel-1 Data for Southern Ellesmere Ice Caps, Canadian Arctic

The Terrain Observation by Progressive Scans (TOPS) acquisition mode of the Sentinel-1 mission provides a wide coverage per acquisition with resolutions of 5 m in range and 20 m in azimuth, which makes this acquisition mode attractive for glacier velocity monitoring. Here, we retrieve surface velocities from the southern Ellesmere Island ice caps (Canadian Arctic) using both offset tracking and Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (D-InSAR) techniques and combining ascending and descending passes. We optimise the offset tracking technique by omitting the azimuth offsets. By doing so, we are able to improve the final resolution of the velocity product, as Sentinel-1 shows a lower resolution in the azimuth direction. Simultaneously, we avoid the undesired ionospheric effect manifested in the data as azimuth streaks. The D-InSAR technique shows its merits when applied to slow-moving areas, while offset tracking is more suitable for fast-moving areas. This research shows that the methods used here are complementary and the use of both to determine glacier velocities is better than only using one or the other. We observe glacier surface velocities of up to 1200 m year − 1 for the fastest tidewater glaciers. The land-terminating glaciers show typical velocities between 12 and 33 m year − 1 , though with peaks up to 150 m year − 1 in narrowing zones of the confining valleys.

Using high resolution SAR data to monitor deformations at a very detailed scale

The detection and monitoring of deformation phenomena caused by natural and human-induced processes are increasingly performed through the analyses of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite data.The use of Differential Interferometric SAR (DInSAR) techniques provides information about the temporal evolution of different events, such as earthquakes, volcano eruptions, subsidence and landslides. The recent availability of high resolution data, from COSMO-SkyMed and TerraSAR-X missions, led to important advances on the use of DInSAR techniques to monitor different types of phenomena, working on very detailed scales. The present work is aimed to test the response of the processing of COSMO-SkyMed images, with different DInSAR techniques, to analyse the fields of displacements induced by a sinkhole affecting the Jordanian coast of the Dead Sea and a recent building in Astana, Kazakhstan.

Fast subsidence in downtown of Seattle observed with satellite radar

Abrupt change in the long term displacement trend was observed in the downtown of Seattle (Washington, USA) with the satellite Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (DInSAR). The forty nine ascending and forty six descending RADARSAT-2 Spotlight SAR images with range-azimuth resolution of 1.6×0.8m and ground coverage of 18×8km were collected during June 6, 2012–August 16, 2015. The vertical deformation time series were computed from the ascending and descending data sets with the advanced Multidimensional Small Baseline Subset (MSBAS) software. During June 6, 2012–August 31, 2014 subsidence occurred along the two transportation routes, running north-south parallel to the coast line, reaching 2.5cm. The long term deformation rate did not exceed 1.2cm/year and was nearly constant during that time. After August 31, 2014, rapid subsidence appeared in the downtown of Seattle, in a region where it previously was not observed. Over the next four months during August 31, 2014–December 29, 2014 cumulative subsidence reached approximately 2.5cm, which corresponds to an annual rate of 10cm/year, about eight times faster than during the previous two years. The rate of subsidence remained high for an additional few months before converging to its secular value. The cause of subsidence was linked to the recent anthropogenic activities related to tunnel boring for Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement project. The elliptical model for subsidence due to groundwater pumping proposed by Tiampo et al. (2012) was used to invert for the physical parameters of the associated groundwater pumping. The results are in good accordance with the location of pumping operations and the groundwater bearing strata in the region. Over a long period of time such fast subsidence will cause additional strain on urban infrastructure, particularly older, historic structures and high-rise buildings. This work provides an excellent example of the importance and applicability of rapid, accurate monitoring of ongoing, large infrastructure projects using DInSAR techniques in order to make optimal use of limited resources and perform early intervention and mitigation strategies.

