Joint use of multi-orbit high-resolution SAR interferometry for DEM generation in mountainous area

KAUST Repository

Zhang, Lu; Jiang, Houjun; Liao, Mingsheng; Balz, Timo; Wang, Teng

2014-01-01

SAR interferometry has long been regarded as an effective tool for wide-area topographic mapping in hilly and mountainous areas. However, quality of InSAR DEM product is usually affected by atmospheric disturbances and decorrelation-induced voids, especially for data acquired in repeat-pass mode. In this paper, we proposed an approach for improved topographic mapping by optimal fusion of multi-orbit InSAR DEMs with correction of atmospheric phase screen (APS). An experimental study with highresolution TerraSAR-X and COSMO-SkyMed datasets covering a mountainous area was carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. Validation with a reference DEM of scale 1:50,000 indicated that vertical accuracy of the fused DEM can be better than 5 m.

Joint use of multi-orbit high-resolution SAR interferometry for DEM generation in mountainous area

KAUST Repository

Zhang, Lu

2014-07-01

SAR interferometry has long been regarded as an effective tool for wide-area topographic mapping in hilly and mountainous areas. However, quality of InSAR DEM product is usually affected by atmospheric disturbances and decorrelation-induced voids, especially for data acquired in repeat-pass mode. In this paper, we proposed an approach for improved topographic mapping by optimal fusion of multi-orbit InSAR DEMs with correction of atmospheric phase screen (APS). An experimental study with highresolution TerraSAR-X and COSMO-SkyMed datasets covering a mountainous area was carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. Validation with a reference DEM of scale 1:50,000 indicated that vertical accuracy of the fused DEM can be better than 5 m.

Mapping tectonic and anthropogenic processes in central California using satellite and airborne InSAR

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Z.; Lundgren, P.; Liang, C.; Farr, T. G.; Fielding, E. J.

2017-12-01

The improved spatiotemporal resolution of surface deformation from recent satellite and airborne InSAR measurements provides a great opportunity to improve our understanding of both tectonic and non-tectonic processes. In central California the primary plate boundary fault system (San Andreas fault) lies adjacent to the San Joaquin Valley (SJV), a vast structural trough that accounts for about one-sixth of the United Sates' irrigated land and one-fifth of its extracted groundwater. The central San Andreas fault (CSAF) displays a range of fault slip behavior with creeping in its central segment that decreases towards its northwest and southeast ends, where it transitions to being fully locked. Despite much progress, many questions regarding fault and anthropogenic processes in the region still remain. In this study, we combine satellite InSAR and NASA airborne UAVSAR data to image fault and anthropogenic deformation. The UAVSAR data cover fault perpendicular swaths imaged from opposing look directions and fault parallel swaths since 2009. The much finer spatial resolution and optimized viewing geometry provide important constraints on near fault deformation and fault slip at very shallow depth. We performed a synoptic InSAR time series analysis using Sentinel-1, ALOS, and UAVSAR interferograms. We estimate azimuth mis-registration between single look complex (SLC) images of Sentinel-1 in a stack sense to achieve accurate azimuth co-registration between SLC images for low coherence and/or long interval interferometric pairs. We show that it is important to correct large-scale ionosphere features in ALOS-2 ScanSAR data for accurate deformation measurements. Joint analysis of UAVSAR and ALOS interferometry measurements show clear variability in deformation along the fault strike, suggesting variable fault creep and locking at depth and along strike. In addition to fault creep, the L-band ALOS, and especially ALOS-2 ScanSAR interferometry, show large-scale ground

Assessing deformation and morphology of Arctic landfast sea ice using InSAR to support use and management of coastal ice

Science.gov (United States)

Dammann, D. O.; Eicken, H.; Meyer, F. J.; Mahoney, A. R.

2016-12-01

Arctic landfast sea ice provides important services to people, including coastal communities and industry, as well as key marine biota. In many regions of the Arctic, the use of landfast sea ice by all stakeholders is increasingly limited by reduced stability of the ice cover, which results in more deformation and rougher ice conditions as well as reduced extent and an increased likelihood of detachment from the shore. Here, we use Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (InSAR) to provide stakeholder-relevant data on key constraints for sea ice use, in particular ice stability and morphology, which are difficult to assess using conventional SAR. InSAR has the capability to detect small-scale landfast ice displacements, which are linked to important coastal hazards, including the formation of cracks, ungrounding of ice pressure ridges, and catastrophic breakout events. While InSAR has previously been used to identify the extent of landfast ice and regions of deformation within, quantitative analysis of small-scale ice motion has yet to be thoroughly validated and its potential remains largely underutilized in sea ice science. Using TanDEM-X interferometry, we derive surface displacements of landfast ice within Elson Lagoon near Barrow, Alaska, which we validate using in-situ DGPS data. We then apply an inverse model to estimate rates and patterns of shorefast ice deformation in other regions of landfast ice using interferograms generated with long-temporal baseline L-band ALOS-1 PALSAR-1 data. The model is able to correctly identify deformation modes and proxies for the associated relative internal elastic stress. The derived potential for fractures corresponds well with large-scale sea ice patterns and local in-situ observations. The utility of InSAR to quantify sea ice roughness has also been explored using TanDEM-X bistatic interferometry, which eliminates the effects of temporal changes in the ice cover. The InSAR-derived DEM shows good correlation with a high

InSAR atmospheric correction using Himawari-8 Geostationary Meteorological Satellite

Science.gov (United States)

Kinoshita, Y.; Nimura, T.; Furuta, R.

2017-12-01

The atmospheric delay effect is one of the limitations for the accurate surface displacement detection by Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (InSAR). Many previous studies have attempted to mitigate the neutral atmospheric delay in InSAR (e.g. Jolivet et al. 2014; Foster et al. 2006; Kinoshita et al. 2013). Hanssen et al. (2001) investigated the relationship between the 27 hourly observations of GNSS precipitable water vapor (PWV) and the infrared brightness temperature derived from visible satellite imagery, and showed a good correlation. Here we showed a preliminary result of the newly developed method for the neutral atmospheric delay correction using the Himawari-8 Japanese geostationary meteorological satellite data. The Himawari-8 satellite is the Japanese state-of-the-art geostationary meteorological satellite that has 16 observation channels and has spatial resolutions of 0.5 km (visible) and 2.0 km (near-infrared and infrared) with an time interval of 2.5 minutes around Japan. To estimate the relationship between the satellite brightness temperature and the atmospheric delay amount. Since the InSAR atmospheric delay is principally the same as that in GNSS, we at first compared the Himawari-8 data with the GNSS zenith tropospheric delay data derived from the Japanese dense GNSS network. The comparison of them showed that the band with the wavelength of 6.9 μm had the highest correlation to the GNSS observation. Based on this result, we developed an InSAR atmospheric delay model that uses the Himawari-8 6.9 μm band data. For the model validation, we generated InSAR images from the ESA's C-band Sentinel-1 SLC data with the GAMMA SAR software. We selected two regions around Tokyo and Sapporo (both in Japan) as the test sites because of the less temporal decorrelation. The validation result showed that the delay model reasonably estimate large scale phase variation whose spatial scale was on the order of over 20 km. On the other hand, phase variations of

Assessing groundwater depletion and dynamics using GRACE and InSAR: Potential and limitations

Science.gov (United States)

Castellazzi, Pascal; Martel, Richard; Galloway, Devin L.; Longuevergne, Laurent; Rivera, Alfonso

2016-01-01

In the last decade, remote sensing of the temporal variation of ground level and gravity has improved our understanding of groundwater dynamics and storage. Mass changes are measured by GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) satellites, whereas ground deformation is measured by processing synthetic aperture radar satellites data using the InSAR (Interferometry of Synthetic Aperture Radar) techniques. Both methods are complementary and offer different sensitivities to aquifer system processes. GRACE is sensitive to mass changes over large spatial scales (more than 100,000 km2). As such, it fails in providing groundwater storage change estimates at local or regional scales relevant to most aquifer systems, and at which most groundwater management schemes are applied. However, InSAR measures ground displacement due to aquifer response to fluid-pressure changes. InSAR applications to groundwater depletion assessments are limited to aquifer systems susceptible to measurable deformation. Furthermore, the inversion of InSAR-derived displacement maps into volume of depleted groundwater storage (both reversible and largely irreversible) is confounded by vertical and horizontal variability of sediment compressibility. During the last decade, both techniques have shown increasing interest in the scientific community to complement available in situ observations where they are insufficient. In this review, we present the theoretical and conceptual bases of each method, and present idealized scenarios to highlight the potential benefits and challenges of combining these techniques to remotely assess groundwater storage changes and other aspects of the dynamics of aquifer systems.

From Regional Hazard Assessment to Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Support - InSAR Ground Motion Services

Science.gov (United States)

Lege, T.; Kalia, A.; Gruenberg, I.; Frei, M.

2016-12-01

There are numerous scientific applications of InSAR methods in tectonics, earthquake analysis and other geologic and geophysical fields. Ground motion on local and regional scale measured and monitored via the application of the InSAR techniques provide scientists and engineers with plenty of new insights and further understanding of subsurface processes. However, the operational use of InSAR is not yet very widespread. To foster the operational utilization of the Copernicus Sentinel Satellites in the day-to-day business of federal, state and municipal work and planning BGR (Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources) initiated workshops with potential user groups. Through extensive reconcilement of interests and demands with scientific, technical, economic and governmental stakeholders (e.g. Ministries, Mining Authorities, Geological Surveys, Geodetic Surveys and Environmental Agencies on federal and state level, SMEs, German Aerospace Center) BGR developed the concept of the InSAR based German National Ground Motion Service. One important backbone for the nationwide ground motion service is the so-called Persistent Scatterer Interferometry Wide Area Product (WAP) approach developed with grants of European research funds. The presentation shows the implementation of the ground motion service and examples for product developments for operational supervision of mining, water resources management and spatial planning. Furthermore the contributions of Copernicus Sentinel 1 radar data in the context of CTBT are discussed. The DInSAR processing of Sentinel 1 IW (Interferometric Wide Swath) SAR acquisitions from January 1st and 13th Jan. 2016 allow for the first time a near real time ground motion measurement of the North Korean nuclear test site. The measured ground displacements show a strong spatio-temporal correlation to the calculated epicenter measured by teleseismic stations. We are convinced this way another space technique will soon contribute even

Detecting and monitoring UCG subsidence with InSAR

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mellors, R J; Foxall, W; Yang, X

2012-03-23

The use of interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) to measure surface subsidence caused by Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) is tested. InSAR is a remote sensing technique that uses Synthetic Aperture Radar images to make spatial images of surface deformation and may be deployed from satellite or an airplane. With current commercial satellite data, the technique works best in areas with little vegetation or farming activity. UCG subsidence is generally caused by roof collapse, which adversely affects UCG operations due to gas loss and is therefore important to monitor. Previous studies have demonstrated the usefulness of InSAR in measuring surface subsidence related to coal mining and surface deformation caused by a coal mining roof collapse in Crandall Canyon, Utah is imaged as a proof-of-concept. InSAR data is collected and processed over three known UCG operations including two pilot plants (Majuba, South Africa and Wulanchabu, China) and an operational plant (Angren, Uzbekistan). A clear f eature showing approximately 7 cm of subsidence is observed in the UCG field in Angren. Subsidence is not observed in the other two areas, which produce from deeper coal seams and processed a smaller volume. The results show that in some cases, InSAR is a useful tool to image UCG related subsidence. Data from newer satellites and improved algorithms will improve effectiveness.

Advanced radar-interpretation of InSAR time series for mapping and characterization of geological processes

OpenAIRE

Cigna, F.; Del Ventisette, C.; Liguori, V.; Casagli, N.

2011-01-01

We present a new post-processing methodology for the analysis of InSAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry) multi-temporal measures, based on the temporal under-sampling of displacement time series, the identification of potential changes occurring during the monitoring period and, eventually, the classification of different deformation behaviours. The potentials of this approach for the analysis of geological processes were tested on the case study of Naro (Italy), specifically selected...

Using InSAR for Characterizing Pyroclastic Flow Deposits at Augustine Volcano Across Two Eruptive Cycles

Science.gov (United States)

McAlpin, D. B.; Meyer, F. J.; Lu, Z.; Beget, J. E.

2014-12-01

Augustine Island is a small, 8x11 km island in South Central Alaska's lower Cook Inlet. It is approximately 280 km southwest of Anchorage, and occupied entirely by its namesake Augustine Volcano. At Augustine Volcano, SAR data suitable for interferometry is available from 1992 to 2005, from March 2006 to April 2007, and from July 2007 to October 2010. Its last two eruptive episodes, in 1986 and 2006, resulted in substantial pyroclastic flow deposits (PFDs) on the Volcano's north flank. Earlier InSAR analyses of the area, from 1992-1999, identified local subsidence, but no volcano-wide deformation indicative of magma-chamber evacuation. In contrast to previous studies, we use InSAR data to determine a range of geophysical parameters for PFDs emplaced during the Augustine's two most recent eruption cycles. Based on InSAR measurements between 1992 and 2010, we reconstruct the deformation behavior of PFDs emplaced during Augustine's last two eruption cycles. Using a combination of InSAR measurements and modeling, we determine the thickness and long-term deformation of overlaying pyroclastic flow deposits emplaced in 1986 and 2006. Consistent with previous observations of pyroclastic flows, we found that the PFDs on Augustine Island rapidly subsided after emplacement due to an initial compaction of the material. We determined the length of this initial settling period and measured the compaction rate. Subsequent to this initial rapid subsidence, we found that PFD deformation slowed to a more persistent, linear, long-term rate, related to cooling of the deposits. We established that the deposits' contraction rate is linearly related to their thickness and measured the contraction rate. Finally, a study of long term coherence properties of the Augustine PFDs showed remarkable stability of the surface over long time periods. This information provides clues on the structural properties and composition of the emplaced material.

Applications of SAR Interferometry in Earth and Environmental Science Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Xiaobing; Chang, Ni-Bin; Li, Shusun

2009-01-01

This paper provides a review of the progress in regard to the InSAR remote sensing technique and its applications in earth and environmental sciences, especially in the past decade. Basic principles, factors, limits, InSAR sensors, available software packages for the generation of InSAR interferograms were summarized to support future applications. Emphasis was placed on the applications of InSAR in seismology, volcanology, land subsidence/uplift, landslide, glaciology, hydrology, and forestry sciences. It ends with a discussion of future research directions.

Towards Slow-Moving Landslide Monitoring by Integrating Multi-Sensor InSAR Time Series Datasets: The Zhouqu Case Study, China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qian Sun

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Although the past few decades have witnessed the great development of Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (InSAR technology in the monitoring of landslides, such applications are limited by geometric distortions and ambiguity of 1D Line-Of-Sight (LOS measurements, both of which are the fundamental weakness of InSAR. Integration of multi-sensor InSAR datasets has recently shown its great potential in breaking through the two limits. In this study, 16 ascending images from the Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS and 18 descending images from the Environmental Satellite (ENVISAT have been integrated to characterize and to detect the slow-moving landslides in Zhouqu, China between 2008 and 2010. Geometric distortions are first mapped by using the imaging geometric parameters of the used SAR data and public Digital Elevation Model (DEM data of Zhouqu, which allow the determination of the most appropriate data assembly for a particular slope. Subsequently, deformation rates along respective LOS directions of ALOS ascending and ENVISAT descending tracks are estimated by conducting InSAR time series analysis with a Temporarily Coherent Point (TCP-InSAR algorithm. As indicated by the geometric distortion results, 3D deformation rates of the Xieliupo slope at the east bank of the Pai-lung River are finally reconstructed by joint exploiting of the LOS deformation rates from cross-heading datasets based on the surface–parallel flow assumption. It is revealed that the synergistic results of ALOS and ENVISAT datasets provide a more comprehensive understanding and monitoring of the slow-moving landslides in Zhouqu.

Applications of SAR Interferometry in Earth and Environmental Science Research

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Xiaobing; Chang, Ni-Bin; Li, Shusun

2009-01-01

This paper provides a review of the progress in regard to the InSAR remote sensing technique and its applications in earth and environmental sciences, especially in the past decade. Basic principles, factors, limits, InSAR sensors, available software packages for the generation of InSAR interferograms were summarized to support future applications. Emphasis was placed on the applications of InSAR in seismology, volcanology, land subsidence/uplift, landslide, glaciology, hydrology, and forestry sciences. It ends with a discussion of future research directions. PMID:22573992

Applications of SAR Interferometry in Earth and Environmental Science Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaobing Zhou

2009-03-01

Full Text Available This paper provides a review of the progress in regard to the InSAR remote sensing technique and its applications in earth and environmental sciences, especially in the past decade. Basic principles, factors, limits, InSAR sensors, available software packages for the generation of InSAR interferograms were summarized to support future applications. Emphasis was placed on the applications of InSAR in seismology, volcanology, land subsidence/uplift, landslide, glaciology, hydrology, and forestry sciences. It ends with a discussion of future research directions.

A system for airborne SAR interferometry

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Madsen, Søren Nørvang; Skou, Niels; Granholm, Johan

1996-01-01

Interferometric synthetic aperture radar (INSAR) systems have already demonstrated that elevation maps can be generated rapidly with single pass airborne across-track interferometry systems (XTT), and satellite repeat track interferometry (RTT) techniques have been used to map both elevation...... and perturbations of the surface of the Earth. The Danish Center for Remote Sensing (DCRS) has experimented with airborne INSAR since 1993. Multiple track data are collected in a special mode in which the radar directly steers the aircraft which allows for very precise control of the flight path. Such data sets......) the status of the airborne interferometry activities at DCRS, including the present system configuration, recent results, and some scientific applications of the system....

Accelerated Scientific InSAR Processing, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Neva Ridge Technologies proposes to develop a suite of software tools for the analysis of SAR and InSAR data, focused on having a robust and adopted capability well...

Atmospheric Phase Delay in Sentinel SAR Interferometry

Science.gov (United States)

Krishnakumar, V.; Monserrat, O.; Crosetto, M.; Crippa, B.

2018-04-01

The repeat-pass Synthetic Aperture Radio Detection and Ranging (RADAR) Interferometry (InSAR) has been a widely used geodetic technique for observing the Earth's surface, especially for mapping the Earth's topography and deformations. However, InSAR measurements are prone to atmospheric errors. RADAR waves traverse the Earth's atmosphere twice and experience a delay due to atmospheric refraction. The two major layers of the atmosphere (troposphere and ionosphere) are mainly responsible for this delay in the propagating RADAR wave. Previous studies have shown that water vapour and clouds present in the troposphere and the Total Electron Content (TEC) of the ionosphere are responsible for the additional path delay in the RADAR wave. The tropospheric refractivity is mainly dependent on pressure, temperature and partial pressure of water vapour. The tropospheric refractivity leads to an increase in the observed range. These induced propagation delays affect the quality of phase measurement and introduce errors in the topography and deformation fields. The effect of this delay was studied on a differential interferogram (DInSAR). To calculate the amount of tropospheric delay occurred, the meteorological data collected from the Spanish Agencia Estatal de Meteorología (AEMET) and MODIS were used. The interferograms generated from Sentinel-1 carrying C-band Synthetic Aperture RADAR Single Look Complex (SLC) images acquired on the study area are used. The study area consists of different types of scatterers exhibiting different coherence. The existing Saastamoinen model was used to perform a quantitative evaluation of the phase changes caused by pressure, temperature and humidity of the troposphere during the study. Unless the phase values due to atmospheric disturbances are not corrected, it is difficult to obtain accurate measurements. Thus, the atmospheric error correction is essential for all practical applications of DInSAR to avoid inaccurate height and deformation

ATMOSPHERIC PHASE DELAY IN SENTINEL SAR INTERFEROMETRY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. Krishnakumar

2018-04-01

Full Text Available The repeat-pass Synthetic Aperture Radio Detection and Ranging (RADAR Interferometry (InSAR has been a widely used geodetic technique for observing the Earth’s surface, especially for mapping the Earth’s topography and deformations. However, InSAR measurements are prone to atmospheric errors. RADAR waves traverse the Earth’s atmosphere twice and experience a delay due to atmospheric refraction. The two major layers of the atmosphere (troposphere and ionosphere are mainly responsible for this delay in the propagating RADAR wave. Previous studies have shown that water vapour and clouds present in the troposphere and the Total Electron Content (TEC of the ionosphere are responsible for the additional path delay in the RADAR wave. The tropospheric refractivity is mainly dependent on pressure, temperature and partial pressure of water vapour. The tropospheric refractivity leads to an increase in the observed range. These induced propagation delays affect the quality of phase measurement and introduce errors in the topography and deformation fields. The effect of this delay was studied on a differential interferogram (DInSAR. To calculate the amount of tropospheric delay occurred, the meteorological data collected from the Spanish Agencia Estatal de Meteorología (AEMET and MODIS were used. The interferograms generated from Sentinel-1 carrying C-band Synthetic Aperture RADAR Single Look Complex (SLC images acquired on the study area are used. The study area consists of different types of scatterers exhibiting different coherence. The existing Saastamoinen model was used to perform a quantitative evaluation of the phase changes caused by pressure, temperature and humidity of the troposphere during the study. Unless the phase values due to atmospheric disturbances are not corrected, it is difficult to obtain accurate measurements. Thus, the atmospheric error correction is essential for all practical applications of DInSAR to avoid inaccurate

InSAR observations of active volcanoes in Latin America

Science.gov (United States)

Morales Rivera, A. M.; Chaussard, E.; Amelung, F.

2012-12-01

Over the last decade satellite-based interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) has developed into a well-known technique to gauge the status of active volcanoes. The InSAR technique can detect the ascent of magma to shallow levels of the volcanic plumbing system because new arriving magma pressurizes the system. This is likely associated with the inflation of the volcanic edifice and the surroundings. Although the potential of InSAR to detect magma migration is well known, the principal limitation was that only for few volcanoes frequent observations were acquired. The ALOS-1 satellite of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) acquired a global L-band data set of 15-20 acquisitions during 2006-2011. Here we use ALOS InSAR and Small Baseline (SB) time-series methods for a ground deformation survey of Latin America with emphasis on the northern Andes. We present time-dependent ground deformation data for the volcanoes in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru and interpret the observations in terms of the dynamics of the volcanic systems.

SAR interferometry applications on active volcanoes. State of the art and perspectives for volcano monitoring

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Puglisi, G.; Coltelli, M. [Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Catania (Italy)

2001-02-01

In this paper the application of the Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (INSAR) on volcanology is analysed. Since it is not a real novelty among the different applications of INSAR in Earth Observation activities, at the beginning of this paper it is analysed the state of the art of the researches in this field. During the discussion, the point of view of volcanologists is favoured because it is considered that the first applications were often badly aimed. Consequently, the initial INSAR performances in volcanology were overrated with respect to the real capabilities of this technique. This fact lead to discover some unexpected limitations in INSAR usage in volcano monitoring, but, at the same time, spurred on scientists to overcome these drawbacks. The results achieved recently allow to better apply SAR to volcanology; in the paper a possible operative work-plan aimed at introducing INSAR in the volcano monitoring system is presented.

Curvelet-based compressive sensing for InSAR raw data

Science.gov (United States)

Costa, Marcello G.; da Silva Pinho, Marcelo; Fernandes, David

2015-10-01

The aim of this work is to evaluate the compression performance of SAR raw data for interferometry applications collected by airborne from BRADAR (Brazilian SAR System operating in X and P bands) using the new approach based on compressive sensing (CS) to achieve an effective recovery with a good phase preserving. For this framework is desirable a real-time capability, where the collected data can be compressed to reduce onboard storage and bandwidth required for transmission. In the CS theory, a sparse unknown signals can be recovered from a small number of random or pseudo-random measurements by sparsity-promoting nonlinear recovery algorithms. Therefore, the original signal can be significantly reduced. To achieve the sparse representation of SAR signal, was done a curvelet transform. The curvelets constitute a directional frame, which allows an optimal sparse representation of objects with discontinuities along smooth curves as observed in raw data and provides an advanced denoising optimization. For the tests were made available a scene of 8192 x 2048 samples in range and azimuth in X-band with 2 m of resolution. The sparse representation was compressed using low dimension measurements matrices in each curvelet subband. Thus, an iterative CS reconstruction method based on IST (iterative soft/shrinkage threshold) was adjusted to recover the curvelets coefficients and then the original signal. To evaluate the compression performance were computed the compression ratio (CR), signal to noise ratio (SNR), and because the interferometry applications require more reconstruction accuracy the phase parameters like the standard deviation of the phase (PSD) and the mean phase error (MPE) were also computed. Moreover, in the image domain, a single-look complex image was generated to evaluate the compression effects. All results were computed in terms of sparsity analysis to provides an efficient compression and quality recovering appropriated for inSAR applications

Phase correction and error estimation in InSAR time series analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Y.; Fattahi, H.; Amelung, F.

2017-12-01

During the last decade several InSAR time series approaches have been developed in response to the non-idea acquisition strategy of SAR satellites, such as large spatial and temporal baseline with non-regular acquisitions. The small baseline tubes and regular acquisitions of new SAR satellites such as Sentinel-1 allows us to form fully connected networks of interferograms and simplifies the time series analysis into a weighted least square inversion of an over-determined system. Such robust inversion allows us to focus more on the understanding of different components in InSAR time-series and its uncertainties. We present an open-source python-based package for InSAR time series analysis, called PySAR (https://yunjunz.github.io/PySAR/), with unique functionalities for obtaining unbiased ground displacement time-series, geometrical and atmospheric correction of InSAR data and quantifying the InSAR uncertainty. Our implemented strategy contains several features including: 1) improved spatial coverage using coherence-based network of interferograms, 2) unwrapping error correction using phase closure or bridging, 3) tropospheric delay correction using weather models and empirical approaches, 4) DEM error correction, 5) optimal selection of reference date and automatic outlier detection, 6) InSAR uncertainty due to the residual tropospheric delay, decorrelation and residual DEM error, and 7) variance-covariance matrix of final products for geodetic inversion. We demonstrate the performance using SAR datasets acquired by Cosmo-Skymed and TerraSAR-X, Sentinel-1 and ALOS/ALOS-2, with application on the highly non-linear volcanic deformation in Japan and Ecuador (figure 1). Our result shows precursory deformation before the 2015 eruptions of Cotopaxi volcano, with a maximum uplift of 3.4 cm on the western flank (fig. 1b), with a standard deviation of 0.9 cm (fig. 1a), supporting the finding by Morales-Rivera et al. (2017, GRL); and a post-eruptive subsidence on the same

Semantic Interpretation of Insar Estimates Using Optical Images with Application to Urban Infrastructure Monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Y.; Zhu, X. X.

2015-08-01

Synthetic aperture radar interferometry (InSAR) has been an established method for long term large area monitoring. Since the launch of meter-resolution spaceborne SAR sensors, the InSAR community has shown that even individual buildings can be monitored in high level of detail. However, the current deformation analysis still remains at a primitive stage of pixel-wise motion parameter inversion and manual identification of the regions of interest. We are aiming at developing an automatic urban infrastructure monitoring approach by combining InSAR and the semantics derived from optical images, so that the deformation analysis can be done systematically in the semantic/object level. This paper explains how we transfer the semantic meaning derived from optical image to the InSAR point clouds, and hence different semantic classes in the InSAR point cloud can be automatically extracted and monitored. Examples on bridges and railway monitoring are demonstrated.

Improvement of the Accuracy of InSAR Image Co-Registration Based On Tie Points – A Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaoli Ding

2009-02-01

Full Text Available Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR is a new measurement technology, making use of the phase information contained in the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR images. InSAR has been recognized as a potential tool for the generation of digital elevation models (DEMs and the measurement of ground surface deformations. However, many critical factors affect the quality of InSAR data and limit its applications. One of the factors is InSAR data processing, which consists of image co-registration, interferogram generation, phase unwrapping and geocoding. The co-registration of InSAR images is the first step and dramatically influences the accuracy of InSAR products. In this paper, the principle and processing procedures of InSAR techniques are reviewed. One of important factors, tie points, to be considered in the improvement of the accuracy of InSAR image co-registration are emphatically reviewed, such as interval of tie points, extraction of feature points, window size for tie point matching and the measurement for the quality of an interferogram.

Assimilating InSAR Maps of Water Vapor to Improve Heavy Rainfall Forecasts: A Case Study With Two Successive Storms

Science.gov (United States)

Mateus, Pedro; Miranda, Pedro M. A.; Nico, Giovanni; Catalão, João.; Pinto, Paulo; Tomé, Ricardo

2018-04-01

Very high resolution precipitable water vapor maps obtained by the Sentinel-1 A synthetic aperture radar (SAR), using the SAR interferometry (InSAR) technique, are here shown to have a positive impact on the performance of severe weather forecasts. A case study of deep convection which affected the city of Adra, Spain, on 6-7 September 2015, is successfully forecasted by the Weather Research and Forecasting model initialized with InSAR data assimilated by the three-dimensional variational technique, with improved space and time distributions of precipitation, as observed by the local weather radar and rain gauge. This case study is exceptional because it consisted of two severe events 12 hr apart, with a timing that allows for the assimilation of both the ascending and descending satellite images, each for the initialization of each event. The same methodology applied to the network of Global Navigation Satellite System observations in Iberia, at the same times, failed to reproduce observed precipitation, although it also improved, in a more modest way, the forecast skill. The impact of precipitable water vapor data is shown to result from a direct increment of convective available potential energy, associated with important adjustments in the low-level wind field, favoring its release in deep convection. It is suggested that InSAR images, complemented by dense Global Navigation Satellite System data, may provide a new source of water vapor data for weather forecasting, since their sampling frequency could reach the subdaily scale by merging different SAR platforms, or when future geosynchronous radar missions become operational.

Urban Monitoring Based on SENTINEL-1 Data Using Permanent Scatterer Interferometry and SAR Tomography

Science.gov (United States)

Crosetto, M.; Budillon, A.; Johnsy, A.; Schirinzi, G.; Devanthéry, N.; Monserrat, O.; Cuevas-González, M.

2018-04-01

A lot of research and development has been devoted to the exploitation of satellite SAR images for deformation measurement and monitoring purposes since Differential Interferometric Synthetic Apertura Radar (InSAR) was first described in 1989. In this work, we consider two main classes of advanced DInSAR techniques: Persistent Scatterer Interferometry and Tomographic SAR. Both techniques make use of multiple SAR images acquired over the same site and advanced procedures to separate the deformation component from the other phase components, such as the residual topographic component, the atmospheric component, the thermal expansion component and the phase noise. TomoSAR offers the advantage of detecting either single scatterers presenting stable proprieties over time (Persistent Scatterers) and multiple scatterers interfering within the same range-azimuth resolution cell, a significant improvement for urban areas monitoring. This paper addresses a preliminary inter-comparison of the results of both techniques, for a test site located in the metropolitan area of Barcelona (Spain), where interferometric Sentinel-1 data were analysed.

Comparison of four moderate-size earthquakes in southern California using seismology and InSAR

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Mellors, R.J.; Magistrale, H.; Earle, P.; Cogbill, A.H.

2004-01-01

Source parameters determined from interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) measurements and from seismic data are compared from four moderate-size (less than M 6) earthquakes in southern California. The goal is to verify approximate detection capabilities of InSAR, assess differences in the results, and test how the two results can be reconciled. First, we calculated the expected surface deformation from all earthquakes greater than magnitude 4 in areas with available InSAR data (347 events). A search for deformation from the events in the interferograms yielded four possible events with magnitudes less than 6. The search for deformation was based on a visual inspection as well as cross-correlation in two dimensions between the measured signal and the expected signal. A grid-search algorithm was then used to estimate focal mechanism and depth from the InSAR data. The results were compared with locations and focal mechanisms from published catalogs. An independent relocation using seismic data was also performed. The seismic locations fell within the area of the expected rupture zone for the three events that show clear surface deformation. Therefore, the technique shows the capability to resolve locations with high accuracy and is applicable worldwide. The depths determined by InSAR agree with well-constrained seismic locations determined in a 3D velocity model. Depth control for well-imaged shallow events using InSAR data is good, and better than the seismic constraints in some cases. A major difficulty for InSAR analysis is the poor temporal coverage of InSAR data, which may make it impossible to distinguish deformation due to different earthquakes at the same location.

The Total Electron Content From InSAR and GNSS: A Midlatitude Study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Musico, Elvira; Cesaroni, Claudio; Spogli, Luca

2018-01-01

The total electron content (TEC) measured from the interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) and froma dense network of global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receivers are used to assess the capability of InSAR to retrieve ionospheric information, when the tropospheric contribution...

InSAR observations of low slip rates on the major faults of western Tibet.

Science.gov (United States)

Wright, Tim J; Parsons, Barry; England, Philip C; Fielding, Eric J

2004-07-09

Two contrasting views of the active deformation of Asia dominate the debate about how continents deform: (i) The deformation is primarily localized on major faults separating crustal blocks or (ii) deformation is distributed throughout the continental lithosphere. In the first model, western Tibet is being extruded eastward between the major faults bounding the region. Surface displacement measurements across the western Tibetan plateau using satellite radar interferometry (InSAR) indicate that slip rates on the Karakoram and Altyn Tagh faults are lower than would be expected for the extrusion model and suggest a significant amount of internal deformation in Tibet.

Advanced Corrections for InSAR Using GPS and Numerical Weather Models

Science.gov (United States)

Cossu, F.; Foster, J. H.; Amelung, F.; Varugu, B. K.; Businger, S.; Cherubini, T.

2017-12-01

We present results from an investigation into the application of numerical weather models for generating tropospheric correction fields for Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR). We apply the technique to data acquired from a UAVSAR campaign as well as from the CosmoSkyMed satellites. The complex spatial and temporal changes in the atmospheric propagation delay of the radar signal remain the single biggest factor limiting InSAR's potential for hazard monitoring and mitigation. A new generation of InSAR systems is being built and launched, and optimizing the science and hazard applications of these systems requires advanced methodologies to mitigate tropospheric noise. We use the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to generate a 900 m spatial resolution atmospheric models covering the Big Island of Hawaii and an even higher, 300 m resolution grid over the Mauna Loa and Kilauea volcanoes. By comparing a range of approaches, from the simplest, using reanalyses based on typically available meteorological observations, through to the "kitchen-sink" approach of assimilating all relevant data sets into our custom analyses, we examine the impact of the additional data sets on the atmospheric models and their effectiveness in correcting InSAR data. We focus particularly on the assimilation of information from the more than 60 GPS sites in the island. We ingest zenith tropospheric delay estimates from these sites directly into the WRF analyses, and also perform double-difference tomography using the phase residuals from the GPS processing to robustly incorporate heterogeneous information from the GPS data into the atmospheric models. We assess our performance through comparisons of our atmospheric models with external observations not ingested into the model, and through the effectiveness of the derived phase screens in reducing InSAR variance. Comparison of the InSAR data, our atmospheric analyses, and assessments of the active local and mesoscale

Long-term ground deformation patterns of Bucharest using multi-temporal InSAR and multivariate dynamic analyses: a possible transpressional system?

Science.gov (United States)

Armaş, Iuliana; Mendes, Diana A.; Popa, Răzvan-Gabriel; Gheorghe, Mihaela; Popovici, Diana

2017-03-01

The aim of this exploratory research is to capture spatial evolution patterns in the Bucharest metropolitan area using sets of single polarised synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite data and multi-temporal radar interferometry. Three sets of SAR data acquired during the years 1992-2010 from ERS-1/-2 and ENVISAT, and 2011-2014 from TerraSAR-X satellites were used in conjunction with the Small Baseline Subset (SBAS) and persistent scatterers (PS) high-resolution multi-temporal interferometry (InSAR) techniques to provide maps of line-of-sight displacements. The satellite-based remote sensing results were combined with results derived from classical methodologies (i.e., diachronic cartography) and field research to study possible trends in developments over former clay pits, landfill excavation sites, and industrial parks. The ground displacement trend patterns were analysed using several linear and nonlinear models, and techniques. Trends based on the estimated ground displacement are characterised by long-term memory, indicated by low noise Hurst exponents, which in the long-term form interesting attractors. We hypothesize these attractors to be tectonic stress fields generated by transpressional movements.

Monitoring the Sumatra volcanic arc with InSAR

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Chaussard, E.; Hong, S.; Amelung, F.

2009-12-01

The Sumatra volcanic arc is the result of the subduction of the Indo-Australian plate under the Sunda plate. The arc consists of 35 known volcanic centers, subaerials on the west coast of the Sumatra and Andaman Islands and submarines between these islands. Six active centers are known in the Sumatra volcanic arc. Surface deformation in volcanic areas usually indicates movement of magma or hydrothermal fluids at depth. Here we present a satellite-based Interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) survey of the Sumatra volcanic arc using ALOS data. Spanning the years 2007 to beginning of 2009, our survey reveals the background level of activity of the 35 volcanoes. We processed data from 40 tracks (24 in descending orbit and 16 in ascending orbit) to cover the whole Sumatra arc. In the first results five of these six known active centers show no sign of activity: Dempo, Kaba, Marapi, Talang and Peuet. The remaining active volcano, Mount Kerinci, has an ambiguous signal. We used pair-wise logic and InSAR time series of the available ALOS data to determine if the observed InSAR signal is caused by ground deformation or by atmospheric delays.

The InSAR Scientific Computing Environment (ISCE): A Python Framework for Earth Science

Science.gov (United States)

Rosen, P. A.; Gurrola, E. M.; Agram, P. S.; Sacco, G. F.; Lavalle, M.

2015-12-01

The InSAR Scientific Computing Environment (ISCE, funded by NASA ESTO) provides a modern computing framework for geodetic image processing of InSAR data from a diverse array of radar satellites and aircraft. ISCE is both a modular, flexible, and extensible framework for building software components and applications as well as a toolbox of applications for processing raw or focused InSAR and Polarimetric InSAR data. The ISCE framework contains object-oriented Python components layered to construct Python InSAR components that manage legacy Fortran/C InSAR programs. Components are independently configurable in a layered manner to provide maximum control. Polymorphism is used to define a workflow in terms of abstract facilities for each processing step that are realized by specific components at run-time. This enables a single workflow to work on either raw or focused data from all sensors. ISCE can serve as the core of a production center to process Level-0 radar data to Level-3 products, but is amenable to interactive processing approaches that allow scientists to experiment with data to explore new ways of doing science with InSAR data. The NASA-ISRO SAR (NISAR) Mission will deliver data of unprecedented quantity and quality, making possible global-scale studies in climate research, natural hazards, and Earth's ecosystems. ISCE is planned as the foundational element in processing NISAR data, enabling a new class of analyses that take greater advantage of the long time and large spatial scales of these new data. NISAR will be but one mission in a constellation of radar satellites in the future delivering such data. ISCE currently supports all publicly available strip map mode space-borne SAR data since ERS and is expected to include support for upcoming missions. ISCE has been incorporated into two prototype cloud-based systems that have demonstrated its elasticity in addressing larger data processing problems in a "production" context and its ability to be

A Constellation of CubeSat InSAR Sensors for Rapid-Revisit Surface Deformation Studies

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Wye, L.; Lee, S.; Yun, S. H.; Zebker, H. A.; Stock, J. D.; Wicks, C. W., Jr.; Doe, R.

2016-12-01

The 2007 NRC Decadal Survey for Earth Sciences highlights three major Earth surface deformation themes: 1) solid-earth hazards and dynamics; 2) human health and security; and 3) land-use change, ecosystem dynamics and biodiversity. Space-based interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) is a key change detection tool for addressing these themes. Here, we describe the mission and radar payload design for a constellation of S-band InSAR sensors specifically designed to provide the global, high temporal resolution, sub-cm level deformation accuracy needed to address some of the major Earth system goals. InSAR observations with high temporal resolution are needed to properly monitor certain nonlinearly time-varying features (e.g., unstable volcanoes, active fault lines, and heavily-used groundwater or hydrocarbon reservoirs). Good temporal coverage is also needed to reduce atmospheric artifacts by allowing multiple acquisitions to be averaged together, since each individual SAR measurement is corrupted by up to several cm of atmospheric noise. A single InSAR platform is limited in how often it can observe a given scene without sacrificing global spatial coverage. Multiple InSAR platforms provide the spatial-temporal flexibility required to maximize the science return. However, building and launching multiple InSAR platforms is cost-prohibitive for traditional satellites. SRI International (SRI) and our collaborators are working to exploit developments in nanosatellite technology, in particular the emergence of the CubeSat standard, to provide high-cadence InSAR capabilities in an affordable package. The CubeSat Imaging Radar for Earth Science (CIRES) subsystem, a prototype SAR elec­tronics package developed by SRI with support from a 2014 NASA ESTO ACT award, is specifically scaled to be a drop-in radar solution for resource-limited delivery systems like CubeSats and small airborne vehicles. Here, we present our mission concept and flow-down requirements for a

Semi-physical Simulation of the Airborne InSAR based on Rigorous Geometric Model and Real Navigation Data

Science.gov (United States)

Changyong, Dou; Huadong, Guo; Chunming, Han; yuquan, Liu; Xijuan, Yue; Yinghui, Zhao

2014-03-01

Raw signal simulation is a useful tool for the system design, mission planning, processing algorithm testing, and inversion algorithm design of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR). Due to the wide and high frequent variation of aircraft's trajectory and attitude, and the low accuracy of the Position and Orientation System (POS)'s recording data, it's difficult to quantitatively study the sensitivity of the key parameters, i.e., the baseline length and inclination, absolute phase and the orientation of the antennas etc., of the airborne Interferometric SAR (InSAR) system, resulting in challenges for its applications. Furthermore, the imprecise estimation of the installation offset between the Global Positioning System (GPS), Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) and the InSAR antennas compounds the issue. An airborne interferometric SAR (InSAR) simulation based on the rigorous geometric model and real navigation data is proposed in this paper, providing a way for quantitatively studying the key parameters and for evaluating the effect from the parameters on the applications of airborne InSAR, as photogrammetric mapping, high-resolution Digital Elevation Model (DEM) generation, and surface deformation by Differential InSAR technology, etc. The simulation can also provide reference for the optimal design of the InSAR system and the improvement of InSAR data processing technologies such as motion compensation, imaging, image co-registration, and application parameter retrieval, etc.

Semi-physical Simulation of the Airborne InSAR based on Rigorous Geometric Model and Real Navigation Data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Changyong, Dou; Huadong, Guo; Chunming, Han; Yuquan, Liu; Xijuan, Yue; Yinghui, Zhao

2014-01-01

Raw signal simulation is a useful tool for the system design, mission planning, processing algorithm testing, and inversion algorithm design of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR). Due to the wide and high frequent variation of aircraft's trajectory and attitude, and the low accuracy of the Position and Orientation System (POS)'s recording data, it's difficult to quantitatively study the sensitivity of the key parameters, i.e., the baseline length and inclination, absolute phase and the orientation of the antennas etc., of the airborne Interferometric SAR (InSAR) system, resulting in challenges for its applications. Furthermore, the imprecise estimation of the installation offset between the Global Positioning System (GPS), Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) and the InSAR antennas compounds the issue. An airborne interferometric SAR (InSAR) simulation based on the rigorous geometric model and real navigation data is proposed in this paper, providing a way for quantitatively studying the key parameters and for evaluating the effect from the parameters on the applications of airborne InSAR, as photogrammetric mapping, high-resolution Digital Elevation Model (DEM) generation, and surface deformation by Differential InSAR technology, etc. The simulation can also provide reference for the optimal design of the InSAR system and the improvement of InSAR data processing technologies such as motion compensation, imaging, image co-registration, and application parameter retrieval, etc

Confined aquifer head measurements and storage properties in the San Luis Valley, Colorado, from spaceborne InSAR observations

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Jingyi; Knight, Rosemary; Zebker, Howard A.; Schreüder, Willem A.

2016-05-01

Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR), a remote sensing technique for measuring centimeter-level surface deformation, is used to estimate hydraulic head in the confined aquifer of the San Luis Valley (SLV), Colorado. Reconstructing head measurements from InSAR in agricultural regions can be difficult, as InSAR phase data are often decorrelated due to vegetation growth. Analysis of 17 L-band ALOS PALSAR scenes, acquired between January 2007 and March 2011, demonstrates that comprehensive InSAR deformation measurements can be recovered over the vegetated groundwater basin with an improved processing strategy. Local skeletal storage coefficients and time delays between the head change and deformation are estimated through a joint InSAR-well data analysis. InSAR subsidence estimates are transformed to head changes with finer temporal and spatial resolution than is possible using existing well records alone. Both InSAR and well data suggest that little long-term water-storage loss occurred in the SLV over the study period and that inelastic compaction was negligible. The seasonal head variations derived from InSAR are consistent with the existing well data at most locations where confined aquifer pumping activity dominates. Our results demonstrate the advantages of InSAR measurements for basin-wide characterization of aquifer storage properties and groundwater levels over agricultural regions.

Analysis of the Effect of Radio Frequency Interference on Repeat Track Airborne InSAR System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ding Bin

2012-03-01

Full Text Available The SAR system operating at low frequency is susceptible to Radio Frequency Interference (RFI from television station, radio station, and some other civil electronic facilities. The presence of RFI degrades the SAR image quality, and obscures the targets in the scene. Furthermore, RFI can cause interferometric phase error in repeat track InSAR system. In order to analyze the effect of RFI on interferometric phase of InSAR, real measured RFI signal are added on cone simulated SAR echoes. The imaging and interferometric processing results of both the RFI-contaminated and raw data are given. The effect of real measured RFI signal on repeat track InSAR system is analyzed. Finally, the imaging and interferometric processing results of both with and without RFI suppressed of the P band airborne repeat track InSAR real data are presented, which demonstrates the efficiency of the RFI suppression method in terms of decreasing the interferometric phase errors caused by RFI.

Helmand river hydrologic studies using ALOS PALSAR InSAR and ENVISAT altimetry

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Zhong; Kim, J.-W.; Lee, H.; Shum, C.K.; Duan, J.; Ibaraki, M.; Akyilmaz, O.; Read, C.-H.

2009-01-01

The Helmand River wetland represents the only fresh-water resource in southern Afghanistan and one of the least mapped water basins in the world. The relatively narrow wetland consists of mostly marshes surrounded by dry lands. In this study, we demonstrate the use of the Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) Interferometric SAR (InSAR) to detect the changes of the Helmand River wetland water level. InSAR images are combined with the geocentric water level measurements from the retracked high-rate (18-Hz) Environmental Satellite (Envisat) radar altimetry to construct absolute water level changes over the marshes. It is demonstrated that the integration of the altimeter and InSAR can provide spatio-temporal measurements of water level variation over the Helmand River marshes where in situ measurements are absent. ?? Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

InSAR to support sustainable urbanization over compacting aquifers: The case of Toluca Valley, Mexico

Science.gov (United States)

Castellazzi, Pascal; Garfias, Jaime; Martel, Richard; Brouard, Charles; Rivera, Alfonso

2017-12-01

This paper illustrates how InSAR alone can be used to delineate potential ground fractures related to aquifer system compaction. An InSAR-derived ground fracturing map of the Toluca Valley, Mexico, is produced and validated through a field campaign. The results are of great interest to support sustainable urbanization and show that InSAR processing of open-access Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data from the Sentinel-1 satellites can lead to reliable and cost-effective products directly usable by cities to help decision-making. The Toluca Valley Aquifer (TVA) sustains the water needs of two million inhabitants living within the valley, a growing industry, an intensively irrigated agricultural area, and 38% of the water needs of the megalopolis of Mexico City, located 40 km east of the valley. Ensuring water sustainability, infrastructure integrity, along with supporting the important economic and demographic growth of the region, is a major challenge for water managers and urban developers. This paper presents a long-term analysis of ground fracturing by interpreting 13 years of InSAR-derived ground displacement measurements. Small Baseline Subset (SBAS) and Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI) techniques are applied over three SAR datasets totalling 93 acquisitions from Envisat, Radarsat-2, and Sentinel-1A satellites and covering the period from 2003 to 2016. From 2003 to 2016, groundwater level declines of up to 1.6 m/yr, land subsidence up to 77 mm/yr, and major infrastructure damages are observed. Groundwater level data show highly variable seasonal responses according to their connectivity to recharge areas. However, the trend of groundwater levels consistently range from -0.5 to -1.5 m/yr regardless of the well location and depth. By analysing the horizontal gradients of vertical land subsidence, we provide a potential ground fracture map to assist in future urban development planning in the Toluca Valley.

INSAR OF AQUATIC BODIES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P. Tarikhi

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Radar remote sensing is a new earth observation technology with promising results and future. InSAR is a sophisticated radar remote sensing technique for combining synthetic aperture radar (SAR single look complex images to form interferogram and utilizing its phase contribution to land topography, surface movement and target velocity. In recent years considerable applications of Interferometric SAR technique have been developed. It is an established technique for precise assessment of land surface movements, and generating high quality digital elevation models (DEM from space-borne and airborne data. InSAR is able to produce DEMs with the precision of a couple of ten meters whereas its movement map results have sub-centimeter precision. The technique has many applications in the context of earth sciences such as topographic mapping, environmental modelling, rainfall-runoff studies, landslide hazard zonation, and seismic source modelling. Nevertheless new developments are taking place in the application of InSAR for aquatic bodies. We have observed that using SAR Interferometry technique for aquatic bodies with the maximum temporal baseline of 16 seconds for image pairs shows considerable results enabling us to determine the direction of sea surface motion in a large area, estimate the sea surface fluctuations in the direction of sensor line-of-the-sight, detect wave pattern and the sea surface disturbance and whether the water motion is bulk and smooth or otherwise. This paper presents our experience and achievements on this new topic through discussing the facts and conditions for the use of InSAR technique. The method has been examined for Haiti, Dominican Republic, Western Chile and Western Turkey coast areas and inland lakes however ground truth data is needed for final verification. This technique scheduled to be applied in some other sites for which the proper data is available.

Advanced InSAR imaging for dune mapping

Science.gov (United States)

Havivi, Shiran; August, Yitzhak; Blumberg, Dan G.; Rotman, Stanley R.