MONITORING OF LAND SUBSIDENCE IN RAVENNA MUNICIPALITY USING INTEGRATED SAR - GPS TECHNIQUES: DESCRIPTION AND FIRST RESULTS

The Emilia Romagna Region (N-E Italy) and in particular the Adriatic Sea coastline of Ravenna, is affected by a noticeable subsidence that started in the 1950s, when the exploitation of on and off-shore methane reservoirs began, along with the pumping of groundwater for industrial uses. In such area the current subsidence rate, even if lower than in the past, reaches the -2 cm/y. Over the years, local Authorities have monitored this phenomenon with different techniques: spirit levelling, GPS surveys and, more recently, Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (DInSAR) techniques, confirming the critical situation of land subsidence risk. In this work, we present the comparison between the results obtained with DInSAR and GPS techniques applied to the study of the land subsidence in the Ravenna territory. With regard to the DInSAR, the Small Baseline Subset (SBAS) and the Coherent Pixel Technique (CPT) techniques have been used. Different SAR datasets have been exploited: ERS-1/2, ENVISAT, TerraSAR-X and Sentinel-1. Some GPS campaigns have been also carried out in a subsidence prone area. 3D vertices have been selected very close to existing persistent scatterers in order to link the GPS measurement results to the SAR ones. GPS data were processed into the International reference system and the comparisons between the coordinates, for the first 6 months of the monitoring, provided results with the same trend of the DInSAR data, even if inside the precision of the method.

MONITORING OF LAND SUBSIDENCE IN RAVENNA MUNICIPALITY USING INTEGRATED SAR - GPS TECHNIQUES: DESCRIPTION AND FIRST RESULTS

Abstract. The Emilia Romagna Region (N-E Italy) and in particular the Adriatic Sea coastline of Ravenna, is affected by a noticeable subsidence that started in the 1950s, when the exploitation of on and off-shore methane reservoirs began, along with the pumping of groundwater for industrial uses. In such area the current subsidence rate, even if lower than in the past, reaches the -2 cm/y. Over the years, local Authorities have monitored this phenomenon with different techniques: spirit levelling, GPS surveys and, more recently, Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (DInSAR) techniques, confirming the critical situation of land subsidence risk. In this work, we present the comparison between the results obtained with DInSAR and GPS techniques applied to the study of the land subsidence in the Ravenna territory. With regard to the DInSAR, the Small Baseline Subset (SBAS) and the Coherent Pixel Technique (CPT) techniques have been used. Different SAR datasets have been exploited: ERS-1/2, ENVISAT, TerraSAR-X and Sentinel-1. Some GPS campaigns have been also carried out in a subsidence prone area. 3D vertices have been selected very close to existing persistent scatterers in order to link the GPS measurement results to the SAR ones. GPS data were processed into the International reference system and the comparisons between the coordinates, for the first 6 months of the monitoring, provided results with the same trend of the DInSAR data, even if inside the precision of the method.

Early landslide detection based on D-InSAR technique at the Wudongde hydropower reservoir

Differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar (D-InSAR) is an effective technique for geological disaster prevention. In this study, an early landslide detection method based on the D-InSAR technique is proposed. First, SAR data are used to monitor landslide deformation in the Wudongde hydropower reservoir. Then, the ground surface deformation is derived by using the D-InSAR technique, which includes both soil and non-soil deformations. To remove the non-soil deformation, the vertical deformation filter method and slope deformation filter method for extracting soil deformations are established, and the error of D-InSAR results is analyzed. By using two methods, Permanent Scatterers InSAR and Corner Reflectors InSAR, the errors caused by the atmospheric delay are estimated quantitatively. Additionally, the relationship between the landslide deformation and the temporal-spatial change of the SAR data is analyzed, and used to identify landslides. Finally, through the proposed early landslide detection method, the Jinpingzi landslide in the Wudongde area is investigated to validate the proposed method, and the other unknown landslides in this area are also detected, which demonstrates the feasibility of the proposed method. The outcome of this study provides a workable technique for early detection of landslides in valley reservoir areas.