2015-04-01

Aeolian morphologies are formed in the presence of sufficient wind energy and available particles. These processes occur naturally or are further enhanced or reduced by human intervention. The dimensions of change are dependent primarily on the wind energy and surface properties. Since the 1970's, remote sensing imagery both optical and radar, are used for documentation and interpretation of the geomorphologic changes of sand dunes. Remote sensing studies of Aeolian morphologies is mostly useful to document major changes, yet, subtle changes, occurring in a period of days or months in scales of centimeters, are very difficult to detect in imagery. Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) is an imaging technique for measuring Earth's surface topography and deformation. InSAR images are produced by measuring the radar phase difference between two separated antennas that view the same surface area. Classical InSAR is based on high coherence between two images or more. The output (interferogram) can show subtle changes with an accuracy of several millimeters to centimeters. Very little work has been done on measuring or identifying the changes in dunes using InSAR. The reason is that dunes tend to be less coherent than firm, stable, surfaces. This research aims to demonstrate how interferometric decorrelation, or, coherence change detection, can be used for identifying dune instability. We hypothesize and demonstrate that the loss of radar coherence over time on dunes can be used as an indication of the dune's instability. When SAR images are acquired at sufficiently close intervals one can measure the time it takes to lose coherence and associate this time with geomorphic stability. To achieve our goals, the Nitzanim coastal dunes along the Mediterranean, 40 km south of Tel-Aviv, Israel, were chosen as a case study. The dunes in this area are of varying levels of stability and vegetation cover and have been monitored meteorologically, geomorphologically and

There is no one-size-fits-all product for InSAR; on the inclusion of contextual information for geodetically-proof InSAR data products

Science.gov (United States)

Hanssen, R. F.

2017-12-01

In traditional geodesy, one is interested in determining the coordinates, or the change in coordinates, of predefined benchmarks. These benchmarks are clearly identifiable and are especially established to be representative of the signal of interest. This holds, e.g., for leveling benchmarks, for triangulation/trilateration benchmarks, and for GNSS benchmarks. The desired coordinates are not identical to the basic measurements, and need to be estimated using robust estimation procedures, where the stochastic nature of the measurements is taken into account. For InSAR, however, the `benchmarks' are not predefined. In fact, usually we do not know where an effective benchmark is located, even though we can determine its dynamic behavior pretty well. This poses several significant problems. First, we cannot describe the quality of the measurements, unless we already know the dynamic behavior of the benchmark. Second, if we don't know the quality of the measurements, we cannot compute the quality of the estimated parameters. Third, rather harsh assumptions need to be made to produce a result. These (usually implicit) assumptions differ between processing operators and the used software, and are severely affected by the amount of available data. Fourth, the `relative' nature of the final estimates is usually not explicitly stated, which is particularly problematic for non-expert users. Finally, whereas conventional geodesy applies rigorous testing to check for measurement or model errors, this is hardly ever done in InSAR-geodesy. These problems make it rather impossible to provide a precise, reliable, repeatable, and `universal' InSAR product or service. Here we evaluate the requirements and challenges to move towards InSAR as a geodetically-proof product. In particular this involves the explicit inclusion of contextual information, as well as InSAR procedures, standards and a technical protocol, supported by the International Association of Geodesy and the

Ka-band InSAR Imaging and Analysis Based on IMU Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shi Jun

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Compared with other bands, the millimeter wave Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR has high accuracy and small size, which is a hot topic in InSAR research. On the other hand, shorter wavelength causes difficulties in 2D imaging and interferometric phase extraction. In this study, the imaging and phase performance of the streaming Back Projection (BP method combined with IMU data are analyzed and discussed on the basis of actual Ka-band InSAR data. It is found that because the wavelength of the Ka-band is short, it is more sensitive to the antenna phase-center history. To ensure the phase-preserving capacity, the IMU data must be used with accurate motion error compensation. Furthermore, during data processing, we verify the flat-earth-removing capacity of the BP algorithm that calculates and compensates the master and slave antenna phase centers individually.

Advanced radar-interpretation of InSAR time series for mapping and characterization of geological processes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F. Cigna

2011-03-01

Full Text Available We present a new post-processing methodology for the analysis of InSAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry multi-temporal measures, based on the temporal under-sampling of displacement time series, the identification of potential changes occurring during the monitoring period and, eventually, the classification of different deformation behaviours. The potentials of this approach for the analysis of geological processes were tested on the case study of Naro (Italy, specifically selected due to its geological setting and related ground instability of unknown causes that occurred in February 2005. The time series analysis of past (ERS1/2 descending data; 1992–2000 and current (RADARSAT-1 ascending data; 2003–2007 ground movements highlighted significant displacement rates (up to 6 mm yr⁻¹ in 2003–2007, followed by a post-event stabilization. The deformational behaviours of instable areas involved in the 2005 event were also detected, clarifying typology and kinematics of ground instability. The urban sectors affected and unaffected by the event were finally mapped, consequently re-defining and enlarging the influenced area previously detected by field observations. Through the integration of InSAR data and conventional field surveys (i.e. geological, geomorphologic and geostructural campaigns, the causes of instability were finally attributed to tectonics.

Answering the right question - integration of InSAR with other datasets

Science.gov (United States)

Holley, Rachel; McCormack, Harry; Burren, Richard

2014-05-01

The capabilities of satellite Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) are well known, and utilized across a wide range of academic and commercial applications. However there is a tendency, particularly in commercial applications, for users to ask 'What can we study with InSAR?'. When establishing a new technique this approach is important, but InSAR has been possible for 20 years now and, even accounting for new and innovative algorithms, this ground has been thoroughly explored. Too many studies conclude 'We show the ground is moving here, by this much', and mention the wider context as an afterthought. The focus needs to shift towards first asking the right questions - in fields as diverse as hazard awareness, resource optimization, financial considerations and pure scientific enquiry - and then working out how to achieve the best possible answers. Depending on the question, InSAR (and ground deformation more generally) may provide a large or small contribution to the overall solution, and there are usually benefits to integrating a number of techniques to capitalize on the complementary capabilities and provide the most useful measurements. However, there is still a gap between measurements and answers, and unlocking the value of the data relies heavily on appropriate visualization, integrated analysis, communication between technique and application experts, and appropriate use of modelling. We present a number of application examples, and demonstrate how their usefulness can be transformed by moving from a focus on data to answers - integrating complementary geodetic, geophysical and geological datasets and geophysical modeling with appropriate visualization, to enable comprehensive solution-focused interpretation. It will also discuss how forthcoming developments are likely to further advance realisation of the full potential satellite InSAR holds.

Toward regional corrections of long period CMT inversions using InSAR

Science.gov (United States)

Shakibay Senobari, N.; Funning, G.; Ferreira, A. M.

2017-12-01

One of InSAR's main strengths, with respect to other methods of studying earthquakes, is finding the accurate location of the best point source (or `centroid') for an earthquake. While InSAR data have great advantages for study of shallow earthquakes, the number of earthquakes for which we have InSAR data is low, compared with the number of earthquakes recorded seismically. And though improvements to SAR satellite constellations have enhanced the use of InSAR data during earthquake response, post-event data still have a latency on the order of days. On the other hand, earthquake centroid inversion methods using long period seismic data (e.g. the Global CMT method) are fast but include errors caused by inaccuracies in both the Earth velocity model and in wave propagation assumptions (e.g. Hjörleifsdóttir and Ekström, 2010; Ferreira and Woodhouse, 2006). Here we demonstrate a method that combines the strengths of both methods, calculating regional travel-time corrections for long-period waveforms using accurate centroid locations from InSAR, then applying these to other events that occur in the same region. Our method is based on the observation that synthetic seismograms produced from InSAR source models and locations match the data very well except for some phase shifts (travel time biases) between the two waveforms, likely corresponding to inaccuracies in Earth velocity models (Weston et al., 2014). Our previous work shows that adding such phase shifts to the Green's functions can improve the accuracy of long period seismic CMT inversions by reducing tradeoffs between the moment tensor components and centroid location (e.g. Shakibay Senobari et al., AGU Fall Meeting 2015). Preliminary work on several pairs of neighboring events (e.g. Landers-Hector Mine, the 2000 South Iceland earthquake sequences) shows consistent azimuthal patterns of these phase shifts for nearby events at common stations. These phase shift patterns strongly suggest that it is possible to

Remote Monitoring of Groundwater Overdraft Using GRACE and InSAR

Science.gov (United States)

Scher, C.; Saah, D.

2017-12-01

Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) data paired with radar-derived analyses of volumetric changes in aquifer storage capacity present a viable technique for remote monitoring of aquifer depletion. Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) analyses of ground level subsidence can account for a significant portion of mass loss observed in GRACE data and provide information on point-sources of overdraft. This study summed one water-year of GRACE monthly mass change grids and delineated regions with negative water storage anomalies for further InSAR analyses. Magnitude of water-storage anomalies observed by GRACE were compared to InSAR-derived minimum volumetric changes in aquifer storage capacity as a result of measurable compaction at the surface. Four major aquifers were selected within regions where GRACE observed a net decrease in water storage (Central Valley, California; Mekong Delta, Vietnam; West Bank, occupied Palestinian Territory; and the Indus Basin, South Asia). Interferogram imagery of the extent and magnitude of subsidence within study regions provided estimates for net minimum volume of groundwater extracted between image acquisitions. These volumetric estimates were compared to GRACE mass change grids to resolve a percent contribution of mass change observed by GRACE likely due to groundwater overdraft. Interferograms revealed characteristic cones of depression within regions of net mass loss observed by GRACE, suggesting point-source locations of groundwater overdraft and demonstrating forensic potential for the use of InSAR and GRACE data in remote monitoring of aquifer depletion. Paired GRACE and InSAR analyses offer a technique to increase the spatial and temporal resolution of remote applications for monitoring groundwater overdraft in addition to providing a novel parameter - measurable vertical deformation at the surface - to global groundwater models.

Imaging irregular magma reservoirs with InSAR and GPS observations: Application to Kilauea and Copahue volcanoes

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Lundgren, P.; Camacho, A.; Poland, M. P.; Miklius, A.; Samsonov, S. V.; Milillo, P.

2013-12-01

The availability of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) interferometry (InSAR) data has increased our awareness of the complexity of volcano deformation sources. InSAR's spatial completeness helps identify or clarify source process mechanisms at volcanoes (i.e. Mt. Etna east flank motion; Lazufre crustal magma body; Kilauea dike complexity) and also improves potential model realism. In recent years, Bayesian inference methods have gained widespread use because of their ability to constrain not only source model parameters, but also their uncertainties. They are computationally intensive, however, which tends to limit them to a few geometrically rather simple source representations (for example, spheres). An alternative approach involves solving for irregular pressure and/or density sources from a three-dimensional (3-D) grid of source/density cells. This method has the ability to solve for arbitrarily shaped bodies of constant absolute pressure/density difference. We compare results for both Bayesian (a Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm) and the irregular source methods for two volcanoes: Kilauea, Hawaii, and Copahue, Argentina-Chile border. Kilauea has extensive InSAR and GPS databases from which to explore the results for the irregular method with respect to the Bayesian approach, prior models, and an extensive set of ancillary data. One caveat, however, is the current restriction in the irregular model inversion to volume-pressure sources (and at a single excess pressure change), which limits its application in cases where sources such as faults or dikes are present. Preliminary results for Kilauea summit deflation during the March 2011 Kamoamoa eruption suggests a northeast-elongated magma body lying roughly 1-1.5 km below the surface. Copahue is a southern Andes volcano that has been inflating since early 2012, with intermittent summit eruptive activity since late 2012. We have an extensive InSAR time series from RADARSAT-2 and COSMO-SkyMed data, although both are

Shallow deformation of the San Andreas fault 5 years following the 2004 Parkfield earthquake (Mw6) combining ERS2 and Envisat InSAR.

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Bacques, Guillaume; de Michele, Marcello; Raucoules, Daniel; Aochi, Hideo; Rolandone, Frédérique

2018-04-16

This study focuses on the shallow deformation that occurred during the 5 years following the Parkfield earthquake (28/09/2004, Mw 6, San Andreas Fault, California). We use Synthetic Aperture Radar interferometry (InSAR) to provide precise measurements of transient deformations after the Parkfield earthquake between 2005 and 2010. We propose a method to combine both ERS2 and ENVISAT interferograms to increase the temporal data sampling. Firstly, we combine 5 years of available Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) acquisitions including both ERS-2 and Envisat. Secondly, we stack selected interferograms (both from ERS2 and Envisat) for measuring the temporal evolution of the ground velocities at given time intervals. Thanks to its high spatial resolution, InSAR could provide new insights on the surface fault motion behavior over the 5 years following the Parkfield earthquake. As a complement to previous studies in this area, our results suggest that shallow transient deformations affected the Creeping-Parkfield-Cholame sections of the San Andreas Fault after the 2004 Mw6 Parkfield earthquake.

A prototype of an automated high resolution InSAR volcano-monitoring system in the MED-SUV project

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Chowdhury, Tanvir A.; Minet, Christian; Fritz, Thomas

2016-04-01

Volcanic processes which produce a variety of geological and hydrological hazards are difficult to predict and capable of triggering natural disasters on regional to global scales. Therefore it is important to monitor volcano continuously and with a high spatial and temporal sampling rate. The monitoring of active volcanoes requires the reliable measurement of surface deformation before, during and after volcanic activities and it helps for the better understanding and modelling of the involved geophysical processes. Space-borne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) interferometry (InSAR), persistent scatterer interferometry (PSI) and small baseline subset algorithm (SBAS) provide a powerful tool for observing the eruptive activities and measuring the surface changes of millimetre accuracy. All the mentioned techniques with deformation time series extraction address the challenges by exploiting medium to large SAR image stacks. The process of selecting, ordering, downloading, storing, logging, extracting and preparing the data for processing is very time consuming has to be done manually for every single data-stack. In many cases it is even an iterative process which has to be done regularly and continuously. Therefore, data processing becomes slow which causes significant delays in data delivery. The SAR Satellite based High Resolution Data Acquisition System, which will be developed at DLR, will automate this entire time consuming tasks and allows an operational volcano monitoring system. Every 24 hours the system runs for searching new acquired scene over the volcanoes and keeps track of the data orders, log the status and download the provided data via ftp-transfer including E-Mail alert. Furthermore, the system will deliver specified reports and maps to a database for review and use by specialists. The user interaction will be minimized and iterative processes will be totally avoided. In this presentation, a prototype of SAR Satellite based High Resolution Data

Calibration of a Land Subsidence Model Using InSAR Data via the Ensemble Kalman Filter.

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Li, Liangping; Zhang, Meijing; Katzenstein, Kurt

2017-11-01

The application of interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) has been increasingly used to improve capabilities to model land subsidence in hydrogeologic studies. A number of investigations over the last decade show how spatially detailed time-lapse images of ground displacements could be utilized to advance our understanding for better predictions. In this work, we use simulated land subsidences as observed measurements, mimicking InSAR data to inversely infer inelastic specific storage in a stochastic framework. The inelastic specific storage is assumed as a random variable and modeled using a geostatistical method such that the detailed variations in space could be represented and also that the uncertainties of both characterization of specific storage and prediction of land subsidence can be assessed. The ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF), a real-time data assimilation algorithm, is used to inversely calibrate a land subsidence model by matching simulated subsidences with InSAR data. The performance of the EnKF is demonstrated in a synthetic example in which simulated surface deformations using a reference field are assumed as InSAR data for inverse modeling. The results indicate: (1) the EnKF can be used successfully to calibrate a land subsidence model with InSAR data; the estimation of inelastic specific storage is improved, and uncertainty of prediction is reduced, when all the data are accounted for; and (2) if the same ensemble is used to estimate Kalman gain, the analysis errors could cause filter divergence; thus, it is essential to include localization in the EnKF for InSAR data assimilation. © 2017, National Ground Water Association.

Using InSAR to Observe Sinkhole Activity in Central Florida

Science.gov (United States)

Oliver-Cabrera, T.; Wdowinski, S.; Kruse, S.; Kiflu, H. G.

2017-12-01

Sinkhole collapse in Florida is a major geologic hazard, threatening human life and causing substantial damage to property. Detecting sinkhole deformation before a collapse is an important but difficult task; most techniques used to monitor sinkholes are spatially constrained to relatively small areas (tens to hundred meters). To overcome this limitation, we use Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR), which is a very useful technique for detecting localized deformation while covering vast areas. InSAR results show localized deformation at several houses and commercial buildings in different locations along the study sites. We use a subsurface imaging technique, ground penetrating radar, to verify sinkhole existence beneath the observed deforming areas.

Evidence of rock slope breathing using ground-based InSAR

Science.gov (United States)

Rouyet, Line; Kristensen, Lene; Derron, Marc-Henri; Michoud, Clément; Blikra, Lars Harald; Jaboyedoff, Michel; Lauknes, Tom Rune

2017-07-01

Ground-Based Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (GB-InSAR) campaigns were performed in summer 2011 and 2012 in the Romsdalen valley (Møre & Romsdal county, western Norway) in order to assess displacements on Mannen/Børa rock slope. Located 1 km northwest, a second GB-InSAR system continuously monitors the large Mannen rockslide. The availability of two GB-InSAR positions creates a wide coverage of the rock slope, including a slight dataset overlap valuable for validation. A phenomenon of rock slope breathing is detected in a remote and hard-to-access area in mid-slope. Millimetric upward displacements are recorded in August 2011. Analysis of 2012 GB-InSAR campaign, combined with the large dataset from the continuous station, shows that the slope is affected by inflation/deflation phenomenon between 5 and 10 mm along the line-of-sight. The pattern is not homogenous in time and inversions of movement have a seasonal recurrence. These seasonal changes are confirmed by satellite InSAR observations and can possibly be caused by hydrogeological variations. In addition, combination of GB-InSAR results, in situ measurements and satellite InSAR analyses contributes to a better overview of movement distribution over the whole area.

Quantifying sub-pixel urban impervious surface through fusion of optical and inSAR imagery

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, L.; Jiang, L.; Lin, H.; Liao, M.

2009-01-01

In this study, we explored the potential to improve urban impervious surface modeling and mapping with the synergistic use of optical and Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) imagery. We used a Classification and Regression Tree (CART)-based approach to test the feasibility and accuracy of quantifying Impervious Surface Percentage (ISP) using four spectral bands of SPOT 5 high-resolution geometric (HRG) imagery and three parameters derived from the European Remote Sensing (ERS)-2 Single Look Complex (SLC) SAR image pair. Validated by an independent ISP reference dataset derived from the 33 cm-resolution digital aerial photographs, results show that the addition of InSAR data reduced the ISP modeling error rate from 15.5% to 12.9% and increased the correlation coefficient from 0.71 to 0.77. Spatially, the improvement is especially noted in areas of vacant land and bare ground, which were incorrectly mapped as urban impervious surfaces when using the optical remote sensing data. In addition, the accuracy of ISP prediction using InSAR images alone is only marginally less than that obtained by using SPOT imagery. The finding indicates the potential of using InSAR data for frequent monitoring of urban settings located in cloud-prone areas.

Monitoring Volcano Deformation in the Northernmost Andes with ALOS InSAR Time-Series

Science.gov (United States)

Morales Rivera, A. M.; Amelung, F.

2014-12-01

Satellite-based Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) is well known to be used as a volcano monitoring tool, providing the opportunity to conduct local and regional surveys to detect and measure volcanic deformation. The signals detected by InSAR on volcanoes can be related to various phenomena, such as volume changes in magmatic reservoirs, compaction of recent deposits, changes in hydrothermal activity, and flank instability. The InSAR time-series method has well documented examples of these phenomena, including precursory inflation of magma reservoirs months prior to volcanic eruptions, proving its potential for early warning systems. We use the ALOS-1 satellite from the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), which acquired a global L-band data set of nearly 20 acquisitions during 2007-2011, to make an InSAR time-series analysis using the Small Baseline method (SBAS). Our analysis covers all of the volcanoes in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru that are cataloged by the Global Volcanism Program. We present results showing time-dependent ground deformation on an near the volcanoes, and present kinematic models to constrain the characteristics of the magmatic sources for the cases in which the deformation is likely related to changes in magma reservoir pressurization.

Episodic inflation of Akutan volcano, Alaska revealed from GPS and InSAR time series

Science.gov (United States)

DeGrandpre, K.; Lu, Z.; Wang, T.

2016-12-01

Akutan volcano is one of the most active volcanoes located long the Aleutian arc. At least 27 eruptions have been noted since 1790 and an intense swarm of volcano-tectonic earthquakes occurred in 1996. Surface deformation after the 1996 earthquake sequence has been studied using GPS and Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) separately, yet models created from these datasets require different mechanisms to produce the observed surface deformation: an inflating Mogi source results in the best approximation of displacement observed from GPS data, whereas an opening dyke is the best fit to deformation measured from InSAR. A recent study using seismic data revealed complex magmatic structures beneath the caldera, suggesting that the surface deformation may reflect more complicated mechanisms that cannot be estimated using one type of data alone. Here we integrate the surface deformation measured from GPS and InSAR to better understand the magma plumbing system beneath Akutan volcano. GPS time-series at 12 stations from 2006 to 2016 were analyzed, and two transient episodes of inflation in 2008 and 2014 were detected. These GPS stations are, however, too sparse to reveal the spatial distribution of the surface deformation. In order to better define the spatial extent of this inflation four tracks of Envisat data acquired during 2003-2010 and one track of TerraSAR-X data acquired from 2010 to 2016 were processed to produce high-resolution maps of surface deformation. These deformation maps show a consistently uplifting area on the northwestern flank of the volcano. We inverted for the source parameters required to produce the inflation using GPS, InSAR, and a dataset of GPS and InSAR measurements combined, to find that a deep Mogi source below a shallow dyke fit these datasets best. From the TerraSAR-X data, we were also able to measure the subsidence inside the summit caldera due to fumarole activity to be as high as 10 mm/yr. The complex spatial and temporal

Slope Superficial Displacement Monitoring by Small Baseline SAR Interferometry Using Data from L-band ALOS PALSAR and X-band TerraSAR: A Case Study of Hong Kong, China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fulong Chen

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Owing to the development of spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR platforms, and in particular the increase in the availability of multi-source (multi-band and multi-resolution data, it is now feasible to design a surface displacement monitoring application using multi-temporal SAR interferometry (MT-InSAR. Landslides have high socio-economic impacts in many countries because of potential geo-hazards and heavy casualties. In this study, taking into account the merits of ALOS PALSAR (L-band, good coherence preservation and TerraSAR (X-band, high resolution and short revisit times data, we applied an improved small baseline InSAR (SB-InSAR with 3-D phase unwrapping approach, to monitor slope superficial displacement in Hong Kong, China, a mountainous subtropical zone city influenced by over-urbanization and heavy monsoonal rains. Results revealed that the synergistic use of PALSAR and TerraSAR data produces different outcomes in relation to data reliability and spatial-temporal resolution, and hence could be of significant value for a comprehensive understanding and monitoring of unstable slopes.

Novel Polarimetric SAR Interferometry Algorithms, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Polarimetric radar interferometry (PolInSAR) is a new SAR imaging mode that is rapidly becoming an important technique for bare earth topographic mapping, tree...

C/X-band SAR interferometry applied to ground monitoring: examples and new potential

Science.gov (United States)

Nutricato, Raffaele; Nitti, Davide O.; Bovenga, Fabio; Refice, Alberto; Wasowski, Janusz; Chiaradia, Maria T.

2013-10-01

Classical applications of the MTInSAR techniques have been carried out in the past on medium resolution data acquired by the ERS, Envisat (ENV) and Radarsat sensors. The new generation of high-resolution X-Band SAR sensors, such as TerraSAR-X (TSX) and the COSMO-SkyMed (CSK) constellation allows acquiring data with spatial resolution reaching metric/submetric values. Thanks to the finer spatial resolution with respect to C-band data, X-band InSAR applications result very promising for monitoring single man-made structures (buildings, bridges, railways and highways), as well as landslides. This is particularly relevant where C-band data show low density of coherent scatterers. Moreover, thanks again to the higher resolution, it is possible to infer reliable estimates of the displacement rates with a number of SAR scenes significantly lower than in C-band within the same time span or by using more images acquired in a narrower time span. We present examples of the application of a Persistent Scatterers Interferometry technique, namely the SPINUA algorithm, to data acquired by ENV, TSX and CSK on selected number of sites. Different cases are considered concerning monitoring of both instable slopes and infrastructure. Results are compared and commented with particular attention paid to the advantages provided by the new generation of X-band high resolution space-borne SAR sensors.

Towards assimilation of InSAR data in operational weather models

Science.gov (United States)

Mulder, Gert; van Leijen, Freek; Barkmeijer, Jan; de Haan, Siebren; Hanssen, Ramon

2017-04-01

InSAR signal delays due to the varying atmospheric refractivity are a potential data source to improve weather models [1]. Especially with the launch of the new Sentinel-1 satellites, which increases data coverage, latency and accessibility, it may become possible to operationalize the assimilation of differential integrated refractivity (DIR) values in numerical weather models. Although studies exist on comparison between InSAR data and weather models [2], the impact of assimilation of DIR values in an operational weather model has never been assessed. In this study we present different ways to assimilate DIR values in an operational weather model and show the first forecast results. There are different possibilities to assimilate InSAR-data in a weather model. For example, (i) absolute DIR values can be derived using additional GNSS zenith or slant delay values, (ii) DIR values can be converted to water vapor pressures, or (iii) water vapor pressures can be derived for different heights by combining GNSS and InSAR data. However, an increasing number of assumptions in these processing steps will increase the uncertainty in the final results. Therefore, we chose to insert the InSAR derived DIR values after minimal additional processing. In this study we use the HARMONIE model [3], which is a spectral, non-hydrostatic model with a resolution of about 2.5 km. Currently, this is the operational model in 11 European countries and based on the AROME model [4]. To assimilate the DIR values in the weather model we use a simple adjustment of the weather parameters over the full slant column to match the DIR values. This is a first step towards a more sophisticated approach based on the 3D-VAR or 4D-VAR schemes [5]. Where both assimilation schemes can correct for different weather parameters simultaneously, and 4D-VAR allow us to assimilate DIR values at the exact moment of satellite overpass instead of the start of the forecast window. The approach will be demonstrated

User-friendly InSAR Data Products: Fast and Simple Timeseries (FAST) Processing

Science.gov (United States)

Zebker, H. A.

2017-12-01

Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) methods provide high resolution maps of surface deformation applicable to many scientific, engineering and management studies. Despite its utility, the specialized skills and computer resources required for InSAR analysis remain as barriers for truly widespread use of the technique. Reduction of radar scenes to maps of temporal deformation evolution requires not only detailed metadata describing the exact radar and surface acquisition geometries, but also a software package that can combine these for the specific scenes of interest. Furthermore, the radar range-Doppler radar coordinate system itself is confusing, so that many users find it hard to incorporate even useful products in their customary analyses. And finally, the sheer data volume needed to represent interferogram time series makes InSAR analysis challenging for many analysis systems. We show here that it is possible to deliver radar data products to users that address all of these difficulties, so that the data acquired by large, modern satellite systems are ready to use in more natural coordinates, without requiring further processing, and in as small volume as possible.

River Delta Subsidence Measured with Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR)

Science.gov (United States)

Higgins, Stephanie

This thesis addresses the need for high-resolution subsidence maps of major world river deltas. Driven by a combination of rising water, sediment compaction, and reduced sediment supply due to damming and flood control, many deltas are sinking relative to sea level. A lack of data constraining rates and patterns of subsidence has made it difficult to determine the relative contributions of each factor in any given delta, however, or to assess whether the primary drivers of land subsidence are natural or anthropogenic. In recent years, Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) has emerged as a satellite-based technique that can map ground deformation with mm-scale accuracy over thousands of square kilometers. These maps could provide critical insight into the drivers of subsidence in deltas, but InSAR is not typically applied to non-urban delta areas due to the difficulties of performing the technique in wet, vegetated settings. This thesis addresses those difficulties and achieves high-resolution measurements of ground deformation in rural deltaic areas. Chapter 1 introduces the processes that drive relative sea level rise in river deltas and investigates open questions in delta subsidence research. Chapter 2 assesses the performance of InSAR in delta settings and reviews interferogram generation in the context of delta analysis, presenting delta-specific processing details and guiding interpretation in these challenging areas. Chapter 3 applies Differential (D-) InSAR to the coast of the Yellow River Delta in China. Results show that subsidence rates are as high as 250 mm/y due to groundwater extraction at aquaculture facilities, a rate that exceeds local and global average sea level rise by nearly two orders of magnitude and suggests a significant hazard for Asian megadeltas. Chapter 4 applies interferometric stacking and Small Baseline Subset (SBAS)-InSAR to the Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta, Bangladesh. Results show that stratigraphy controls subsidence in

Interseismic Deformation along the Red River Fault from InSAR Measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, J.; Li, Z.; Clarke, P. J.

2017-12-01

The Red River Fault (RRF) zone is a profound geological discontinuity separating South China from Indochina. Right lateral movements along this >900 km fault are considered to accommodate the extrusion of SE China. Crustal deformation monitoring at high resolution is the key to understand the present-day mode of deformation in this zone and its interaction with the adjacent regions. This is the first study to measure the interseismic deformation of the entire fault with ALOS-1/2 and Sentinel-1 observations. Nine ascending tracks of ALOS-1 data between 2007 and 2011 are collected from the Alaska Satellite Facility (ASF), four descending tracks of Sentinel-1 data are acquired every 24 days since October 2014, and ALOS-2 data are being systematically acquired since 2014. The long wavelength (L-band) of ALOS-1/2 and short temporal baseline of Sentinel-1 ensure good coherence to overcome the limitations of heavy vegetation and variable climate in the region. Stacks of interferograms are generated by our automatic processing chain based on the InSAR Scientific Computing Environment (ISCE) software, ionospheric errors are estimated and corrected using the split-spectrum method (Fattahi et al., IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens., 2017) and the tropospheric delays are calibrated using the Generic Atmospheric Correction Online Service for InSAR (GACOS: http://ceg-research.ncl.ac.uk/v2/gacos) with high-resolution ECMWF products (Yu et al., J. Geophys. Res., 2017). Time series analysis is performed to determine the interseismic deformation rate of the RRF using the in-house InSAR time series with atmospheric estimation model (InSAR TS + AEM) package based on the Small Baseline Subset (SBAS) algorithm. Our results reveal the decrease of slip rate from north to south. We map the interseismic strain rate field to characterize the deformation patterns and seismic hazard throughout the RRF zone.

Comparison of elevation derived from insar data with dem from topography map in Son Dong, Bac Giang, Viet Nam

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, Duy

2012-07-01

Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) are used in many applications in the context of earth sciences such as in topographic mapping, environmental modeling, rainfall-runoff studies, landslide hazard zonation, seismic source modeling, etc. During the last years multitude of scientific applications of Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (InSAR) techniques have evolved. It has been shown that InSAR is an established technique of generating high quality DEMs from space borne and airborne data, and that it has advantages over other methods for the generation of large area DEM. However, the processing of InSAR data is still a challenging task. This paper describes InSAR operational steps and processing chain for DEM generation from Single Look Complex (SLC) SAR data and compare a satellite SAR estimate of surface elevation with a digital elevation model (DEM) from Topography map. The operational steps are performed in three major stages: Data Search, Data Processing, and product Validation. The Data processing stage is further divided into five steps of Data Pre-Processing, Co-registration, Interferogram generation, Phase unwrapping, and Geocoding. The Data processing steps have been tested with ERS 1/2 data using Delft Object-oriented Interferometric (DORIS) InSAR processing software. Results of the outcome of the application of the described processing steps to real data set are presented.

Monitoring Subsidence in California with InSAR

Science.gov (United States)

Farr, T. G.; Jones, C. E.; Liu, Z.; Neff, K. L.; Gurrola, E. M.; Manipon, G.

2016-12-01

Subsidence caused by groundwater pumping in the rich agricultural area of California's Central Valley has been a problem for decades. Over the last few years, interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) observations from satellite and aircraft platforms have been used to produce maps of subsidence with cm accuracy. We are continuing work reported previously, using ESA's Sentinel-1 to extend our maps of subsidence in time and space, in order to eventually cover all of California. The amount of data to be processed has expanded exponentially in the course of our work and we are now transitioning to the use of the ARIA project at JPL to produce the time series. ARIA processing employs large Amazon cloud instances to process single or multiple frames each, scaling from one to many (20+) instances working in parallel to meet the demand (700 GB InSAR products within 3 hours). The data are stored in Amazon long-term storage and an http view of the products are available for users of the ARIA system to download the products. Higher resolution InSAR data were also acquired along the California Aqueduct by the NASA UAVSAR from 2013 - 2016. Using multiple scenes acquired by these systems, we are able to produce time series of subsidence at selected locations and transects showing how subsidence varies both spatially and temporally. The maps show that subsidence is continuing in areas with a history of subsidence and that the rates and areas affected have increased due to increased groundwater extraction during the extended western US drought. Our maps also identify and quantify new, localized areas of accelerated subsidence. The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) funded this work to provide the background and an update on subsidence in the Central Valley to support future policy. Geographic Information System (GIS) files are being furnished to DWR for further analysis of the 4 dimensional subsidence time-series maps. Part of this work was carried out at the

Use of multitemporal InSAR data to develop geohazard scenarios for Bandung, Western Java, Indonesia

Science.gov (United States)

Salvi, Stefano; Tolomei, Cristiano; Duro, Javier; Pezzo, Giuseppe; Koudogbo, Fifamè

2015-04-01

The Greater Bandung metropolitan area is the second largest urban area in Indonesia, with a population of 8.6 million. It is subject to a variety of geohazards: volcanic hazards from seven active volcanoes within a radius of 50 km; high flood hazards, seismic hazard due to crustal active faults, the best known being the 30-km long Lembang fault, 10 km North of the city centre; subsidence hazards due to strong aquifer depletion; landslide hazard in the surrounding high country. In the framework of the FP7 RASOR project, multitemporal satellite SAR data have been processed over Bandung, Western Java. We used the SBAS InSAR technique (Berardino et al., 2002) to process two ALOS-1 datasets, to investigate the various sources of surface deformation acting in the area in the period 2008-2011. Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI) has also been applied to achieve ground motion measurements with millimetric precision and high accuracy. The PSI processing technique considers a system of points that reflect the radar signal from the satellite continuously through the time. It makes use of differential interferometric phase measurements to generate long term terrain deformation and digital surface model maps. The GlobalSARTM algorithms developed by Altamira Information are applied to COSMO-SkyMed data acquired to measure ground motion over the area of interest. Strong ground displacements (up to 7 cm/yr) due to groundwater abstraction have been measured in the Bandung basin. The identification of long wavelength signals from tectonic sources is difficult due to the limited InSAR coherence outside of the urban environment. Limited deformation is observed also in the Tangkuban Perahu volcano to the north. The spatial and temporal distribution of the ground motion is important supporting information for the generation of long term subsidence and flood hazard scenarios.

Bryan Mound InSAR Analysis U.S. Strategic petroleum Reserve.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lord, Anna C. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2017-06-01

The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) is a stockpile of emergency crude oil to be tapped into if a disruption in the nation's oil supply occurs. The SPR is comprised of four salt dome sites. Subsidence surveys have been conducted either annually or biennially at all four sites over the life of the program. Monitoring of surface behavior is a first line defense to detecting possible subsurface cavern integrity issues. Over the life of the Bryan Mound site, subsidence rates over abandoned Cavern 3 have continuously been the highest at the site. In an effort to try and understand the subsurface dynamics, specifically over Bryan Mound Cavern 3, historic interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) data was acquired and processed by TRE Altamira. InSAR involves the processing of multiple satellite synthetic aperture radar scenes acquired across the same location of the Earth's surface at different times to map surface deformation. The analysis of the data has the ability to detect millimeters of motion spanning days, months, year and decades, across specific sites. The intent in regards to the Bryan Mound site was (1) to confirm the higher subsidence rates recorded over abandoned Cavern 3 indicated by land survey and (2) understand the regional surface behavior. This report describes the InSAR analysis results, how those results compare to the historical collection of land survey data, and what additional information the data has provided towards understanding the response recorded at the surface.

Crustal Deformation along San Andreas Fault System revealed by GPS and Sentinel-1 InSAR

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, X.; Sandwell, D. T.

2017-12-01

We present a crustal deformation velocity map along the San Andreas Fault System by combining measurements from Sentinel-1 Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) and Global Positioning System (GPS) velocity models (CGM V1). We assembled 5 tracks of descending Sentinel-1 InSAR data spanning 2014.11-2017.02, and produced 545 interferograms, each of which covers roughly 250km x 420km area ( 60 bursts). These interferograms are unwrapped using SNAPHU [Chen & Zebker, 2002], with the 2Npi unwrapping ambiguity corrected with a sparse recovery method. We used coherence-based small baseline subset (SBAS) method [Tong & Schmidt, 2016] together with atmospheric correction by common-point stacking [Tymofyeyeva and Fialko, 2015] to construct deformation time series [Xu et. al., 2017]. Then we project the horizontal GPS model and vertical GPS data into satellite line-of-sight directions separately. We first remove the horizontal GPS model from InSAR measurements and perform elevation-dependent atmospheric phase correction. Then we compute the discrepancy between the remaining InSAR measurements and vertical GPS data. We interpolate this discrepancy and remove it from the residual InSAR measurements. Finally, we restore the horizontal GPS model. Preliminary results show that fault creep over the San Jacinto fault, the Elsinore fault, and the San Andreas creeping section is clearly resolved. During the period of drought, the Central Valley of California was subsiding at a high rate (up to 40 cm/yr), while the city of San Jose is uplifting due to recharge, with a quaternary fault acting as a ground water barrier. These findings will be reported during the meeting.

Slope Stability Assessment of the Sarcheshmeh Landslide, Northeast Iran, Investigated Using InSAR and GPS Observations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mahdi Motagh

2013-07-01

Full Text Available The detection and monitoring of mass movement of susceptible slopes plays a key role in mitigating hazards and potential damage associated with creeping slopes and landslides. In this paper, we use observations from both Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR and Global Positioning System (GPS to assess the slope stability of the Sarcheshmeh ancient landslide in the North Khorasan province of northeast Iran. InSAR observations were obtained by the time-series analysis of Envisat SAR images covering 2004–2006, whereas repeated GPS observations were conducted by campaign measurements during 2010–2012. Surface displacement maps of the Sarcheshmeh landslide obtained from InSAR and GPS are both indicative of slope stability. Hydrogeological analysis suggests that the multi-year drought and lower than average precipitation levels over the last decade might have contributed to the current dormancy of the Sarcheshmeh landslide.

ARIA: Delivering state-of-the-art InSAR products to end users

Science.gov (United States)

Agram, P. S.; Owen, S. E.; Hua, H.; Manipon, G.; Sacco, G. F.; Bue, B. D.; Fielding, E. J.; Yun, S. H.; Simons, M.; Webb, F.; Rosen, P. A.; Lundgren, P.; Liu, Z.

2016-12-01

Advanced Rapid Imaging and Analysis (ARIA) Center for Natural Hazards aims to bring state-of-the-art geodetic imaging capabilities to an operational level in support of local, national, and international hazard response communities. ARIA project's first foray into operational generation of InSAR products was with Calimap Project, in collaboration with ASI-CIDOT, using X-band data from the Cosmo-SkyMed constellation. Over the last year, ARIA's processing infrastructure has been significantly upgraded to exploit the free stream of high quality C-band SAR data from ESA's Sentinel-1 mission and related algorithmic improvements to the ISCE software. ARIA's data system can now operationally generate geocoded unwrapped phase and coherence products in GIS-friendly formats from Sentinel-1 TOPS mode data in an automated fashion, and this capability is currently being exercised various study sites across the United States including Hawaii, Central California, Iceland and South America. The ARIA team, building on the experience gained from handling X-band data and C-band data, has also built an automated machine learning-based classifier to label the auto-generated interferograms based on phase unwrapping quality. These high quality "time-series ready" InSAR products generated using state-of-the-art processing algorithms can be accessed by end users using two different mechanisms - 1) a Faceted-search interface that includes browse imagery for quick visualization and 2) an ElasticSearch-based API to enable bulk automated download, post-processing and time-series analysis. In this talk, we will present InSAR results from various global events that ARIA system has responded to. We will also discuss the set of geospatial big data tools including GIS libraries and API tools, that end users will need to familiarize themselves with in order to maximize the utilization of continuous stream of InSAR products from the Sentinel-1 and NISAR missions that the ARIA project will generate.

Different scale land subsidence and ground fissure monitoring with multiple InSAR techniques over Fenwei basin, China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. Zhao

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Fenwei basin, China, composed by several sub-basins, has been suffering severe geo-hazards in last 60 years, including large scale land subsidence and small scale ground fissure, which caused serious infrastructure damages and property losses. In this paper, we apply different InSAR techniques with different SAR data to monitor these hazards. Firstly, combined small baseline subset (SBAS InSAR method and persistent scatterers (PS InSAR method is used to multi-track Envisat ASAR data to retrieve the large scale land subsidence covering entire Fenwei basin, from which different land subsidence magnitudes are analyzed of different sub-basins. Secondly, PS-InSAR method is used to monitor the small scale ground fissure deformation in Yuncheng basin, where different spatial deformation gradient can be clearly discovered. Lastly, different track SAR data are contributed to retrieve two-dimensional deformation in both land subsidence and ground fissure region, Xi'an, China, which can be benefitial to explain the occurrence of ground fissure and the correlation between land subsidence and ground fissure.

Pre-2014 mudslides at Oso revealed by InSAR and multi-source DEM analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, J. W.; Lu, Z.; QU, F.

2014-12-01

The landslide is a process that results in the downward and outward movement of slope-reshaping materials including rocks and soils and annually causes the loss of approximately $3.5 billion and tens of casualties in the United States. The 2014 Oso mudslide was an extreme event costing nearly 40 deaths and damaging civilian properties. Landslides are often unpredictable, but in many cases, catastrophic events are repetitive. Historic record in the Oso mudslide site indicates that there have been serial events in decades, though the extent of sliding events varied from time to time. In our study, the combination of multi-source DEMs, InSAR, and time-series InSAR analysis has enabled to characterize the Oso mudslide. InSAR results from ALOS PALSAR show that there was no significant deformation between mid-2006 and 2011. The combination of time-series InSAR analysis and old-dated DEM indicated revealed topographic changes associated the 2006 sliding event, which is confirmed by the difference of multiple LiDAR DEMs. Precipitation and discharge measurements before the 2006 and 2014 landslide events did not exhibit extremely anomalous records, suggesting the precipitation is not the controlling factor in determining the sliding events at Oso. The lack of surface deformation during 2006-2011 and weak correlation between the precipitation and the sliding event, suggest other factors (such as porosity) might play a critical role on the run-away events at this Oso and other similar landslides.

Shortcomings of InSAR for studying megathrust earthquakes: The case of the M w 9.0 Tohoku-Oki earthquake

KAUST Repository

Feng, Guangcai

2012-05-28

Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) observations are sometimes the only geodetic data of large subduction-zone earthquakes. However, these data usually suffer from spatially long-wavelength orbital and atmospheric errors that can be difficult to distinguish from the coseismic deformation and may therefore result in biased fault-slip inversions. To study how well InSAR constrains fault-slip of large subduction zone earthquakes, we use data of the 11 March 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake (Mw9.0) and test InSAR-derived fault-slip models against models constrained by GPS data from the extensive nationwide network in Japan. The coseismic deformation field was mapped using InSAR data acquired from multiple ascending and descending passes of the ALOS and Envisat satellites. We then estimated several fault-slip distribution models that were constrained using the InSAR data alone, onland and seafloor GPS/acoustic data, or combinations of the different data sets. Based on comparisons of the slip models, we find that there is no real gain by including InSAR observations for determining the fault slip distribution of this earthquake. That said, however, some of the main fault-slip patterns can be retrieved using the InSAR data alone when estimating long wavelength orbital/atmospheric ramps as a part of the modeling. Our final preferred fault-slip solution of the Tohoku-Oki earthquake is based only on the GPS data and has maximum reverse- and strike-slip of 36.0 m and 6.0 m, respectively, located northeast of the epicenter at a depth of 6 km, and has a total geodetic moment is 3.6 × 1022 Nm (Mw 9.01), similar to seismological estimates.

A time series deformation estimation in the NW Himalayas using SBAS InSAR technique

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, V.; Venkataraman, G.

2012-12-01

A time series land deformation studies in north western Himalayan region has been presented in this study. Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) interferometry (InSAR) is an important tool for measuring the land displacement caused by different geological processes [1]. Frequent spatial and temporal decorrelation in the Himalayan region is a strong impediment in precise deformation estimation using conventional interferometric SAR approach. In such cases, advanced DInSAR approaches PSInSAR as well as Small base line subset (SBAS) can be used to estimate earth surface deformation. The SBAS technique [2] is a DInSAR approach which uses a twelve or more number of repeat SAR acquisitions in different combinations of a properly chosen data (subsets) for generation of DInSAR interferograms using two pass interferometric approach. Finally it leads to the generation of mean deformation velocity maps and displacement time series. Herein, SBAS algorithm has been used for time series deformation estimation in the NW Himalayan region. ENVISAT ASAR IS2 swath data from 2003 to 2008 have been used for quantifying slow deformation. Himalayan region is a very active tectonic belt and active orogeny play a significant role in land deformation process [3]. Geomorphology in the region is unique and reacts to the climate change adversely bringing with land slides and subsidence. Settlements on the hill slopes are prone to land slides, landslips, rockslides and soil creep. These hazardous features have hampered the over all progress of the region as they obstruct the roads and flow of traffic, break communication, block flowing water in stream and create temporary reservoirs and also bring down lot of soil cover and thus add enormous silt and gravel to the streams. It has been observed that average deformation varies from -30.0 mm/year to 10 mm/year in the NW Himalayan region . References [1] Massonnet, D., Feigl, K.L.,Rossi, M. and Adragna, F. (1994) Radar interferometry mapping of

Visible Earthquakes: a web-based tool for visualizing and modeling InSAR earthquake data

Science.gov (United States)

Funning, G. J.; Cockett, R.

2012-12-01

InSAR (Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar) is a technique for measuring the deformation of the ground using satellite radar data. One of the principal applications of this method is in the study of earthquakes; in the past 20 years over 70 earthquakes have been studied in this way, and forthcoming satellite missions promise to enable the routine and timely study of events in the future. Despite the utility of the technique and its widespread adoption by the research community, InSAR does not feature in the teaching curricula of most university geoscience departments. This is, we believe, due to a lack of accessibility to software and data. Existing tools for the visualization and modeling of interferograms are often research-oriented, command line-based and/or prohibitively expensive. Here we present a new web-based interactive tool for comparing real InSAR data with simple elastic models. The overall design of this tool was focused on ease of access and use. This tool should allow interested nonspecialists to gain a feel for the use of such data and greatly facilitate integration of InSAR into upper division geoscience courses, giving students practice in comparing actual data to modeled results. The tool, provisionally named 'Visible Earthquakes', uses web-based technologies to instantly render the displacement field that would be observable using InSAR for a given fault location, geometry, orientation, and slip. The user can adjust these 'source parameters' using a simple, clickable interface, and see how these affect the resulting model interferogram. By visually matching the model interferogram to a real earthquake interferogram (processed separately and included in the web tool) a user can produce their own estimates of the earthquake's source parameters. Once satisfied with the fit of their models, users can submit their results and see how they compare with the distribution of all other contributed earthquake models, as well as the mean and median

Block-like plate movements in eastern Anatolia observed by InSAR

KAUST Repository

Cavalie, Olivier; Jonsson, Sigurjon

2014-01-01

The question whether continental plates deform internally or move as rigid blocks has been debated for several decades. To further address this question, we use large-scale interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) data sets to study how

TOWARDS CHANGE DETECTION IN URBAN AREA BY SAR INTERFEROMETRY AND RADARGRAMMETRY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. Dubois

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Change detection in urban area is an active topic in remote sensing. However, well-dealt subject in optical remote sensing, this research topic is still at an early stage and needs deeper investigations and improvement in what concerns SAR and InSAR remote sensing. Due to their weather and daylight-independency, SAR sensors allow an all-time observation of the earth. This is determining in cases where rapid change detection is required after a natural – or technological – disaster. Due to the high resolution that can be achieved, the new generation of space-borne radar sensors opens up new perspectives for analysing buildings in urban areas. Moreover, due to their short revisiting cycle, they give rise to monitoring and change detection applications. In this paper, we present a concept for change detection in urban area at building level, relying only on SAR- and InSAR data. In this approach, interferometric and radargrammetric SAR data are merged in order to detect changes. Here, we present the overall workflow, the test area, the required data as well as first findings on the best-suited stereo-configurations for change detection.

Mapping ground surface deformation using temporarily coherent point SAR interferometry: Application to Los Angeles Basin

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, L.; Lu, Zhong; Ding, X.; Jung, H.-S.; Feng, G.; Lee, C.-W.

2012-01-01

Multi-temporal interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) is an effective tool to detect long-term seismotectonic motions by reducing the atmospheric artifacts, thereby providing more precise deformation signal. The commonly used approaches such as persistent scatterer InSAR (PSInSAR) and small baseline subset (SBAS) algorithms need to resolve the phase ambiguities in interferogram stacks either by searching a predefined solution space or by sparse phase unwrapping methods; however the efficiency and the success of phase unwrapping cannot be guaranteed. We present here an alternative approach – temporarily coherent point (TCP) InSAR (TCPInSAR) – to estimate the long term deformation rate without the need of phase unwrapping. The proposed approach has a series of innovations including TCP identification, TCP network and TCP least squares estimator. We apply the proposed method to the Los Angeles Basin in southern California where structurally active faults are believed capable of generating damaging earthquakes. The analysis is based on 55 interferograms from 32 ERS-1/2 images acquired during Oct. 1995 and Dec. 2000. To evaluate the performance of TCPInSAR on a small set of observations, a test with half of interferometric pairs is also performed. The retrieved TCPInSAR measurements have been validated by a comparison with GPS observations from Southern California Integrated GPS Network. Our result presents a similar deformation pattern as shown in past InSAR studies but with a smaller average standard deviation (4.6 mm) compared with GPS observations, indicating that TCPInSAR is a promising alternative for efficiently mapping ground deformation even from a relatively smaller set of interferograms.