InSAR Detection and Field Evidence for Thermokarst after a Tundra Wildfire, Using ALOS-PALSAR

Thermokarst is the process of ground subsidence caused by either the thawing of ice-rich permafrost or the melting of massive ground ice. The consequences of permafrost degradation associated with thermokarst for surface ecology, landscape evolution, and hydrological processes have been of great scientific interest and social concern. Part of a tundra patch affected by wildfire in northern Alaska (27.5 km2) was investigated here, using remote sensing and in situ surveys to quantify and understand permafrost thaw dynamics after surface disturbances. A two-pass differential InSAR technique using L-band ALOS-PALSAR has been shown capable of capturing thermokarst subsidence triggered by a tundra fire at a spatial resolution of tens of meters, with supporting evidence from field data and optical satellite images. We have introduced a calibration procedure, comparing burned and unburned areas for InSAR subsidence signals, to remove the noise due to seasonal surface movement. In the first year after the fire, an average subsidence rate of 6.2 cm/year (vertical) was measured. Subsidence in the burned area continued over the following two years, with decreased rates. The mean rate of subsidence observed in our interferograms (from 24 July 2008 to 14 September 2010) was 3.3 cm/year, a value comparable to that estimated from field surveys at two plots on average (2.2 cm/year) for the six years after the fire. These results suggest that this InSAR-measured ground subsidence is caused by the development of thermokarst, a thawing process supported by surface change observations from high-resolution optical images and in situ ground level surveys.

Land subsidence in Konya Closed Basin and its spatio-temporal detection by GPS and DInSAR

Konya Closed Basin that includes two depression blocks, Konya and Tuz Golu, is the biggest endorheic basin in Turkey. A lowering in the ground levels of the depositional areas has been shown with respect to the surrounding mountains. In the past, this process was controlled by geological and hydrogeological phenomena; nowadays, it has gained a new dimension due to the excessive pumping of groundwater to the Earth’s surface. The geodetic techniques such as Global Positioning System (GPS) and Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) reveal a considerable land subsidence resulting in the rate of 1–4 cm/year in Konya sub-basin. It seems that the calculated amounts are responsible for changing environmental conditions like seasonality. Both GPS and differential InSAR techniques verify these relatively small fluctuations in the subsidence development. Target districts that should be observed primarily are agricultural zones where groundwater is overused for irrigation and regions where human population density is high. The geocoded interferogram and vegetation index map verify the spatial relation between the subsidence and green areas. In this study, a project dealing with the investigation of the land subsidence occurrences and of their possible causes and consequences within a specific part of Konya Closed Basin is introduced.

SAR interferometry and optical remote sensing for analysis of co-seismic deformation, source characteristics and mass wasting pattern of Lushan (China, April 2013) earthquake

Co-seismic deformation associated with the Lushan (China) earthquake that occurred along the south-western segment of the Longmenshan Fault Zone (LFZ) on the 20th April 2013 has been estimated by differential interferometric SAR (DInSAR) technique using Radarsat-2 data. The Lushan earthquake resulted in the deformation of the Sichuan basin and the Longmenshan ranges in proximity to the LFZ. The line of sight (LOS) displacement values obtained from DInSAR technique mainly range between −4.0cm to +3.0cm. The western Sichuan basin shows oblique westward movement with predominant downward component in areas farther from LFZ and predominant westward component over the downward movement in areas closer to the source fault. Inversion modelling has been used to derive the seismic source characteristics from DInSAR derived deformation values using elastic dislocation source type. The linear inversion model converged at a double-fault source solution consisting of a deeper, steep, NW dipping fault plane-1 of 60km×16km dimension and a shallower, gentle, NW dipping fault plane-2 of 60km×15km dimension, with distributed slip values varying between 0 to 2.26m. These fault planes (fault planes-1 and -2) coincide with the Dachuan-Shuangshi fault and the buried Range Front Fault, respectively. The inversion model gives a moment magnitude of 6.81 and the geodetic moment of 2.07×1019Nm, comparable to those given in literature, derived using teleseismic body wave data. Thus DInSAR technique helped to quantify the co-seismic deformation and to retrieve the source characteristics from the estimated deformation values. The study also evaluated the distribution pattern of earthquake induced landslides (EIL) triggered fresh or re-activated during the Lushan earthquake and found that they show spatial association with the seismic source zone and also with various pre-conditioning factors of slope instability.