Advanced Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Imaging Radar (InSAR) for Dune Mapping

Science.gov (United States)

Havivi, Shiran; Amir, Doron; Schvartzman, Ilan; August, Yitzhak; Mamman, Shimrit; Rotman, Stanely R.; Blumberg, Dan G.

2016-04-01

Aeolian morphologies are formed in the presence of sufficient wind energy and available lose particles. These processes occur naturally or are further enhanced or reduced by human intervention. The dimensions of change are dependent primarily on the wind energy and surface properties. Since the 1970s, remote sensing imagery, both optical and radar, have been used for documentation and interpretation of the geomorphologic changes of sand dunes. Remote sensing studies of aeolian morphologies is mostly useful to document major changes, yet, subtle changes, occurring in a period of days or months in scales of centimeters, are very difficult to detect in imagery. Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) is an imaging technique for measuring Earth's surface topography and deformation. InSAR images are produced by measuring the radar phase difference between two separated antennas that view the same surface area. Classical InSAR is based on high coherence between two or more images. The output (interferogram) can show subtle changes with an accuracy of several millimeters to centimeters. Very little work has been done on measuring or identifying the changes in dunes using InSAR methods. The reason is that dunes tend to be less coherent than firm, stable, surfaces. This work aims to demonstrate how interferometric decorrelation can be used for identifying dune instability. We hypothesize and demonstrate that the loss of radar coherence over time on dunes can be used as an indication of the dune's instability. When SAR images are acquired at sufficiently close intervals one can measure the time it takes to lose coherence and associate this time with geomorphic stability. To achieve our goals, the coherence change detection method was used, in order to identify dune stability or instability and the dune activity level. The Nitzanim-Ashdod coastal dunes along the Mediterranean, 40 km south of Tel-Aviv, Israel, were chosen as a case study. The dunes in this area are of

Global Compilation of InSAR Earthquake Source Models: Comparisons with Seismic Catalogues and the Effects of 3D Earth Structure

Science.gov (United States)

Weston, J. M.; Ferreira, A. M.; Funning, G. J.

2010-12-01

While past progress in seismology led to extensive earthquake catalogues such as the Global Centroid Moment Tensor (GCMT) catalogue, recent advances in space geodesy have enabled earthquake parameter estimations from the measurement of the deformation of the Earth’s surface, notably using InSAR data. Many earthquakes have now been studied using InSAR, but a full assessment of the quality and of the additional value of these source parameters compared to traditional seismological techniques is still lacking. In this study we present results of systematic comparisons between earthquake CMT parameters determined using InSAR and seismic data, on a global scale. We compiled a large database of source parameters obtained using InSAR data from the literature and estimated the corresponding CMT parameters into a ICMT compilation. We here present results from the analysis of 58 earthquakes that occurred between 1992-2007 from about 80 published InSAR studies. Multiple studies of the same earthquake are included in the archive, as they are valuable to assess uncertainties. Where faults are segmented, with changes in width along-strike, a weighted average based on the seismic moment in each fault has been used to determine overall earthquake parameters. For variable slip models, we have calculated source parameters taking the spatial distribution of slip into account. The parameters in our ICMT compilation are compared with those taken from the Global CMT (GCMT), ISC, EHB and NEIC catalogues. We find that earthquake fault strike, dip and rake values in the GCMT and ICMT archives are generally compatible with each other. Likewise, the differences in seismic moment in these two archives are relatively small. However, the locations of the centroid epicentres show substantial discrepancies, which are larger when comparing with GCMT locations (10-30km differences) than for EHB, ISC and NEIC locations (5-15km differences). Since InSAR data have a high spatial resolution, and thus

Multi-temporal InSAR Datastacks for Surface Deformation Monitoring: a Review

Science.gov (United States)

Ferretti, A.; Novali, F.; Prati, C.; Rocca, F.

2009-04-01

In the last decade extensive processing of thousands of satellite radar scenes acquired by different sensors (e.g. ERS-1/2, ENVISAT and RADARSAT) has demonstrated how multi-temporal data-sets can be successfully exploited for surface deformation monitoring, by identifying objects on the terrain that have a stable, point-like behaviour. These objects, referred to as Permanent or Persistent Scatterers (PS), can be geo-coded and monitored for movement very accurately, acting as a "natural" geodetic network, integrating successfully continuous GPS data. After a brief analysis of both advantages and drawbacks of InSAR datastacks, the paper presents examples of applications of PS measurements for detecting and monitoring active faults, aquifers and oil/gas reservoirs, using experience in Europe, North America and Japan, and concludes with a discussion on future directions for PSInSAR analysis. Special attention is paid to the possibility of creating deformation maps over wide areas using historical archives of data already available. This second part of the paper will briefly discuss the technical features of the new radar sensors recently launched (namely: TerraSAR-X, RADARSAT-2, and CosmoSkyMed) and their impact on space geodesy, highlighting the importance of data continuity and standardized acquisition policies for almost all InSAR and PSInSAR applications. Finally, recent advances in the algorithms applied in PS analysis, such as detection of "temporary PS", PS characterization and exploitation of distributed scatterers, will be briefly discussed based on the processing of real data.

Engaging students in geodesy: A quantitative InSAR module for undergraduate tectonics and geophysics classes

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, H.; Charlevoix, D. J.; Pritchard, M. E.; Lohman, R. B.

2013-12-01

In the last several decades, advances in geodetic technology have allowed us to significantly expand our knowledge of processes acting on and beneath the Earth's surface. Many of these advances have come as a result of EarthScope, a community of scientists conducting multidisciplinary Earth science research utilizing freely accessible data from a variety of instruments. The geodetic component of EarthScope includes the acquisition of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images, which are archived at the UNAVCO facility. Interferometric SAR complements the spatial and temporal coverage of GPS and allows monitoring of ground deformation in remote areas worldwide. However, because of the complex software required for processing, InSAR data are not readily accessible to most students. Even with these challenges, exposure at the undergraduate level is important for showing how geodesy can be applied in various areas of the geosciences and for promoting geodesy as a future career path. Here we present a module focused on exploring the tectonics of the western United States using InSAR data for use in undergraduate tectonics and geophysics classes. The module has two major objectives: address topics concerning tectonics in the western U.S. including Basin and Range extension, Yellowstone hotspot activity, and creep in southern California, and familiarize students with how imperfect real-world data can be manipulated and interpreted. Module questions promote critical thinking skills and data literacy by prompting students to use the information given to confront and question assumptions (e.g. 'Is there a consistency between seismic rates and permanent earthquake deformation? What other factors might need to be considered besides seismicity?'). The module consists of an introduction to the basics of InSAR and three student exercises, each focused on one of the topics listed above. Students analyze pre-processed InSAR data using MATLAB, or an Excel equivalent, and draw on GPS and

Three-dimensional coastal geomorphology deformation modelling using differential synthetic aperture interferometry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Marghany, Maged [Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, Johor Bahru (Malaysia). Inst. for Science and Technology Geospatial (INSTeG)

2012-06-15

This work presents a new approach for three-dimensional (3D) coastal deformation simulation using differential synthetic aperture interferometry (DInSAR). In doing so, conventional InSAR procedures are implemented to three repeat passes of RADARSAT-1 SAR fine mode data (F1). Further, the DInSAR method is implemented with the phase unwrapping technique. Consequently, DInSAR is used to eliminate the phase decorrelation impact from the interferograms. The study shows the accurate performance of DInSAR with a root mean square error of 0.02 {+-} 0.21 m and 90% confidence intervals. In conclusion, the DInSAR technique produces an accurate 3D coastal geomorphology reconstruction. (orig.)

Application of InSAR to detection of localized subsidence and its effects on flood protection infrastructure in the New Orleans area

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Cathleen; Blom, Ronald; Latini, Daniele

2014-05-01

The vulnerability of the United States Gulf of Mexico coast to inundation has received increasing attention in the years since hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Flood protection is a challenge throughout the area, but the population density and cumulative effect of historic subsidence makes it particularly difficult in the New Orleans area. Analysis of historical and continuing geodetic measurements identifies a surprising degree of complexity in subsidence (Dokka 2011), including regions that are subsiding at rates faster than those considered during planning for hurricane protection and for coastal restoration projects. Improved measurements are possible through combining traditional single point, precise geodetic data with interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) observations for to obtain geographically dense constraints on surface deformation. The Gulf Coast environment is very challenging for InSAR techniques, especially with systems not designed for interferometry. We are applying pair-wise InSAR to longer wavelength (L-band, 24 cm) synthetic aperture radar data acquired with the airborne UAVSAR instrument (http://uavsar.jpl.nasa.gov/) to detect localized change impacting flood protection infrastructure in the New Orleans area during the period from 2009 - 2013. Because aircraft motion creates large-scale image artifacts across the scene, we focus on localized areas on and near flood protection infrastructure to identify anomalous change relative to the surrounding area indicative of subsidence, structural deformation, and/or seepage (Jones et al., 2011) to identify areas where problems exist. C-band and particularly X-band radar returns decorrelate over short time periods in rural or less urbanized areas and are more sensitive to atmospheric affects, necessitating more elaborate analysis techniques or, at least, a strict limit on the temporal baseline. The new generation of spaceborne X-band SAR acquisitions ensure relatively high frequency of

Source model for the Copahue volcano magma plumbing system constrained by InSAR surface deformation observations

OpenAIRE

Paul Lundgren; M. Nikkhoo; Sergey V. Samsonov; Pietro Milillo; Fernando Gil-Cruz; Jonathan Lazo

2017-01-01

Tar files for each of the InSAR time series (interferograms used in the GIAnT time series computation as well as the input files and outputs from using GIAnT). GIAnT is an open source InSAR time series code developed at Caltech. The UAVSAR_*.tgz files contain the interferograms from the UAVSAR airborne system that were used in the analysis. The actual model input files require some additional down sampling using resamptool.m a Matlab code developed by Prof. R. Lohman, Cornell Univ.

The management of scarce water resources using GNSS, InSAR ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

GNSS receivers were run continuously for a period of 133 days between March and August 2014 to detect possible surface subsidence during pumping and artesian free flow extraction of water in the wellfield. Two InSAR scenes were processed, one during the peak period of water extraction from the wellfield and the other ...

Preliminary Study of Ground Movement in Prone Landslide Area by Means of MAI InSAR A Case Study: Ciloto, West Java, Indonesia

Science.gov (United States)

Hayati, Noorlaila; Riedel, Björn; Niemeier, Wolfgang

2016-04-01

Ciloto is one of the most prone landslide hazard areas in Indonesia. Several landslides in 2012 and 2013 had been recorded in Ciloto and damaged infrastructure around the area. Investigating the history of ground movement along slope area before the landslide happened could support the hazard mitigation in the future. Considering to an efficient surveying method, space-borne SAR processing is the one appropriate way to monitor the phenomenon in past years. The purpose of this study is detecting ground movement using multi-temporal synthetic aperture radar images. We use 13 ALOS PALSAR images from 2007 to 2009 with combination Fine Beam Single (FBS) and Fine Beam Double (FBD) polarization to investigate the slow movement on slope topography. MAI (Multiple Aperture Interferometry) InSAR method is used to analyze the ground movement from both line-of-sight and along-track direction. We split the synthetic aperture into two-looking aperture so that along-track displacement could be created by the difference of forward-backward looking interferograms. With integration of both methods, we could more precisely detect the movement in prone landslide area and achieve two measurements produced by the same interferogram. However, InSAR requires smaller baseline and good temporal baseline between master and slave images to avoid decorellation. There are only several pairs that meet the condition of proper length and temporal baseline indeed the location is also on the agriculture area where is mostly covered by vegetation. The result for two years observation shows that there is insignificant slow movement along slope surface in Ciloto with -2 - -7 cm in range looks or line of sight and 9-40 cm in along track direction. Based on geometry SAR , the most visible detecting of displacement is on the north-west area due to utilization of ascending SAR images.

Complex surface deformation of Akutan volcano, Alaska revealed from InSAR time series

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Teng; DeGrandpre, Kimberly; Lu, Zhong; Freymueller, Jeffrey T.

2018-02-01

Akutan volcano is one of the most active volcanoes in the Aleutian arc. An intense swarm of volcano-tectonic earthquakes occurred across the island in 1996. Surface deformation after the 1996 earthquake sequence has been studied using Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR), yet it is hard to determine the detailed temporal behavior and spatial extent of the deformation due to decorrelation and the sparse temporal sampling of SAR data. Atmospheric delay anomalies over Akutan volcano are also strong, bringing additional technical challenges. Here we present a time series InSAR analysis from 2003 to 2016 to reveal the surface deformation in more detail. Four tracks of Envisat data acquired from 2003 to 2010 and one track of TerraSAR-X data acquired from 2010 to 2016 are processed to produce high-resolution surface deformation, with a focus on studying two transient episodes of inflation in 2008 and 2014. For the TerraSAR-X data, the atmospheric delay is estimated and removed using the common-master stacking method. These derived deformation maps show a consistently uplifting area on the northeastern flank of the volcano. From the TerraSAR-X data, we quantify the velocity of the subsidence inside the caldera to be as high as 10 mm/year, and identify another subsidence area near the ground cracks created during the 1996 swarm.

Continuing inflation at Three Sisters volcanic center, central Oregon Cascade Range, USA, from GPS, leveling, and InSAR observations

Science.gov (United States)

Dzurisin, Daniel; Lisowski, Michael; Wicks, Charles W.

2009-12-01

Uplift of a broad area centered ~6 km west of the summit of South Sister volcano started in September 1997 (onset estimated from model discussed in this paper) and was continuing when surveyed in August 2006. Surface displacements were measured whenever possible since August 1992 with satellite radar interferometry (InSAR), annually since August 2001 with GPS and leveling surveys, and with continuous GPS since May 2001. The average maximum displacement rate from InSAR decreased from 3-5 cm/yr during 1998-2001 to ~1.4 cm/yr during 2004-2006. The other datasets show a similar pattern, i.e., surface uplift and extension rates decreased over time but deformation continued through August 2006. Our best-fit model to the deformation data is a vertical, prolate, spheroidal point-pressure source located 4.9-5.4 km below the surface. The source inflation rate decreased exponentially during 2001-2006 with a 1/ e decay time of 5.3 ± 1.1 years. The net increase in source volume from September 1997 to August 2006 was 36.5-41.9 x 106 m3. A swarm of ~300 small ( M max = 1.9) earthquakes occurred beneath the deforming area in March 2004; no other unusual seismicity has been noted. Similar deformation episodes in the past probably would have gone unnoticed if, as we suspect, most are small intrusions that do not culminate in eruptions.

High-accuracy single-pass InSAR DEM for large-scale flood hazard applications

Science.gov (United States)

Schumann, G.; Faherty, D.; Moller, D.

2017-12-01

In this study, we used a unique opportunity of the GLISTIN-A (NASA airborne mission designed to characterizing the cryosphere) track to Greenland to acquire a high-resolution InSAR DEM of a large area in the Red River of the North Basin (north of Grand Forks, ND, USA), which is a very flood-vulnerable valley, particularly in spring time due to increased soil moisture content near state of saturation and/or, typical for this region, snowmelt. Having an InSAR DEM that meets flood inundation modeling and mapping requirements comparable to LiDAR, would demonstrate great application potential of new radar technology for national agencies with an operational flood forecasting mandate and also local state governments active in flood event prediction, disaster response and mitigation. Specifically, we derived a bare-earth DEM in SAR geometry by first removing the inherent far range bias related to airborne operation, which at the more typical large-scale DEM resolution of 30 m has a sensor accuracy of plus or minus 2.5 cm. Subsequently, an intelligent classifier based on informed relationships between InSAR height, intensity and correlation was used to distinguish between bare-earth, roads or embankments, buildings and tall vegetation in order to facilitate the creation of a bare-earth DEM that would meet the requirements for accurate floodplain inundation mapping. Using state-of-the-art LiDAR terrain data, we demonstrate that capability by achieving a root mean squared error of approximately 25 cm and further illustrating its applicability to flood modeling.

Elevation Extraction and Deformation Monitoring by Multitemporal InSAR of Lupu Bridge in Shanghai

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jingwen Zhao

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Monitoring, assessing, and understanding the structural health of large infrastructures, such as buildings, bridges, dams, tunnels, and highways, is important for urban development and management, as the gradual deterioration of such structures may result in catastrophic structural failure leading to high personal and economic losses. With a higher spatial resolution and a shorter revisit period, interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR plays an increasing role in the deformation monitoring and height extraction of structures. As a focal point of the InSAR data processing chain, phase unwrapping has a direct impact on the accuracy of the results. In complex urban areas, large elevation differences between the top and bottom parts of a large structure combined with a long interferometric baseline can result in a serious phase-wrapping problem. Here, with no accurate digital surface model (DSM available, we handle the large phase gradients of arcs in multitemporal InSAR processing using a long–short baseline iteration method. Specifically, groups of interferometric pairs with short baselines are processed to obtain the rough initial elevation estimations of the persistent scatterers (PSs. The baseline threshold is then loosened in subsequent iterations to improve the accuracy of the elevation estimates step by step. The LLL lattice reduction algorithm (by Lenstra, Lenstra, and Lovász is applied in the InSAR phase unwrapping process to rapidly reduce the search radius, compress the search space, and improve the success rate in resolving the phase ambiguities. Once the elevations of the selected PSs are determined, they are used in the following two-dimensional phase regression involving both elevations and deformations. A case study of Lupu Bridge in Shanghai is carried out for the algorithm’s verification. The estimated PS elevations agree well (within 1 m with the official Lupu Bridge model data, while the PS deformation time series

Improving InSAR geodesy using Global Atmospheric Models

Science.gov (United States)

Jolivet, Romain; Agram, Piyush Shanker; Lin, Nina Y.; Simons, Mark; Doin, Marie-Pierre; Peltzer, Gilles; Li, Zhenghong

2014-03-01

Spatial and temporal variations of pressure, temperature, and water vapor content in the atmosphere introduce significant confounding delays in interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) observations of ground deformation and bias estimates of regional strain rates. Producing robust estimates of tropospheric delays remains one of the key challenges in increasing the accuracy of ground deformation measurements using InSAR. Recent studies revealed the efficiency of global atmospheric reanalysis to mitigate the impact of tropospheric delays, motivating further exploration of their potential. Here we explore the effectiveness of these models in several geographic and tectonic settings on both single interferograms and time series analysis products. Both hydrostatic and wet contributions to the phase delay are important to account for. We validate these path delay corrections by comparing with estimates of vertically integrated atmospheric water vapor content derived from the passive multispectral imager Medium-Resolution Imaging Spectrometer, onboard the Envisat satellite. Generally, the performance of the prediction depends on the vigor of atmospheric turbulence. We discuss (1) how separating atmospheric and orbital contributions allows one to better measure long-wavelength deformation and (2) how atmospheric delays affect measurements of surface deformation following earthquakes, and (3) how such a method allows us to reduce biases in multiyear strain rate estimates by reducing the influence of unevenly sampled seasonal oscillations of the tropospheric delay.

Polarimetric SAR interferometry applied to land ice: modeling

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dall, Jørgen; Papathanassiou, Konstantinos; Skriver, Henning

2004-01-01

This paper introduces a few simple scattering models intended for the application of polarimetric SAR interfer-ometry to land ice. The principal aim is to eliminate the penetration bias hampering ice sheet elevation maps generated with single-channel SAR interferometry. The polarimetric coherent...... scattering models are similar to the oriented-volume model and the random-volume-over-ground model used in vegetation studies, but the ice models are adapted to the different geometry of land ice. Also, due to compaction, land ice is not uniform; a fact that must be taken into account for large penetration...... depths. The validity of the scattering models is examined using L-band polarimetric interferometric SAR data acquired with the EMISAR system over an ice cap located in the percolation zone of the Greenland ice sheet. Radar reflectors were deployed on the ice surface prior to the data acquisition in order...

Measurement of Seaward Ground Displacements on Coastal Landfill Area Using Radar Interferometry

Science.gov (United States)

Baek, W.-K.; Jung, H.-S.

2018-04-01

In order to understand the mechanism of subsidence and help reducing damage, researchers has been observed the line-of-sight subsidence on the Noksan industrial complex using SAR Interferometry(InSAR) and suggested subsidence prediction models. Although these researches explained a spatially uneven ground subsidence near the seaside, they could not have been explained the occurrence of the newly proposed seaward horizontal, especially nearly north-ward, displacement because of the geometric limitation of InSAR measurements. In this study, we measured the seaward ground displacements trend on the coastal landfill area, Noksan Industrial Complex. We set the interferometric pairs from an ascending and a descending orbits strip map data of ALOS PALSAR2. We employed InSAR and MAI stacking approaches for the both orbits respectively in order to improve the measurement. Finally, seaward deformation was estimated by retrieving three-dimensional displacements from multi-geometric displacements. As a results, maximally 3.3 and 0.7 cm/year of ground displacements for the vertical and seaward directions. In further study, we plan to generate InSAR and MAI stacking measurements with additional SAR data to mitigate tropospheric effect and noise well. Such a seaward observation approach using spaceborne radar is expected to be effective in observing the long-term movements on coastal landfill area.

InSAR data for geohazard assessment in UNESCO World Heritage sites: state-of-the-art and perspectives in the Copernicus era

Science.gov (United States)

Tapete, Deodato; Cigna, Francesca

2017-12-01

Protection of natural and cultural heritage is encompassed by the United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and is among the innovative applications and services of the European Union's Earth Observation programme Copernicus. We are currently witnessing an increasing exploitation of Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) methods to assess geohazards affecting cultural heritage. This paper offers the first data mining exercise to identify InSAR geoinformation that is digitally available and/or published and that spatially includes one or more cultural, natural and mixed UNESCO World Heritage Site (WHS). The exercise focused on the 45 countries of geographical Europe, Turkey, Israel and the Russian Federation, and their 445 WHS of Outstanding Universal Value. We built a database of academic and grey literature collated via a Boolean search of the ISI Web of Science catalogue and systematic skim-reading to a total number of 280 publications as of the end of 2016. Over 460 InSAR open access digital datasets were also analysed. We found clusters of WHS covered by InSAR data in Italy, the Netherlands, western Germany, eastern Spain, Greece and the UK that match with the geographic distribution of InSAR expertise and geohazard hotspots. The existing stock of InSAR geoinformation already provides an overall WHS coverage of 36%, with similar proportion of available data for 'urban' (40%) and 'rural' (34%) WHS. The sites with the highest number of publications are historic city centres (e.g. Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, Lisbon, Paris, Rome), as well as Permanent Geohazard Supersites (e.g. Mt. Etna, Naples, Istanbul), where the impact of natural and/or anthropogenic processes is well known. First generation SAR data (mainly ERS-1/2) predominate in the literature with over 15 new publications/year since 2002, whilst second and third generation data show less pronounced rates since 2007 and 2014, respectively. The current engagement level of end

Collaborative Research: Ground Truth of African and Eastern Mediterranean Shallow Seismicity Using SAR Interferometry and Gibbs Sampling Inversion

Science.gov (United States)

2006-10-05

the likely existence of a small foreshock . 2. BACKGROUND 2.1. InSAR The most well-known examples of InSAR used as a geodetic tool involve...the event. We have used the seismic waveforms in the Sultan Dag event to identify a small foreshock preceding the main shock by about 3 seconds

Block adjustment of airborne InSAR based on interferogram phase and POS data

Science.gov (United States)

Yue, Xijuan; Zhao, Yinghui; Han, Chunming; Dou, Changyong

2015-12-01

High-precision surface elevation information in large scale can be obtained efficiently by airborne Interferomatric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) system, which is recently becoming an important tool to acquire remote sensing data and perform mapping applications in the area where surveying and mapping is difficult to be accomplished by spaceborne satellite or field working. . Based on the study of the three-dimensional (3D) positioning model using interferogram phase and Position and Orientation System (POS) data and block adjustment error model, a block adjustment method to produce seamless wide-area mosaic product generated from airborne InSAR data is proposed in this paper. The effect of 6 parameters, including trajectory and attitude of the aircraft, baseline length and incline angle, slant range, and interferometric phase, on the 3D positioning accuracy is quantitatively analyzed. Using the data acquired in the field campaign conducted in Mianyang county Sichuan province, China in June 2011, a mosaic seamless Digital Elevation Model (DEM) product was generated from 76 images in 4 flight strips by the proposed block adjustment model. The residuals of ground control points (GCPs), the absolute positioning accuracy of check points (CPs) and the relative positioning accuracy of tie points (TPs) both in same and adjacent strips were assessed. The experimental results suggest that the DEM and Digital Orthophoto Map (DOM) product generated by the airborne InSAR data with sparse GCPs can meet mapping accuracy requirement at scale of 1:10 000.

The 2006-2012 deformation at Sakurajima stratovolcano (Japan) detected via spaceborne multisensor SAR Interferometry

Science.gov (United States)

Pepe, Susi; Trippanera, Daniele; Casu, Francesco; Tizzani, Pietro; Nobile, Adriano; Aoki, Yosuke; Zoffoli, Simona; Acocella, Valerio; Sansosti, Eugenio

2013-04-01

We analyze the evolution of the ground deformation at Sakurajima active stratovolcano located in the Aira caldera (Kagoshima prefecture Japan). This caldera, extending over more than 20 km, has been formed as a consequence of a huge eruption, occurred 22,000 years ago, that caused a magma chamber collapse. The Sakurajima volcano is an andesitic cone formed by more recent activity within the caldera, beginning about 13,000 years ago. Its first historical recorded eruption occurred in 963 AD. Most eruptions are Strombolian and Vulcanian and affect only the summit area. The larger explosive (plinian) eruptions occurred in 1471-1476, 1779-1782 and 1914, each producing 1 - 2 km3 of lava and pyroclastic materials. Explosive eruptions of Vulcanian type, with ash emissions, have occurred intermittently from 1955 to 2002. From 2009 to December 2012, a strong and continuous period of volcanic activity has been recorded mainly at the Showa Crater producing plumes that reached altitudes of 1.8-3.5 km. In order to analyze the active deformation processes of the volcano complex and its surrounding areas, we performed SAR Interferometry (InSAR) techniques by using COSMOSkyMed (X-band) and ALOS (L-band) data. The joint data analysis allowed us to increase the spatial coverage of InSAR measurements., we processed 19 descending and 25 ascending orbit SAR images acquired by ALOS satellite from 2008 to 2011 and 2006 to 2011, respectively; we computed 57 descending and 71 ascending interferograms which were subsequently inverted via SBAS-InSAR algorithm to obtain mean velocity maps and deformation time series. The X-band dataset consists of 20 images acquired only on descending orbits between 2011 and 2012; from this dataset we computed 44 interferograms. The preliminary analysis of the mean deformation velocity reveals the presence of a consistent uplift signal in the North region of the Sakurajima Island that extends also to the North sector of Kagoshima bay. The corresponding

Software for Generating Troposphere Corrections for InSAR Using GPS and Weather Model Data

Science.gov (United States)

Moore, Angelyn W.; Webb, Frank H.; Fishbein, Evan F.; Fielding, Eric J.; Owen, Susan E.; Granger, Stephanie L.; Bjoerndahl, Fredrik; Loefgren, Johan; Fang, Peng; Means, James D.;

Secondary Fault Activity of the North Anatolian Fault near Avcilar, Southwest of Istanbul: Evidence from SAR Interferometry Observations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Faqi Diao

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Strike-slip faults may be traced along thousands of kilometers, e.g., the San Andreas Fault (USA or the North Anatolian Fault (Turkey. A closer look at such continental-scale strike faults reveals localized complexities in fault geometry, associated with fault segmentation, secondary faults and a change of related hazards. The North Anatolian Fault displays such complexities nearby the mega city Istanbul, which is a place where earthquake risks are high, but secondary processes are not well understood. In this paper, long-term persistent scatterer interferometry (PSI analysis of synthetic aperture radar (SAR data time series was used to precisely identify the surface deformation pattern associated with the faulting complexity at the prominent bend of the North Anatolian Fault near Istanbul city. We elaborate the relevance of local faulting activity and estimate the fault status (slip rate and locking depth for the first time using satellite SAR interferometry (InSAR technology. The studied NW-SE-oriented fault on land is subject to strike-slip movement at a mean slip rate of ~5.0 mm/year and a shallow locking depth of <1.0 km and thought to be directly interacting with the main fault branch, with important implications for tectonic coupling. Our results provide the first geodetic evidence on the segmentation of a major crustal fault with a structural complexity and associated multi-hazards near the inhabited regions of Istanbul, with similarities also to other major strike-slip faults that display changes in fault traces and mechanisms.

Remote Sensing of Deformation of a High Concrete-Faced Rockfill Dam Using InSAR: A Study of the Shuibuya Dam, China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wei Zhou

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Settlement is one of the most important deformation characteristics of high concrete faced rockfill dams (CFRDs, >100 m. High CFRDs safety would pose a great threat to the security of people’s lives and property downstream if this kind of deformation were not to be measured correctly, as traditional monitoring approaches have limitations in terms of durability, coverage, and efficiency. It has become urgent to develop new monitoring techniques to complement or replace traditional monitoring approaches for monitoring the safety and operation status of high CFRDs. This study examines the Shuibuya Dam (up to 233.5 m in height in China, which is currently the highest CFRD in the world. We used space-borne Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR time series to monitor the surface deformation of the Shuibuya Dam. Twenty-one ALOS PALSAR images that span the period from 28 February 2007 to 11 March 2011 were used to map the spatial and temporal deformation of the dam. A high correlation of 0.93 between the InSAR and the in-situ monitoring results confirmed the reliability of the InSAR method; the deformation history derived from InSAR is also consistent with the in-situ settlement monitoring system. In addition, the InSAR results allow continuous investigation of dam deformation over a wide area that includes the entire dam surface as well as the surrounding area, offering a clear picture continuously of the dam deformation.

Simplex GPS and InSAR Inversion Software

Science.gov (United States)

Donnellan, Andrea; Parker, Jay W.; Lyzenga, Gregory A.; Pierce, Marlon E.

2012-01-01

Changes in the shape of the Earth's surface can be routinely measured with precisions better than centimeters. Processes below the surface often drive these changes and as a result, investigators require models with inversion methods to characterize the sources. Simplex inverts any combination of GPS (global positioning system), UAVSAR (uninhabited aerial vehicle synthetic aperture radar), and InSAR (interferometric synthetic aperture radar) data simultaneously for elastic response from fault and fluid motions. It can be used to solve for multiple faults and parameters, all of which can be specified or allowed to vary. The software can be used to study long-term tectonic motions and the faults responsible for those motions, or can be used to invert for co-seismic slip from earthquakes. Solutions involving estimation of fault motion and changes in fluid reservoirs such as magma or water are possible. Any arbitrary number of faults or parameters can be considered. Simplex specifically solves for any of location, geometry, fault slip, and expansion/contraction of a single or multiple faults. It inverts GPS and InSAR data for elastic dislocations in a half-space. Slip parameters include strike slip, dip slip, and tensile dislocations. It includes a map interface for both setting up the models and viewing the results. Results, including faults, and observed, computed, and residual displacements, are output in text format, a map interface, and can be exported to KML. The software interfaces with the QuakeTables database allowing a user to select existing fault parameters or data. Simplex can be accessed through the QuakeSim portal graphical user interface or run from a UNIX command line.

Spatiotemporal Characterization of Land Subsidence and Uplift (2009–2010 over Wuhan in Central China Revealed by TerraSAR-X InSAR Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lin Bai

2016-04-01

Full Text Available The effects of ground deformation pose a significant geo-hazard to the environment and infrastructure in Wuhan, the most populous city in Central China, in the eastern Jianghan Plain at the intersection of the Yangtze and Han rivers. Prior to this study, however, rates and patterns of region-wide ground deformation in Wuhan were little known. Here we employ multi-temporal SAR interferometry to detect and characterize spatiotemporal variations of ground deformation in major metropolitan areas in Wuhan. A total of twelve TerraSAR-X images acquired during 2009–2010 are used in the InSAR time series analysis. InSAR-derived results are validated by levelling survey measurements and reveal a distinct subsidence pattern within six zones in major commercial and industrial areas, with a maximum subsidence rate up to −67.3 mm/year. A comparison analysis between subsiding patterns and urban developments as well as geological conditions suggests that land subsidence in Wuhan is mainly attributed to anthropogenic activities, natural compaction of soft soil, and karst dissolution of subsurface carbonate rocks. However, anthropogenic activities related to intensive municipal construction and industrial production have more significant impacts on the measured subsidence than natural factors. Moreover, remarkable signals of secular land uplift are found along both banks of the Yangtze River, especially along the southern bank, with deformation rates ranging mostly from +5 mm/year to +17.5 mm/year. A strong temporal correlation is highlighted between the detected displacement evolutions and the water level records of the Yangtze River, inferring that this previously unknown deformation phenomenon is likely related to seasonal fluctuations in water levels of the Yangtze River.

Spatial scale of deformation constrained by combinations of InSAR and GPS observations in Southern California

Science.gov (United States)

Lohman, R. B.; Scott, C. P.

2014-12-01

Efforts to understand the buildup and release of strain within the Earth's crust often rely on well-characterized observations of ground deformation, over time scales that include interseismic periods, earthquakes, and transient deformation episodes. Constraints on current rates of surface deformation in 1-, 2- or 3-dimensions can be obtained by examining sets of GPS and Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) observations, both alone and in combination. Contributions to the observed signal often include motion along faults, seasonal cycles of subsidence and recharge associated with aquifers, anthropogenic extraction of hydrocarbons, and variations in atmospheric water vapor and ionospheric properties. Here we examine methods for extracting time-varying ground deformation signals from combinations of InSAR and GPS data, real and synthetic, applied to Southern California. We show that two methods for combining the data through removal of a GPS-constrained function (a plane, and filtering) from the InSAR result in a clear tradeoff between the contribution from the two datatypes at diffferent spatial scales. We also show that the contribution to the secular rates at GPS sites from seasonal signals is large enough to be a significant error in this estimation process, and should be accounted for.

InSAR remote sensing for performance monitoring of transportation infrastructure at the network level.

Science.gov (United States)

2016-01-11

The goal of the project was the implementation of interferometric synthetic aperture radar : (InSAR) monitoring techniques to allow for early detection of geohazard, potentially : affecting the transportation infrastructure, as well as the monitoring...

InSAR Scientific Computing Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Rosen, Paul A.; Sacco, Gian Franco; Gurrola, Eric M.; Zabker, Howard A.

2011-01-01

This computing environment is the next generation of geodetic image processing technology for repeat-pass Interferometric Synthetic Aperture (InSAR) sensors, identified by the community as a needed capability to provide flexibility and extensibility in reducing measurements from radar satellites and aircraft to new geophysical products. This software allows users of interferometric radar data the flexibility to process from Level 0 to Level 4 products using a variety of algorithms and for a range of available sensors. There are many radar satellites in orbit today delivering to the science community data of unprecedented quantity and quality, making possible large-scale studies in climate research, natural hazards, and the Earth's ecosystem. The proposed DESDynI mission, now under consideration by NASA for launch later in this decade, would provide time series and multiimage measurements that permit 4D models of Earth surface processes so that, for example, climate-induced changes over time would become apparent and quantifiable. This advanced data processing technology, applied to a global data set such as from the proposed DESDynI mission, enables a new class of analyses at time and spatial scales unavailable using current approaches. This software implements an accurate, extensible, and modular processing system designed to realize the full potential of InSAR data from future missions such as the proposed DESDynI, existing radar satellite data, as well as data from the NASA UAVSAR (Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar), and other airborne platforms. The processing approach has been re-thought in order to enable multi-scene analysis by adding new algorithms and data interfaces, to permit user-reconfigurable operation and extensibility, and to capitalize on codes already developed by NASA and the science community. The framework incorporates modern programming methods based on recent research, including object-oriented scripts controlling legacy and

Groundwater depletion in Central Mexico: Use of GRACE and InSAR to support water resources management

Science.gov (United States)

Castellazzi, Pascal; Martel, Richard; Rivera, Alfonso; Huang, Jianliang; Pavlic, Goran; Calderhead, Angus I.; Chaussard, Estelle; Garfias, Jaime; Salas, Javier

2016-08-01

Groundwater deficits occur in several areas of Central Mexico, where water resource assessment is limited by the availability and reliability of field data. In this context, GRACE and InSAR are used to remotely assess groundwater storage loss in one of Mexico's most important watersheds in terms of size and economic activity: the Lerma-Santiago-Pacifico (LSP). In situ data and Land Surface Models are used to subtract soil moisture and surface water storage changes from the total water storage change measured by GRACE satellites. As a result, groundwater mass change time-series are obtained for a 12 years period. ALOS-PALSAR images acquired from 2007 to 2011 were processed using the SBAS-InSAR algorithm to reveal areas subject to ground motion related to groundwater over-exploitation. In the perspective of providing guidance for groundwater management, GRACE and InSAR observations are compared with official water budgets and field observations. InSAR-derived subsidence mapping generally agrees well with official water budgets, and shows that deficits occur mainly in cities and irrigated agricultural areas. GRACE does not entirely detect the significant groundwater losses largely reported by official water budgets, literature and InSAR observations. The difference is interpreted as returns of wastewater to the groundwater flow systems, which limits the watershed scale groundwater depletion but suggests major impacts on groundwater quality. This phenomenon is enhanced by ground fracturing as noticed in the field. Studying the fate of the extracted groundwater is essential when comparing GRACE data with higher resolution observations, and particularly in the perspective of further InSAR/GRACE combination in hydrogeology.

MEASUREMENT OF SEAWARD GROUND DISPLACEMENTS ON COASTAL LANDFILL AREA USING RADAR INTERFEROMETRY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

W.-K. Baek

2018-04-01

Full Text Available In order to understand the mechanism of subsidence and help reducing damage, researchers has been observed the line-of-sight subsidence on the Noksan industrial complex using SAR Interferometry(InSAR and suggested subsidence prediction models. Although these researches explained a spatially uneven ground subsidence near the seaside, they could not have been explained the occurrence of the newly proposed seaward horizontal, especially nearly north-ward, displacement because of the geometric limitation of InSAR measurements. In this study, we measured the seaward ground displacements trend on the coastal landfill area, Noksan Industrial Complex. We set the interferometric pairs from an ascending and a descending orbits strip map data of ALOS PALSAR2. We employed InSAR and MAI stacking approaches for the both orbits respectively in order to improve the measurement. Finally, seaward deformation was estimated by retrieving three-dimensional displacements from multi-geometric displacements. As a results, maximally 3.3 and 0.7 cm/year of ground displacements for the vertical and seaward directions. In further study, we plan to generate InSAR and MAI stacking measurements with additional SAR data to mitigate tropospheric effect and noise well. Such a seaward observation approach using spaceborne radar is expected to be effective in observing the long-term movements on coastal landfill area.

InSAR detects increase in surface subsidence caused by an Arctic tundra fire

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Lin; Jafarov, Elchin E.; Schaefer, Kevin M.; Jones, Benjamin M.; Zebker, Howard A.; Williams, Christopher A.; Rogan, John; Zhang, Tingjun

2014-01-01

Wildfire is a major disturbance in the Arctic tundra and boreal forests, having a significant impact on soil hydrology, carbon cycling, and permafrost dynamics. This study explores the use of the microwave Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) technique to map and quantify ground surface subsidence caused by the Anaktuvuk River fire on the North Slope of Alaska. We detected an increase of up to 8 cm of thaw-season ground subsidence after the fire, which is due to a combination of thickened active layer and permafrost thaw subsidence. Our results illustrate the effectiveness and potential of using InSAR to quantify fire impacts on the Arctic tundra, especially in regions underlain by ice-rich permafrost. Our study also suggests that surface subsidence is a more comprehensive indicator of fire impacts on ice-rich permafrost terrain than changes in active layer thickness alone.

The Ecosystems SAR (EcoSAR) an Airborne P-band Polarimetric InSAR for the Measurement of Vegetation Structure, Biomass and Permafrost

Science.gov (United States)

Rincon, Rafael F.; Fatoyinbo, Temilola; Ranson, K. Jon; Osmanoglu, Batuhan; Sun, Guoqing; Deshpande, Manohar D.; Perrine, Martin L.; Du Toit, Cornelis F.; Bonds, Quenton; Beck, Jaclyn;

Surface Deformation Observed by InSAR due to Fluid Injection: a Test Study in the Central U.S.

Science.gov (United States)

Deng, F.; Dixon, T. H.

2017-12-01

The central and eastern U.S. has undergone a dramatic increase in seismicity over the past few years. Many of these recent earthquakes were likely induced by human activities, with underground fluid injection for oil and gas extraction being one of the main contributors. Surface deformation caused by fluid injection has been captured by GPS and InSAR observations in several areas. For example, surface uplift of up to 10 cm due to CO2 injection between 2007 and 2011 was measured by InSAR at an enhanced oil recovery site in west Texas. We are using Texas and Oklahoma as test areas to analyze the potential relationship between surface deformation, underground fluid injection and induced earthquakes. C-band SAR data from ENVISAT and Sentinel-1, and L-band SAR data from ALOS and ALOS-2 are used to form decade-long time series. Based on the surface deformation derived from the time series InSAR data, subsurface volume change and volumetric strain in an elastic half space are estimated. Seismic data provided by the USGS are used to analyze the spatial and temporal distribution pattern of earthquakes, and the potential link between surface deformation and induced earthquakes. The trigger mechanism will be combined with forward modeling to predict seismicity and assess related hazard for future study.

Post-Eruptive Inflation of Okmok Volcano, Alaska, from InSAR, 2008–2014

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Feifei Qu

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Okmok, a ~10-km wide caldera that occupies most of the northeastern end of Umnak Island, is one of the most active volcanoes in the Aleutian arc. The most recent eruption at Okmok during July–August 2008 was by far its largest and most explosive since at least the early 19th century. We investigate post-eruptive magma supply and storage at the volcano during 2008–2014 by analyzing all available synthetic aperture radar (SAR images of Okmok acquired during that time period using the multi-temporal InSAR technique. Data from the C-band Envisat and X-band TerraSAR-X satellites indicate that Okmok started inflating very soon after the end of 2008 eruption at a time-variable rate of 48–130 mm/y, consistent with GPS measurements. The “model-assisted” phase unwrapping method is applied to improve the phase unwrapping operation for long temporal baseline pairs. The InSAR time-series is used as input for deformation source modeling, which suggests magma accumulating at variable rates in a shallow storage zone at ~3.9 km below sea level beneath the summit caldera, consistent with previous studies. The modeled volume accumulation in the six years following the 2008 eruption is ~75% of the 1997 eruption volume and ~25% of the 2008 eruption volume.

Post-eruptive inflation of Okmok Volcano, Alaska, from InSAR, 2008–2014

Science.gov (United States)

Qu, Feifei; Lu, Zhong; Poland, Michael; Freymueller, Jeffrey T.; Zhang, Qin; Jung, Hyung-Sup

2016-01-01

Okmok, a ~10-km wide caldera that occupies most of the northeastern end of Umnak Island, is one of the most active volcanoes in the Aleutian arc. The most recent eruption at Okmok during July-August 2008 was by far its largest and most explosive since at least the early 19th century. We investigate post-eruptive magma supply and storage at the volcano during 2008–2014 by analyzing all available synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images of Okmok acquired during that time period using the multi-temporal InSAR technique. Data from the C-band Envisat and X-band TerraSAR-X satellites indicate that Okmok started inflating very soon after the end of 2008 eruption at a time-variable rate of 48-130 mm/y, consistent with GPS measurements. The “model-assisted” phase unwrapping method is applied to improve the phase unwrapping operation for long temporal baseline pairs. The InSAR time-series is used as input for deformation source modeling, which suggests magma accumulating at variable rates in a shallow storage zone at ~3.9 km below sea level beneath the summit caldera, consistent with previous studies. The modeled volume accumulation in the 6 years following the 2008 eruption is ~75% of the 1997 eruption volume and ~25% of the 2008 eruption volume.

A Fast Multi-layer Subnetwork Connection Method for Time Series InSAR Technique

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

WU Hong'an

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Nowadays, times series interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR technique has been widely used in ground deformation monitoring, especially in urban areas where lots of stable point targets can be detected. However, in standard time series InSAR technique, affected by atmospheric correlation distance and the threshold of linear model coherence, the Delaunay triangulation for connecting point targets can be easily separated into many discontinuous subnetworks. Thus it is difficult to retrieve ground deformation in non-urban areas. In order to monitor ground deformation in large areas efficiently, a novel multi-layer subnetwork connection (MLSC method is proposed for connecting all subnetworks. The advantage of the method is that it can quickly reduce the number of subnetworks with valid edges layer-by-layer. This method is compared with the existing complex network connecting mehod. The experimental results demonstrate that the data processing time of the proposed method is only 32.56% of the latter one.

Integrated analysis of PALSAR/Radarsat-1 InSAR and ENVISAT altimeter data for mapping of absolute water level changes in Louisiana wetlands

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, J.-W.; Lu, Z.; Lee, H.; Shum, C.K.; Swarzenski, C.M.; Doyle, T.W.; Baek, S.-H.

2009-01-01

Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) has been used to detect relative water level changes in wetlands. We developed an innovative method to integrate InSAR and satellite radar altimetry for measuring absolute or geocentric water level changes and applied the methodology to remote areas of swamp forest in coastal Louisiana. Coherence analysis of InSAR pairs suggested that the HH polarization is preferred for this type of observation, and polarimetric analysis can help to identify double-bounce backscattering areas in the wetland. ENVISAT radar altimeter-measured 18-Hz (along-track sampling of 417 m) water level data processed with regional stackfile method have been used to provide vertical references for water bodies separated by levees. The high-resolution (~ 40 m) relative water changes measured from ALOS PALSAR L-band and Radarsat-1 C-band InSAR are then integrated with ENVISAT radar altimetry to obtain absolute water level. The resulting water level time series were validated with in situ gauge observations within the swamp forest. We anticipate that this new technique will allow retrospective reconstruction and concurrent monitoring of water conditions and flow dynamics in wetlands, especially those lacking gauge networks.

Dynamic Deformation of ETNA Volcano Observed by GPS and SAR Interferometry

Science.gov (United States)

Lundgren, P.; Rosen, P.; Webb, F.; Tesauro, M.; Lanari, R.; Sansosi, E.; Puglisi, G.; Bonforte, A.; Coltelli, M.

1999-01-01

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) interferometry and GPS have shown that during the quiescent period from 1993-1995 Mt. Etna volcano, Italy, inflated. Since the initiation of eruptive activity since late 1995 the deformation has been more contentious. We will explore the detailed deformation during the period from 1995-1996 spanning the late stages of inflation and the beginning of eruptive activity. We use SAR interferometry and GPS data to measure the volcano deformation. We invert the observed deformation for both simple point source. le crack elastic sources or if warranted for a spheroidal pressure So In particular, we will examine the evolution of the inflation and the transition to a lesser deflation observed at the end of 1995. We use ERS-1/2 SAR data from both ascending and descending passes to allow for dense temporal 'sampling of the deformation and to allow us to critically assess atmospheric noise. Preliminary results from interferometry suggest that the inflation rate accelerated prior to resumption of activity in 1995, while GPS data suggest a more steady inflation with some fluctuation following the start of activity. This study will compare and contrast the interferometric SAR and GPS results and will address the strengths and weaknesses of each technique towards volcano deformation studies.

Sources of Artefacts in Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry Data Sets

Science.gov (United States)

Becek, K.; Borkowski, A.

2012-07-01

In recent years, much attention has been devoted to digital elevation models (DEMs) produced using Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (InSAR). This has been triggered by the relative novelty of the InSAR method and its world-famous product—the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) DEM. However, much less attention, if at all, has been paid to sources of artefacts in SRTM. In this work, we focus not on the missing pixels (null pixels) due to shadows or the layover effect, but rather on outliers that were undetected by the SRTM validation process. The aim of this study is to identify some of the causes of the elevation outliers in SRTM. Such knowledge may be helpful to mitigate similar problems in future InSAR DEMs, notably the ones currently being developed from data acquired by the TanDEM-X mission. We analysed many cross-sections derived from SRTM. These cross-sections were extracted over the elevation test areas, which are available from the Global Elevation Data Testing Facility (GEDTF) whose database contains about 8,500 runways with known vertical profiles. Whenever a significant discrepancy between the known runway profile and the SRTM cross-section was detected, a visual interpretation of the high-resolution satellite image was carried out to identify the objects causing the irregularities. A distance and a bearing from the outlier to the object were recorded. Moreover, we considered the SRTM look direction parameter. A comprehensive analysis of the acquired data allows us to establish that large metallic structures, such as hangars or car parking lots, are causing the outliers. Water areas or plain wet terrains may also cause an InSAR outlier. The look direction and the depression angle of the InSAR system in relation to the suspected objects influence the magnitude of the outliers. We hope that these findings will be helpful in designing the error detection routines of future InSAR or, in fact, any microwave aerial- or space-based survey. The

SOURCES OF ARTEFACTS IN SYNTHETIC APERTURE RADAR INTERFEROMETRY DATA SETS

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K. Becek

2012-07-01

Full Text Available In recent years, much attention has been devoted to digital elevation models (DEMs produced using Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (InSAR. This has been triggered by the relative novelty of the InSAR method and its world-famous product—the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM DEM. However, much less attention, if at all, has been paid to sources of artefacts in SRTM. In this work, we focus not on the missing pixels (null pixels due to shadows or the layover effect, but rather on outliers that were undetected by the SRTM validation process. The aim of this study is to identify some of the causes of the elevation outliers in SRTM. Such knowledge may be helpful to mitigate similar problems in future InSAR DEMs, notably the ones currently being developed from data acquired by the TanDEM-X mission. We analysed many cross-sections derived from SRTM. These cross-sections were extracted over the elevation test areas, which are available from the Global Elevation Data Testing Facility (GEDTF whose database contains about 8,500 runways with known vertical profiles. Whenever a significant discrepancy between the known runway profile and the SRTM cross-section was detected, a visual interpretation of the high-resolution satellite image was carried out to identify the objects causing the irregularities. A distance and a bearing from the outlier to the object were recorded. Moreover, we considered the SRTM look direction parameter. A comprehensive analysis of the acquired data allows us to establish that large metallic structures, such as hangars or car parking lots, are causing the outliers. Water areas or plain wet terrains may also cause an InSAR outlier. The look direction and the depression angle of the InSAR system in relation to the suspected objects influence the magnitude of the outliers. We hope that these findings will be helpful in designing the error detection routines of future InSAR or, in fact, any microwave aerial- or space

Application of InSAR and Gravimetry for Land Subsidence Hazard Zoning in Aguascalientes, Mexico

OpenAIRE

Pacheco-Martínez, Jesús; Cabral-Cano, Enrique; Wdowinski, Shimon; Hernández-Marín, Martín; Ortiz-Lozano, José; Zermeño-de-León, Mario

2015-01-01

In this work we present an application of InSAR and gravimetric surveys for risk management related to land subsidence and surface ground faulting generation. A subsidence velocity map derived from the 2007–2011 ALOS SAR imagery and a sediment thicknesses map obtained from the inversion of gravimetric data were integrated with a surface fault map to produce a subsidence hazard zoning in the city of Aguascalientes, Mexico. The resulting zoning is presented together with specific recommendation...