Characterizing sudden geo-hazards in mountainous areas by D-InSAR with an enhancement of topographic error correction

Differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar (D-InSAR) has been viewed as a promising technique in monitoring sudden geo-hazards (e.g., earthquake and landslide) in mountainous areas. However, the tough natural settings (e.g., steep slopes and vegetation) pose the D-InSAR technique to face many challenges. Among them, phase residuals induced by inaccurate topographic heights that can result in intolerable error have not been paid adequate attention. We present, in this paper, a new strategy of using D-InSAR measurements to characterize sudden geo-hazards with an emphasis on the correction of topographic errors. In the proposed strategy, a least squares model with an outlier detector is constructed to estimate the topographic errors from multi-baseline wrapped differential interferograms, and the error-prone phase unwrapping procedure is not needed. The new strategy is applied to the ALOS PALSAR images acquired for monitoring a giant mudslide occurred in Zhouqu County, China. After refining the topographic height originally from the inaccurate ASTER GDEM, notable improvements to the D-InSAR measurements can be clearly seen, which is helpful to better interpret the deformation signals associated with the mudslide event. It is observed that the Zhouqu mudslide had caused large ground movements in the Luojiayu and Sanyanyu groove valleys. In addition, we find that the Suoertou landslide has been experiencing moderate ground movements during the geologic event.

Uplift of Kelud Volcano Prior to the November 2007 Eruption as Observed by L-Band Insar

Kelud volcano, a stratovolcano with summit elevation of 1731 m above sea level, is considered to be one of the most dangerous volcanoes in Java, Indonesia. Kelud volcano erupts frequently, with the most recent eruption occurred on November 3, 2007. Therefore, volcano monitoring, especially detecting precursory signals prior to an eruption, is important for hazard mitigation for Kelud volcano. Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) has been proven to bea powerful tool for investigating earth-surface deformation. Hence, we applied D-InSAR (differential InSAR) in an effort to identify pre-eruptive deformation of Kelud volcano before November 2007 eruption. SAR images, L band ALOS-PALSAR, were used to construct 3 coherent interferograms between January to May 2007. We used the D-InSAR technique to remove topographic effects from interferometry images. During the interval observation, we detected a continuous inflation with a maximum line-of-sight (LOS) displacement of 11cm. Uplift of Kelud volcano was also observed by the tiltmeter 1-2 months prior to the November 2007 eruption. We interpret this inflation as a manifestation of increased volume of magmatic material in the shallow reservoir and magmatic migration towards the surface, indicating an imminent eruption. This study confirms that InSAR technique is a valuable tool for monitoring volcano towards better hazard mitigations.

Monitoring Building Stability in Port-Said City, Egypt Using Differential SAR Interferometry

Monitoring the buildings and ground deformations caused by natural or various anthropogenic activitiesare a key requirement in order to prevent damages to structures and utilities at the ground surface. Inrecent years the differential interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (DInSAR) technique hasdemonstrated its potential as a land and a building deformation measurement tool. Its capability has beenconsiderably improved by using multiple SAR images acquired over the same area at different times.With these advances the DInSAR technique is becoming increasingly a very reliable quantitative geodetictool for deformation monitoring, rather than simply a qualitative tool. In this work, eight ALOS/PALSAR(L-band 23 cm) radar scenes covering the period from November 2007 to April 2010 were used tomonitor the building stability in Port-Said City, Egypt. The eight PALSAR scenes were co-registeredusing 125 well distributed ground control points (GCPs) with an RMS error mean of 0.029. The coregisteredeight SAR data were used to generate 22 interferogram pairs and estimate the coherence ofeach pair. These 22 interferograms were filtered and used together with the coherence data to calculatethe phase unwrapping. The 22 3D-phase-unwrapped interferogram-pairs were evaluated to discard theinterferograrms that were affected by phase jumps and ramps. Since our area of interest is an urban area,the high-coherence pixels (~ 0.45 to 8) were selected for estimating the vertical displacement. Finally,both the 3-passes and persistent scatter DInSAR methods were performed to map the land and buildingsubsidence in Port-Said City, Egypt during the investigated period. The total vertical displacement duringthe investigated period was found to be 17mm. Keywords: Radar satellite; phase estimation; land-subsidence; Port-Said; Egypt