Application of InSAR and Gravimetry for Land Subsidence Hazard Zoning in Aguascalientes, Mexico

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Jesús Pacheco-Martínez

2015-12-01

Full Text Available In this work we present an application of InSAR and gravimetric surveys for risk management related to land subsidence and surface ground faulting generation. A subsidence velocity map derived from the 2007–2011 ALOS SAR imagery and a sediment thicknesses map obtained from the inversion of gravimetric data were integrated with a surface fault map to produce a subsidence hazard zoning in the city of Aguascalientes, Mexico. The resulting zoning is presented together with specific recommendations about geotechnical studies needed for further evaluation of surface faulting in these hazard zones. The derived zoning map consists in four zones including null hazard (stable terrain without subsidence, low hazard (areas prone to subsidence, medium hazard (zones with subsidence and high hazard (zones with surface faulting. InSAR results displayed subsidence LOS velocities up to 10 cm/year and two subsidence areas unknown before this study. Gravimetric results revealed that the thicker sediment sequence is located toward north of Aguascalientes City reaching up to 600 m in thickness, which correspond to a high subsidence LOS velocity zone (up to 6 cm/year.

Locating and defining underground goaf caused by coal mining from space-borne SAR interferometry

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Zefa; Li, Zhiwei; Zhu, Jianjun; Yi, Huiwei; Feng, Guangcai; Hu, Jun; Wu, Lixin; Preusse, Alex; Wang, Yunjia; Papst, Markus

2018-01-01

It is crucial to locate underground goafs (i.e., mined-out areas) resulting from coal mining and define their spatial dimensions for effectively controlling the induced damages and geohazards. Traditional geophysical techniques for locating and defining underground goafs, however, are ground-based, labour-consuming and costly. This paper presents a novel space-based method for locating and defining the underground goaf caused by coal extraction using Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) techniques. As the coal mining-induced goaf is often a cuboid-shaped void and eight critical geometric parameters (i.e., length, width, height, inclined angle, azimuth angle, mining depth, and two central geodetic coordinates) are capable of locating and defining this underground space, the proposed method reduces to determine the eight geometric parameters from InSAR observations. Therefore, it first applies the Probability Integral Method (PIM), a widely used model for mining-induced deformation prediction, to construct a functional relationship between the eight geometric parameters and the InSAR-derived surface deformation. Next, the method estimates these geometric parameters from the InSAR-derived deformation observations using a hybrid simulated annealing and genetic algorithm. Finally, the proposed method was tested with both simulated and two real data sets. The results demonstrate that the estimated geometric parameters of the goafs are accurate and compatible overall, with averaged relative errors of approximately 2.1% and 8.1% being observed for the simulated and the real data experiments, respectively. Owing to the advantages of the InSAR observations, the proposed method provides a non-contact, convenient and practical method for economically locating and defining underground goafs in a large spatial area from space.

Shortcomings of InSAR for studying megathrust earthquakes: The case of the M w 9.0 Tohoku-Oki earthquake

KAUST Repository

Feng, Guangcai; Jonsson, Sigurjon

2012-01-01

.0) and test InSAR-derived fault-slip models against models constrained by GPS data from the extensive nationwide network in Japan. The coseismic deformation field was mapped using InSAR data acquired from multiple ascending and descending passes of the ALOS

Hydrodynamics of the groundwater-fed Sian Ka'an Wetlands, Mexico, From InSAR and SAR Data

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gondwe, Bibi Ruth Neuman; Hong, S.; Wdowinski, S.

2008-01-01

The 5300 km2 pristine Sian Ka'an wetland in Mexico is fed entirely by groundwater from the karst aquifer of the Yucatan Peninsula. The area is undeveloped and hence difficult to access. The inflow through underground rivers and karst structures is hard to observe resulting in difficulties......-changes of the backscattered radar signal, which can be related to the water level changes in vegetated wetlands. SAR data reveals information of surface properties such as the degree of flooding through the amplitude of the backscattered signal. We used RADARSAT-1 InSAR and SAR data to form 36 interferograms and 13 flooding...... maps with 24 to 48 day intervals covering the time span of October 2006 to March 2008. The dataset has a high spatial resolution of ca. 20 to 60 m. Sian Ka'an consists of a mosaic of freshwater sloughs, canals, floodplains and brackish tidally-influenced areas. Throughout most of the year, water level...

InSAR detection of aquifer recovery: Case studies of Koehn Lake (central California) and Lone Tree Gold Mine (Basin and Range)

Science.gov (United States)

Wdowinski, S.; Greene, F.; Amelung, F.

2013-12-01

Anthropogenic intervention in groundwater flow and aquifer storage often results in vertical movements of Earth's surface, which are well detected by InSAR observations. Most anthropogenic intervention occurs due to groundwater extraction for both agriculture and human consumption and results in land subsidence. However in some cases, ending anthropogenic intervention can lead to aquifer recovery and, consequently, surface uplift. In this study we present two such cases of aquifer recovery. The first case is the aquifer beneath Koehn Lake in Central California, which was overused to meet agricultural demands until the 1990's. The second case is the Lone Tree Gold Mine in Nevada that during active mining in the 1991-2006 groundwater pumping disrupted the aquifer and cause subsidence. But after mining ceased, groundwater flow was recovered and resulted in uplift. In both cases we studied the surface uplift using InSAR time series observations. We conduct an ERS and Envisat InSAR survey over Koehn Lake in California and Lone Tree Gold Mine in Nevada between 1992 and 2010. We followed the SBAS algorithm to generate a time-series of ground displacements and average velocities of pixels, which remain coherent through time in the SAR dataset. A total of 100 and 80 combined ERS and Envisat SAR dates are inverted for Koehn Lake and Lone Tree Gold Mine respectively. Results for the Koehn Lake area indicate a rapid uplift of about 3.5 mm/yr between 1992-2000 and a slower uplift rate of 1.6 mm/yr between 2000-2004, suggesting a decrease in the recovery process. The observed uplift correlates well with groundwater level increase in the Koehn Lake area. Results for the Lone Tree Gold Mine show a constant subsidence (~ 1 cm/yr) due to groundwater extraction between 1992-2006, but uplift of ~1 cm/yr since the beginning of 2007. In both case studies, InSAR observations reveal that the aquifer recovery is accompanied by surface uplift. We plan to use the InSAR observations and the

Constraints on the geomorphological evolution of the nested summit craters of Láscar volcano from high spatio-temporal resolution TerraSAR-X interferometry

Science.gov (United States)

Richter, Nicole; Salzer, Jacqueline Tema; de Zeeuw-van Dalfsen, Elske; Perissin, Daniele; Walter, Thomas R.

2018-03-01

Small-scale geomorphological changes that are associated with the formation, development, and activity of volcanic craters and eruptive vents are often challenging to characterize, as they may occur slowly over time, can be spatially localized, and difficult, or dangerous, to access. Using high-spatial and high-temporal resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery collected by the German TerraSAR-X (TSX) satellite in SpotLight mode in combination with precise topographic data as derived from Pléiades-1A satellite data, we investigate the surface deformation within the nested summit crater system of Láscar volcano, Chile, the most active volcano of the central Andes. Our aim is to better understand the structural evolution of the three craters that comprise this system, to assess their physical state and dynamic behavior, and to link this to eruptive activity and associated hazards. Using multi-temporal SAR interferometry (MT-InSAR) from ascending and descending orbital geometries, we retrieve the vertical and east-west components of the displacement field. This time series indicates constant rates of subsidence and asymmetric horizontal displacements of all summit craters between June 2012 and July 2014, as well as between January 2015 and March 2017. The vertical and horizontal movements that we observe in the central crater are particularly complex and cannot be explained by any single crater formation mechanism; rather, we suggest that short-term activities superimposed on a combination of ongoing crater evolution processes, including gravitational slumping, cooling and compaction of eruption products, as well as possible piston-like subsidence, are responsible for the small-scale geomorphological changes apparent in our data. Our results demonstrate how high-temporal resolution synthetic aperture radar interferometry (InSAR) time series can add constraints on the geomorphological evolution and structural dynamics of active crater and vent systems at

Sea ice local surface topography from single-pass satellite InSAR measurements: a feasibility study

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W. Dierking

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Quantitative parameters characterizing the sea ice surface topography are needed in geophysical investigations such as studies on atmosphere–ice interactions or sea ice mechanics. Recently, the use of space-borne single-pass interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR for retrieving the ice surface topography has attracted notice among geophysicists. In this paper the potential of InSAR measurements is examined for several satellite configurations and radar frequencies, considering statistics of heights and widths of ice ridges as well as possible magnitudes of ice drift. It is shown that, theoretically, surface height variations can be retrieved with relative errors  ≤  0.5 m. In practice, however, the sea ice drift and open water leads may contribute significantly to the measured interferometric phase. Another essential factor is the dependence of the achievable interferometric baseline on the satellite orbit configurations. Possibilities to assess the influence of different factors on the measurement accuracy are demonstrated: signal-to-noise ratio, presence of a snow layer, and the penetration depth into the ice. Practical examples of sea surface height retrievals from bistatic SAR images collected during the TanDEM-X Science Phase are presented.

Space-Borne and Ground-Based InSAR Data Integration: The Åknes Test Site

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Federica Bardi

2016-03-01

Full Text Available This work concerns a proposal of the integration of InSAR (Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar data acquired by ground-based (GB and satellite platforms. The selected test site is the Åknes rockslide, which affects the western Norwegian coast. The availability of GB-InSAR and satellite InSAR data and the accessibility of a wide literature make the landslide suitable for testing the proposed procedure. The first step consists of the organization of a geodatabase, performed in the GIS environment, containing all of the available data. The second step concerns the analysis of satellite and GB-InSAR data, separately. Two datasets, acquired by RADARSAT-2 (related to a period between October 2008 and August 2013 and by a combination of TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X (acquired between July 2010 and October 2012, both of them in ascending orbit, processed applying SBAS (Small BAseline Subset method, are available. GB-InSAR data related to five different campaigns of measurements, referred to the summer seasons of 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012, are available, as well. The third step relies on data integration, performed firstly from a qualitative point of view and later from a semi-quantitative point of view. The results of the proposed procedure have been validated by comparing them to GPS (Global Positioning System data. The proposed procedure allowed us to better define landslide sectors in terms of different ranges of displacements. From a qualitative point of view, stable and unstable areas have been distinguished. In the sector concerning movement, two different sectors have been defined thanks to the results of the semi-quantitative integration step: the first sector, concerning displacement values higher than 10 mm, and the 2nd sector, where the displacements did not exceed a 10-mm value of displacement in the analyzed period.

Spaceborne Polarimetric SAR Interferometry: Performance Analysis and Mission Concepts

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Shane R. Cloude

2005-12-01

Full Text Available We investigate multichannel imaging radar systems employing coherent combinations of polarimetry and interferometry (Pol-InSAR. Such systems are well suited for the extraction of bio- and geophysical parameters by evaluating the combined scattering from surfaces and volumes. This combination leads to several important differences between the design of Pol-InSAR sensors and conventional single polarisation SAR interferometers. We first highlight these differences and then investigate the Pol-InSAR performance of two proposed spaceborne SAR systems (ALOS/PalSAR and TerraSAR-L operating in repeat-pass mode. For this, we introduce the novel concept of a phase tube which enables (1 a quantitative assessment of the Pol-InSAR performance, (2 a comparison between different sensor configurations, and (3 an optimization of the instrument settings for different Pol-InSAR applications. The phase tube may hence serve as an interface between system engineers and application-oriented scientists. The performance analysis reveals major limitations for even moderate levels of temporal decorrelation. Such deteriorations may be avoided in single-pass sensor configurations and we demonstrate the potential benefits from the use of future bi- and multistatic SAR interferometers.

Distribution of creep in the northern San Francisco Bay Area illuminated by repeating earthquakes and InSAR

Science.gov (United States)

Funning, G.; Shakibay Senobari, N.; Swiatlowski, J. L.

2017-12-01

Surface observations of fault creep in the region north of San Francisco Bay are sporadic. While there are long-standing instances of creep-affected infrastructure on the Maacama and Bartlett Springs faults, the lateral and depth extents of creep on these and other faults in the region remain a question. Here, we supplement this sparse existing observation set with additional information from repeating earthquake sequences (REs) and InSAR, to illuminate, and significantly improve our knowledge of, creep across the region. Repeating earthquakes have long been considered indicators of creep on faults. We present the results of an extensive similarity search through over 600,000 archived waveforms from 43,000 events using a fast algorithm; from this we can identify 39 periodic repeating sequences and over 80 nonperiodic repeated event groups. We compare these with decadal line-of-sight velocity measurements made by applying the StaMPS time series InSAR code to ERS and Envisat data covering the region, that can be used to identify surface creep on faults. On the Rodgers Creek, Maacama and Bartlett Springs faults, both InSAR and REs show corroborating evidence for creep at locations where it was previously inferred. The REs additionally provide information on its depth extent. On the Maacama fault, we find REs extending almost to the southern limit of the mapped fault trace, south of Cloverdale, suggesting that creep may be pervasive on the fault. We can also identify structural complexity both in the stepover region with the Rodgers Creek fault, and in the northern segment of the fault close to Willits, potentially indicating parallel and/or down-dip branching creeping structures in both locations. REs on the Bartlett Springs fault indicate creep that extends across the full down-dip width of the brittle fault; here the proximity of InSAR creep rate estimates and a shallow RE sequence may permit a calibration of the RE `creepmeter', allowing us to estimate creep rates

Application of InSAR and gravimetric surveys for developing construction codes in zones of land subsidence induced by groundwater extraction: case study of Aguascalientes, Mexico

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J. Pacheco-Martínez

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR has become a valuable tool for surface deformation monitoring, including land subsidence associated with groundwater extraction. Another useful tools for studying Earth's surface processes are geophysical methods such as Gravimetry. In this work we present the application of InSAR analysis and gravimetric surveying to generate valuable information for risk management related to land subsidence and surface faulting. Subsidence of the city of Aguascalientes, Mexico is presented as study case. Aguascalientes local governments have addressed land subsidence issues by including new requirements for new constructions projects in the State Urban Construction Code. Nevertheless, the resulting zoning proposed in the code is still subjective and not clearly defined. Our work based on gravimetric and InSAR surveys is aimed for improving the subsidence hazard zoning proposed in the State Urban Code in a more comprehensive way. The study includes a 2007–2011 ALOS InSAR time-series analysis of the Aguascalientes valley, an interpretation of the compete Bouguer gravimetric anomaly of the Aguascalientes urban area, and the application of time series and gravimetric anomaly maps for improve the subsidence hazard zoning of Aguascalientes City.

Caldera deformation in Kyushu island (SW Japan) through InSAR data

Science.gov (United States)

Nobile, Adriano; Pepe, Susi; Ruch, Joel; Trippanera, Daniele; Casu, Francesco; Castaldo, Raffaele; Tizzani, Pietro; Aoki, Yosuke; Geshi, Nobuo; Acocella, Valerio; Sansosti, Eugenio; Siniscalchi, Valeria; Borgstrom, Sven; Zoffoli, Simona

2014-05-01

Calderas are the surface expression of a long-lived and complex magmatic system, often hosting a shallower hydrothermal system. Most monitored calderas have experienced some forms of unrest, even though only a part of these unrest episodes has culminated in an eruption. This study focuses on surface deformation analysis using InSAR from 1993 to 2013 at two large active calderas, Aso and Aira, located on Kyushu Island (Japan). Despite being closely monitored, our knowledge on the deformation history of both calderas with regard to their activity is poor. ERS, ENVISAT, ALOS and COSMO-SkyMed SAR images have been processed to obtain mean velocity deformation maps and time series through the SBAS technique. Results are then inverted using the simulated annealing technique to evaluate the deformation source parameters. Aso caldera hosts several vents in its central portion. One of these, the Naka Dake crater is the only currently active and erupted 7 times since 1993. From January 1996 to November 1998, after the important 1994 - 1995 eruption, we observed a subsidence of ~1.2 cm/yr at the center of the caldera. Analytical models suggest a deflating source (with various possible shapes) at 5-7 km of depth, implying a magmatic nature for the deformation. Inversion results are consistent with available seismic and GPS data. Aira Caldera hosts the Sakurajima volcano along its southern rim, with a persistent eruptive activity since 1950s. From June 2006 to March 2011, we observed a broad uplift of ~1.5 cm along most of the caldera rim. Analytical inversion of both the entire dataset and a cross-correlated dataset suggests a deformation source at the caldera center, at a depth of 5-9 km (depending on the source shape), implying a magmatic nature of the deformation. Inversion results are in agreement with GPS and InSAR data inversions for other periods of activity. This research has been partially performed within the frame of Italian Space Agency (ASI) and Japan Aerospace

Separating volcanic deformation and atmospheric signals at Mount St. Helens using Persistent Scatterer InSAR

Science.gov (United States)

Welch, Mark D.; Schmidt, David A.

2017-09-01

Over the past two decades, GPS and leveling surveys have recorded cycles of inflation and deflation associated with dome building eruptions at Mount St. Helens. Due to spatial and temporal limitations of the data, it remains unknown whether any deformation occurred prior to the most recent eruption of 2004, information which could help anticipate future eruptions. Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR), which boasts fine spatial resolution over large areas, has the potential to resolve pre-eruptive deformation that may have occurred, but eluded detection by campaign GPS surveys because it was localized to the edifice or crater. Traditional InSAR methods are challenging to apply in the Cascades volcanic arc because of a combination of environmental factors, and past attempts to observe deformation at Mount St. Helens were unable to make reliable observations in the crater or on much of the edifice. In this study, Persistent Scatterer InSAR, known to mitigate issues of decorrelation caused by environmental factors, is applied to four SAR data sets in an attempt to resolve localized sources of deformation on the volcano between 1995 and 2010. Many interferograms are strongly influenced by phase delay from atmospheric water vapor and require correction, evidenced by a correlation between phase and topography. To assess the bias imposed by the atmosphere, we perform sensitivity tests on a suite of atmospheric correction techniques, including several that rely on the correlation of phase delay to elevation, and explore approaches that directly estimate phase delay using the ERA-Interim and NARR climate reanalysis data sets. We find that different correction methods produce velocities on the edifice of Mount St. Helens that differ by up to 1 cm/yr due to variability in how atmospheric artifacts are treated in individual interferograms. Additionally, simple phase-based techniques run the risk of minimizing any surface deformation signals that may themselves be

INTERFEROMETRIC SYNTHETIC APERTURE RADAR (INSAR TECHNOLOGY AND GEOMORPHOLOGY INTERPRETATION

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M. Maghsoudi

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Geomorphology is briefly the study of landforms and their formative processes on the surface of the planet earth as human habitat. The landforms evolution and the formative processes can best be studied by technologies with main application in study of elevation. Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR is the appropriate technology for this application. With phase differences calculations in radar waves, the results of this technology can extensively be interpreted for geomorphologic researches. The purpose of the study is to review the geomorphologic studies using InSAR and also the technical studies about InSAR with geomorphologic interpretations. This study states that the InSAR technology can be recommended to be employed as a fundamental for geomorphology researches.

The Temporal and Spatial Variability of the Confined Aquifer Head and Storage Properties in the San Luis Valley, Colorado Inferred From Multiple InSAR Missions

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Jingyi; Knight, Rosemary; Zebker, Howard A.

2017-11-01

Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) data from multiple satellite missions were combined to study the temporal and spatial variability of head and storage properties in a confined aquifer system on a decadal time scale. The area of study was a 4,500 km2 agricultural basin in the San Luis Valley (SLV), Colorado. We had available previous analyses of C-band ERS-1/2 data from June 1992 to November 2000, and L-band ALOS PALSAR data from October 2009 to March 2011. We used C-band Envisat data to fill in the time period from November 2006 to July 2010. In processing the Envisat data, we successfully employed a phase interpolation between persistent scatterer pixels to reduce the impact of vegetation decorrelation, which can significantly reduce the quality of C-band InSAR data over agricultural basins. In comparing the results from the L-band ALOS data and C-band Envisat data in a 10 month overlapping time period, we found that the shorter wavelength of C-band InSAR allowed us to preserve small deformation signals that were not detectable using L-band ALOS data. A significant result was the finding that the elastic storage properties of the SLV confined aquifer system remained stable over the 20 year time period and vary slowly in space, allowing us to combine InSAR data acquired from multiple missions to fill the temporal and spatial gaps in well data. The InSAR estimated head levels were validated with well measurements, which indicate little permanent water-storage loss over the study time period in the SLV.

Temporal Decorrelation Effect in Carbon Stocks Estimation Using Polarimetric Interferometry Synthetic Aperture Radar (PolInSAR (Case Study: Southeast Sulawesi Tropical Forest

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Laode M Golok Jaya

2017-07-01

Full Text Available This paper was aimed to analyse the effect of temporal decorrelation in carbon stocks estimation. Estimation of carbon stocks plays important roles particularly to understand the global carbon cycle in the atmosphere regarding with climate change mitigation effort. PolInSAR technique combines the advantages of Polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar (PolSAR and Interferometry Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR technique, which is evidenced to have significant contribution in radar mapping technology in the last few years. In carbon stocks estimation, PolInSAR provides information about vertical vegetation structure to estimate carbon stocks in the forest layers. Two coherence Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR images of ALOS PALSAR full-polarimetric with 46 days temporal baseline were used in this research. The study was carried out in Southeast Sulawesi tropical forest. The research method was by comparing three interferometric phase coherence images affected by temporal decorrelation and their impacts on Random Volume over Ground (RvoG model. This research showed that 46 days temporal baseline has a significant impact to estimate tree heights of the forest cover where the accuracy decrease from R2=0.7525 (standard deviation of tree heights is 2.75 meters to R2=0.4435 (standard deviation 4.68 meters and R2=0.3772 (standard deviation 3.15 meters respectively. However, coherence optimisation can provide the best coherence image to produce a good accuracy of carbon stocks.

INVESTIGATION OF LITHOSPHERIC STRUCTURE IN MONGOLIA: INSIGHTS FROM INSAR OBSERVATIONS AND MODELLING

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Z. Jing

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The western Mongolia is a seismically active intracontinental region, with ongoing tectonic deformation and widespread seismicity related to the far-field effects of India-Eurasia collision. During the 20th century, four earthquakes with the magnitude larger than 8 occurred in the western Mongolia and its surrounding regions, providing a unique opportunity to study the geodynamics of intracontinental tectonic deformations. The 1957 magnitude 8.3 Gobi-Altai earthquake is one of the largest seismic events. The deformation pattern of rupture zone associated with this earthquake is complex, involving left-lateral strike-slip and reverse dip-slip faulting on several distinct geological structures in a 264 × 40 km wide zone. To understand the relationship between the observed postseismic surface deformation and the rheological structure of the upper lithosphere, Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR data are used to study the 1957 earthquake. Then we developed a postseismic model in a spherical, radially layered elastic-viscoelastic Earth based on InSAR results, and further analysed the dominant contribution to the surface deformation. This work is important for understanding not only the regional tectonics, but also the structure and dynamics of the lithosphere. SAR data were acquired from the ERS1/2 and Envisat from 1996 to 2010. Using the Repeat Orbit Interferometry Package (ROI_PAC, 124 postseismic interferograms are produced on four adjacent tracks. By stacking these interferograms, the maximum InSAR line-of-sight deformation rate along the Gobi-Altai fault zone is obtained. The main results are as follows: (1 The maximum InSAR line-of-sight deformation velocity along this large fault zone is about 6 mm/yr; (2 The modelled surface deformation suggests that the viscoelastic relaxation is the most reasonable mechanism to explain the observed surface motion; (3 The optimal model cover the Gobi-Altai seismogenic thickness is 10�

On the Design of Radar Corner Reflectors for Deformation Monitoring in Multi-Frequency InSAR

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Matthew C. Garthwaite

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Trihedral corner reflectors are being increasingly used as point targets in deformation monitoring studies using interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR techniques. The frequency and size dependence of the corner reflector Radar Cross Section (RCS means that no single design can perform equally in all the possible imaging modes and radar frequencies available on the currently orbiting Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR satellites. Therefore, either a corner reflector design tailored to a specific data type or a compromise design for multiple data types is required. In this paper, I outline the practical and theoretical considerations that need to be made when designing appropriate radar targets, with a focus on supporting multi-frequency SAR data. These considerations are tested by performing field experiments on targets of different size using SAR images from TerraSAR-X, COSMO-SkyMed and RADARSAT-2. Phase noise behaviour in SAR images can be estimated by measuring the Signal-to-Clutter ratio (SCR in individual SAR images. The measured SCR of a point target is dependent on its RCS performance and the influence of clutter near to the deployed target. The SCR is used as a metric to estimate the expected InSAR displacement error incurred by the design of each target and to validate these observations against theoretical expectations. I find that triangular trihedral corner reflectors as small as 1 m in dimension can achieve a displacement error magnitude of a tenth of a millimetre or less in medium-resolution X-band data. Much larger corner reflectors (2.5 m or greater are required to achieve the same displacement error magnitude in medium-resolution C-band data. Compromise designs should aim to satisfy the requirements of the lowest SAR frequency to be used, providing that these targets will not saturate the sensor of the highest frequency to be used. Finally, accurate boresight alignment of the corner reflector can be critical to the overall

Landslide precursory deformation interpretation using ALOS-2/PALSAR-2 InSAR image along Min River in Maoxien, Sichuan Province, China

Science.gov (United States)

Sato, H. P.

2017-12-01

Maoxien area in Sichuan Province, China has many landslide. For example, landslide (rock avalanche) occurred on the slope in Xinmocun Village in Maoxeien on 24 June 2017. I produced and interpreetd InSAR image using ALOS/PALSAR data observed on 19 Jul 2007-3 Sep 2007 and on 27 Jan 2011-14 Mar 2011, and ALOS-2/PALSAR-2 data observed on 26 Jul 2015-13 Dec 2015 and on 13 Dec 2015-11 Dec 2016. These images give good coherence and it was easy to identify local landslide surface deformation. As a result, e.g., two slopes were estimated to have local landslide surface deformation; one is at 103.936587 deg E and 32.04462 deg N, another is at 103.674754 deg E and 31.852838 N. However, the slope in Xinmocun Village was not identified as landslide precursory deformation. In the poster I will present more InSAR image observed after 11 Dec 2016 and discuss the possibility of local landslide surface deformaton using InSAR image. ALOS/PALSAR and ALOS-2/PALSAR-2 data were provided by JAXA through Landslide Working Group in JAXA and through Special Research 2015-B-02 of Earthquake Research Institute/Tokyo University. This study was supported by KAKENHI (17H02973).

Vegetation Parameter Extraction Using Dual Baseline Polarimetric SAR Interferometry Data

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, H.; Wang, C.; Chen, X.; Tang, Y.

2009-04-01

For vegetation parameter inversion, the single baseline polarimetric SAR interferometry (POLinSAR) technique, such as the three-stage method and the ESPRIT algorithm, is limited by the observed data with the minimum ground to volume amplitude ration, which effects the estimation of the effective phase center for the vegetation canopy or the surface, and thus results in the underestimated vegetation height. In order to remove this effect of the single baseline inversion techniques in some extend, another baseline POLinSAR data is added on vegetation parameter estimation in this paper, and a dual baseline POLinSAR technique for the extraction of the vegetation parameter is investigated and improved to reduce the dynamic bias for the vegetation parameter estimation. Finally, the simulated data and real data are used to validate this dual baseline technique.

InSAR Time Series Analysis and Geophysical Modeling of City Uplift Associated with Geothermal Drillings in Staufen im Breisgau, Germany

Science.gov (United States)

Motagh, M.; Lubitz, C.

2014-12-01

Geothermal energy is of increasing importance as alternative, environmentally friendly technology for heat management. Direct interaction with the subsurface requires careful implementation, in particular in geological complex regions. The historical city Staufen im Breisgau, SW Germany, has attracted national attention as a case of implementation failure with severe consequences, causing debates on the applicability and security of this sustainable technique. Located at the eastern transition zone of the Upper Rhine Graben and the Schwarzwald massif, the geothermal potential is high at Staufen due to strong temperature gradients. In September 2007, seven boreholes for geothermal probes were drilled up to a depth of 140 m to provide a new heat management for the city hall. Within five years an uplift phenomenon has been observed in Staufen reaching more than 40 cm in places and 269 buildings were damaged. Hydro-chemical driven anhydrite-gypsum transformation in the subsurface was identified as the cause leading to volume increase that is observable as surface uplift. This process is associated with the geothermal drilling activities that have crossed several groundwater levels. In this work, we summarize and present the findings of spaceborne Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (InSAR) analysis of the uplift in Staufen over the last five years from July 2008 through July 2013. By applying the Small Baseline Subset (SBAS) method, we find a localized elliptical-shaped deformation field in NE-SW orientation. Area of maximum uplift is located 50 m NNE of the drilling zone. At this location, we observe a cumulative uplift of approx. 13.7 cm ± 0.34 cm (mean value within an area of 30 m by 30 m) from July 2008 to July 2009, which reduced to cumulative uplift of 3 cm ± 0.25 cm from July 2012 to July 2013. The deceleration can be related to applied countermeasures as borehole sealing and groundwater pumping. The observed ground surface response was compared to

Analysis, comparison, and modeling of radar interferometry, date of surface deformation signals associated with underground explosions, mine collapses and earthquakes. Phase I: underground explosions, Nevada Test Site

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Foxall, W; Vincent, P; Walter, W

1999-01-01

We have previously presented simple elastic deformation modeling results for three classes of seismic events of concern in monitoring the CTBT-underground explosions, mine collapses and earthquakes. Those results explored the theoretical detectability of each event type using synthetic aperture radar interferometry (InSAR) based on commercially available satellite data. In those studies we identified and compared the characteristics of synthetic interferograms that distinguish each event type, as well the ability of the interferograms to constrain source parameters. These idealized modeling results, together with preliminary analysis of InSAR data for the 1995 mb 5.2 Solvay mine collapse in southwestern Wyoming, suggested that InSAR data used in conjunction with regional seismic monitoring holds great potential for CTBT discrimination and seismic source analysis, as well as providing accurate ground truth parameters for regional calibration events. In this paper we further examine the detectability and ''discriminating'' power of InSAR by presenting results from InSAR data processing, analysis and modeling of the surface deformation signals associated with underground explosions. Specifically, we present results of a detailed study of coseismic and postseismic surface deformation signals associated with underground nuclear and chemical explosion tests at the Nevada Test Site (NTS). Several interferograms were formed from raw ERS-1/2 radar data covering different time spans and epochs beginning just prior to the last U.S. nuclear tests in 1992 and ending in 1996. These interferograms have yielded information about the nature and duration of the source processes that produced the surface deformations associated with these events. A critical result of this study is that significant post-event surface deformation associated with underground nuclear explosions detonated at depths in excess of 600 meters can be detected using differential radar interferometry. An

InSAR Analysis of Post-Seismic Deformation Following the 2013 Mw 7.7 Balochistan, Pakistan Earthquake

Science.gov (United States)

Peterson, K.; Barnhart, W. D.

2017-12-01

On September 24th, 2013, a Mw 7.7 earthquake ruptured a 200 km portion of the Hoshab fault, a reverse fault in the Makran accretionary prism of southern Pakistan. This earthquake is notable because it ruptured a reverse fault with a predominantly strike-slip sense of displacement, and it ruptured a mechanically weak accretionary prism. Here, we present initial analysis of ongoing post-seismic deformation imaged with the Sentinel-1 interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) mission with the goals of a) determining the dominant post-seismic deformation processes active, b) characterizing the rigidity and rheological structure of a flat-slab subduction zone, and c) elucidating whether post-seismic deformation may account for or exacerbate the 4-6 m fault convergence deficit left by the 2013 earthquake. We first present InSAR time series analysis of the post-seismic transient derived from ongoing Sentinel-1 SAR acquisitions, including a comparison of atmosphere-corrected and uncorrected time series. Interferograms spanning December 2014 to the present reveal an ongoing post-seismic deformation transient in the region surrounding the Hoshab fault. Additionally, fault creep signals on and adjacent to the Hoshab fault are present. Second, we present a suite of forward models that explore the potential contributions of viscoelastic relaxation and frictional afterslip to the recorded displacement signal. These models, conducted using the semi-analytical solutions of RELAX and compared to InSAR line-of-sight time series displacements, explore a range of candidate rheological descriptions of the Makran subduction zone that are designed to probe the rheological structure of a region where current knowledge of the subsurface geology is highly limited. Our preliminary results suggest that post-seismic displacements arise from a combination of viscoelastic deformation and frictional afterslip, as opposed to one single mechanism. Additionally, our preliminary results suggest

Continuing Inflation at Three Sisters Volcanic Center, Central Oregon Cascade Range, USA, From GPS, InSAR, and Leveling Observations

Science.gov (United States)

Lisowski, M.; Dzurisin, D.; Wicks, C. W.

2007-12-01

Uplift of a broad area centered ~5 km west of South Sister volcano in central Oregon started sometime after fall 1996, accelerated after fall 1998, and was continuing when last surveyed with GPS and leveling in fall 2006. Surface displacements were measured whenever possible since 1992 with satellite radar interferometry (InSAR), annually since 2001 with GPS and leveling campaigns, and with a continuous GPS station since 2001. The average maximum displacement rate from InSAR was 3 to 5 cm/yr during 1998--2001 and ~1.4 cm/yr during 2004--2006. The other three datasets show a similar pattern, i.e., surface dilation and uplift rates decreased over time but deformation continued through 2006. Our best-fit model is a spherical point pressure (Mogi) source located 6.0--6.5 km below the surface and 4.5--5 km west-southwest of the summit of South Sister volcano. Any marginal improvement gained by using a more complicated source shape is not constrained by the data. This same model fits the deformation data for 2001--2003 and 2003--2006 equally well, so there is no indication that the location or shape of the source has changed. However, the source inflation rate has decreased exponentially since 2001 with a 1/e decay time of about 4 years. The net increase in source volume from the beginning of the episode (~1997) through 2006 was 60 × 106 m3 ± 10 × 106 m3. The only unusual seismicity near the deforming area was a swarm of about 300 small earthquakes on March 23- -26, 2004 ---the first notable seismicity for at least two decades. Timing of the swarm generally coincides with slowing of surface deformation, but any link between the two, if one exists, is not understood. Similar episodes in the past probably would have gone unnoticed if, as we suspect, most were small intrusions that do not culminate in eruptions.

Identifying Active Faults by Improving Earthquake Locations with InSAR Data and Bayesian Estimation: The 2004 Tabuk (Saudi Arabia) Earthquake Sequence

KAUST Repository

Xu, Wenbin

2015-02-03

A sequence of shallow earthquakes of magnitudes ≤5.1 took place in 2004 on the eastern flank of the Red Sea rift, near the city of Tabuk in northwestern Saudi Arabia. The earthquakes could not be well located due to the sparse distribution of seismic stations in the region, making it difficult to associate the activity with one of the many mapped faults in the area and thus to improve the assessment of seismic hazard in the region. We used Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) data from the European Space Agency’s Envisat and ERS‐2 satellites to improve the location and source parameters of the largest event of the sequence (Mw 5.1), which occurred on 22 June 2004. The mainshock caused a small but distinct ∼2.7  cm displacement signal in the InSAR data, which reveals where the earthquake took place and shows that seismic reports mislocated it by 3–16 km. With Bayesian estimation, we modeled the InSAR data using a finite‐fault model in a homogeneous elastic half‐space and found the mainshock activated a normal fault, roughly 70 km southeast of the city of Tabuk. The southwest‐dipping fault has a strike that is roughly parallel to the Red Sea rift, and we estimate the centroid depth of the earthquake to be ∼3.2  km. Projection of the fault model uncertainties to the surface indicates that one of the west‐dipping normal faults located in the area and oriented parallel to the Red Sea is a likely source for the mainshock. The results demonstrate how InSAR can be used to improve locations of moderate‐size earthquakes and thus to identify currently active faults.

Identifying Active Faults by Improving Earthquake Locations with InSAR Data and Bayesian Estimation: The 2004 Tabuk (Saudi Arabia) Earthquake Sequence

KAUST Repository

Xu, Wenbin; Dutta, Rishabh; Jonsson, Sigurjon

2015-01-01

A sequence of shallow earthquakes of magnitudes ≤5.1 took place in 2004 on the eastern flank of the Red Sea rift, near the city of Tabuk in northwestern Saudi Arabia. The earthquakes could not be well located due to the sparse distribution of seismic stations in the region, making it difficult to associate the activity with one of the many mapped faults in the area and thus to improve the assessment of seismic hazard in the region. We used Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) data from the European Space Agency’s Envisat and ERS‐2 satellites to improve the location and source parameters of the largest event of the sequence (Mw 5.1), which occurred on 22 June 2004. The mainshock caused a small but distinct ∼2.7  cm displacement signal in the InSAR data, which reveals where the earthquake took place and shows that seismic reports mislocated it by 3–16 km. With Bayesian estimation, we modeled the InSAR data using a finite‐fault model in a homogeneous elastic half‐space and found the mainshock activated a normal fault, roughly 70 km southeast of the city of Tabuk. The southwest‐dipping fault has a strike that is roughly parallel to the Red Sea rift, and we estimate the centroid depth of the earthquake to be ∼3.2  km. Projection of the fault model uncertainties to the surface indicates that one of the west‐dipping normal faults located in the area and oriented parallel to the Red Sea is a likely source for the mainshock. The results demonstrate how InSAR can be used to improve locations of moderate‐size earthquakes and thus to identify currently active faults.

Multi-temporal InSAR evidence of ground subsidence induced by groundwater withdrawal: the Montellano aquifer (SW Spain)

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ruiz-Constán, A.; Ruiz-Armenteros, A.M.; Lamas-Fernández, F.; Martos-Rosillo, S.; Delgado, J.M.; Bekaert, D.P.S.; Sousa, J.J.; Gil, A.J.; Caro Cuenca, M.; Hanssen, R.F.; Galindo-Zaldívar, J.; Sanz de Galdeano, C.

2016-01-01

This study uses the InSAR technique to analyse ground subsidence due to intensive exploitation of an aquifer for agricultural and urban purposes in the Montellano town (SW Spain). The detailed deformation maps clearly show that the spatial and temporal extent of subsidence is controlled by

Monitoring of Land-Surface Deformation in the Karamay Oilfield, Xinjiang, China, Using SAR Interferometry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yusupujiang Aimaiti

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR interferometry is a technique that provides high-resolution measurements of the ground displacement associated with various geophysical processes. To investigate the land-surface deformation in Karamay, a typical oil-producing city in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China, Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS Phased Array L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR data were acquired for the period from 2007 to 2009, and a two-pass differential SAR interferometry (D-InSAR process was applied. The experimental results showed that two sites in the north-eastern part of the city exhibit a clear indication of land deformation. For a further evaluation of the D-InSAR result, the Persistent Scatterer (PS and Small Baseline Subset (SBAS-InSAR techniques were applied for 21 time series Environmental Satellite (ENVISAT C-band Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR data from 2003 to 2010. The comparison between the D-InSAR and SBAS-InSAR measurements had better agreement than that from the PS-InSAR measurement. The maximum deformation rate attributed to subsurface water injection for the period from 2003 to 2010 was up to approximately 33 mm/year in the line of sight (LOS direction. The interferometric phase change from November 2007 to June 2010 showed a clear deformation pattern, and the rebound center has been expanding in scale and increasing in quantity.

Satellite radar interferometry for monitoring and early-stage warning of structural instability in archaeological sites

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tapete, D; Fanti, R; Casagli, N; Cecchi, R; Petrangeli, P

2012-01-01

Satellite interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) monitoring campaigns were performed on the archaeological heritage of the Roman Forum, Palatino and Oppio Hills in the centre of Rome, Italy, to test the capabilities of persistent scatterer interferometry techniques for the preventive diagnosis of deformation threatening the structural stability of archaeological monuments and buried structures. ERS-1/2 and RADARSAT-1/2 SAR images were processed with the permanent scatterers InSAR (PSInSAR) and SqueeSAR approaches, and the identified measurement points (MP) were radar-interpreted to map the conservation criticalities in relation to the local geohazard factors and active deterioration processes. The multi-temporal reconstruction of past/recent instability events based on the MP deformation time series provided evidences of stabilization for the Domus Tiberiana as a consequence of recent restoration works, as well as of persistent deformation for the Temple of Magna Mater on the Palatino Hill and the structures of the Baths of Trajan on the Oppio Hill. Detailed time series analysis was also exploited to back monitor and understand the nature of the 2010 collapse that occurred close to Nero's Golden House, and to establish an early-stage warning procedure useful to preventively detect potential instability. (paper)

Geohazards affecting UNESCO WHL sites in the UK observed from geological data and satellite InSAR

Science.gov (United States)

Cigna, Francesca; Tapete, Deodato; Lee, Kathryn

2016-08-01

Geohazards pose significant threats to cultural and natural heritage worldwide. In the UK, only 1 out of 29 UNESCO World Heritage List (WHL) sites has been inscribed on the list of World Heritage in Danger, whilst it is widely accepted that many more could be affected by geohazards. In this paper we set out the foundations of a methodological approach to analyse geological, geohazard and remote sensing data available at the British Geological Survey to retrieve an overview of geohazards affecting the UK WHL sites. The Castles and Town Walls (constructed in the time of King Edward I) in Gwynedd in north Wales are used as test sites to showcase the methodology for geohazard assessment at the scale of individual property also to account for situations of varied geology and local topography across multiproperty WHL sites. How such baseline geohazard assessment can be combined with space-borne radar interferometry (InSAR) data is showcased for the four UNESCO WHL sites located in Greater London. Our analysis feeds into the innovative contribution that the JPI-CH project PROTHEGO `PROTection of European cultural HEritage from GeOhazards' (www.prothego.eu) is making towards mapping geohazards in the 400+ WHL sites of Europe by exploiting non-invasive remote sensing methods and surveying technologies.

Spaceborne Differential SAR Interferometry: Data Analysis Tools for Deformation Measurement

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michele Crosetto

2011-02-01

Full Text Available This paper is focused on spaceborne Differential Interferometric SAR (DInSAR for land deformation measurement and monitoring. In the last two decades several DInSAR data analysis procedures have been proposed. The objective of this paper is to describe the DInSAR data processing and analysis tools developed at the Institute of Geomatics in almost ten years of research activities. Four main DInSAR analysis procedures are described, which range from the standard DInSAR analysis based on a single interferogram to more advanced Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI approaches. These different procedures guarantee a sufficient flexibility in DInSAR data processing. In order to provide a technical insight into these analysis procedures, a whole section discusses their main data processing and analysis steps, especially those needed in PSI analyses. A specific section is devoted to the core of our PSI analysis tools: the so-called 2+1D phase unwrapping procedure, which couples a 2D phase unwrapping, performed interferogram-wise, with a kind of 1D phase unwrapping along time, performed pixel-wise. In the last part of the paper, some examples of DInSAR results are discussed, which were derived by standard DInSAR or PSI analyses. Most of these results were derived from X-band SAR data coming from the TerraSAR-X and CosmoSkyMed sensors.

Investigation of the Capability of Compact Polarimetric SAR Interferometry to Estimate Forest Height

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Hong; Xie, Lei; Wang, Chao; Chen, Jiehong

2013-08-01

The main objective of this paper is to investigate the capability of compact Polarimetric SAR Interferometry (C-PolInSAR) on forest height estimation. For this, the pseudo fully polarimetric interferomteric (F-PolInSAR) covariance matrix is firstly reconstructed, then the three- stage inversion algorithm, hybrid algorithm, Music and Capon algorithm are applied to both C-PolInSAR covariance matrix and pseudo F-PolInSAR covariance matrix. The availability of forest height estimation is demonstrated using L-band data generated by simulator PolSARProSim and X-band airborne data acquired by East China Research Institute of Electronic Engineering, China Electronics Technology Group Corporation.

Využití radarové interferometrie v poddolovaném území na příkladu Ostravska

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Kadlečík, Pavel; Schenk, Vladimír; Wegmüler, U.; Schenková, Zdeňka; Seidlová, Zuzana

2009-01-01

Roč. 9, č. 2 (2009), s. 69-74 ISSN 1213-1962. [OVA ´09 - Nové poznatky a měření v seizmologii, inženýrské geofyzice a geotechnice. Ostrava, 07.04.2009-09.04.2009] R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) LC506; GA AV ČR 1QS300460551 Grant - others:ESA(XE) 19366/05/I-EC Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z30460519 Keywords : interferometry InSAR * DInSAR * subsidence Subject RIV: DE - Earth Magnetism, Geodesy, Geography

Time Series Analysis of Insar Data: Methods and Trends

Science.gov (United States)

Osmanoglu, Batuhan; Sunar, Filiz; Wdowinski, Shimon; Cano-Cabral, Enrique

2015-01-01

Time series analysis of InSAR data has emerged as an important tool for monitoring and measuring the displacement of the Earth's surface. Changes in the Earth's surface can result from a wide range of phenomena such as earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, variations in ground water levels, and changes in wetland water levels. Time series analysis is applied to interferometric phase measurements, which wrap around when the observed motion is larger than one-half of the radar wavelength. Thus, the spatio-temporal ''unwrapping" of phase observations is necessary to obtain physically meaningful results. Several different algorithms have been developed for time series analysis of InSAR data to solve for this ambiguity. These algorithms may employ different models for time series analysis, but they all generate a first-order deformation rate, which can be compared to each other. However, there is no single algorithm that can provide optimal results in all cases. Since time series analyses of InSAR data are used in a variety of applications with different characteristics, each algorithm possesses inherently unique strengths and weaknesses. In this review article, following a brief overview of InSAR technology, we discuss several algorithms developed for time series analysis of InSAR data using an example set of results for measuring subsidence rates in Mexico City.

PRECURSORY SLOPE DEFORMATION AROUND LANDSLIDE AREA DETECTED BY INSAR THROUGHOUT JAPAN

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. Nakano

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR technique is able to detect a slope deformation around landslide (e.g., Singhroy et al., 2004; Une et al., 2008; Riedel and Walther, 2008; Sato et al., 2014. Geospatial Information Authority (GSI of Japan has been performing the InSAR analysis regularly by using ALOS/PALSAR data and ALOS-2/PALSAR-2 data throughout Japan. There are a lot of small phase change sites except for crustal deformation with earthquake or volcano activity in the InSAR imagery. Most of the phase change sites are located in landslide area. We conducted field survey at the 10 sites of those phase change sites. As a result, we identified deformation of artificial structures or linear depressions caused by mass movement at the 9 sites. This result indicates that InSAR technique can detect on the continual deformation of landslide block for several years. GSI of Japan will continue to perform the InSAR analysis throughout Japan. Therefore, we will be able to observe and monitor precursory slope deformation around landslide areas throughout Japan.

SAR Interferometry and Precise Leveling for the Determination of Vertical Displacements in the Upper Rhine Graben Area, Southwest Germany

Science.gov (United States)

Fuhrmann, T.; Schenk, A.; Westerhaus, M.; Zippelt, K.; Heck, B.

2013-12-01

The PS-InSAR (Persistent Scatterer SAR Interferometry) method and precise levelings provide a unique database to detect recent displacements of the Earth's surface. Data of both measurement techniques are analyzed at Geodetic Institute, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, in order to gain detailed insight into the velocity field of the Upper Rhine Graben (URG). As central and most prominent segment of the European Cenozoic rift system, the seismically and tectonically active Rhine Graben is of steady geo-scientific interest. In the last decades, the URG is characterized by small tectonic movements (Switzerland over the last 100 years building a network of leveling lines. A kinematic network adjustment is applied on the leveling data, providing an accurate solution for vertical displacement rates with accuracies of 0.2 to 0.4 mm/a. The biggest disadvantage of the leveling database is the sparse spatial distribution of the measurement points. Therefore, PS-InSAR is used to significantly increase the number of points within the leveling loops. To obtain a high accuracy for line of sight displacement rates, ERS-1/2 and Envisat data from ascending and descending orbits covering a period from 1992 to 2000 and 2002 to 2010, resp., are processed using StaMPS (Stanford Method for Persistent Scatterers). As the tectonic displacements cover a large area, the separation of atmospheric effects and orbit errors plays an important role in the PS-InSAR processing chain. Besides the tectonic signal, man-induced surface displacements caused by oil extraction are investigated. A comparison between the estimates from leveling and InSAR provides detailed insight into the temporal and spatial characteristics of the surface displacement as well as into the possibilities and limits of the measurement techniques.

Long-term contraction of pyroclastic flow deposits at Augustine Volcano using InSAR

Science.gov (United States)

McAlpin, D. B.; Meyer, F. J.; Lu, Z.; Beget, J. E.

2013-12-01

Augustine Island is a small, 8x11 km island in South Central Alaska's lower Cook Inlet. It is approximately 280 km southwest of Anchorage, and occupied entirely by its namesake Augustine Volcano. The volcano's nearly symmetrical central cone reaches an altitude of 1260 m, and the surrounding island is composed almost entirely of volcanic deposits. It is the youngest and most frequently active volcano in the lower Cook Inlet, with at least seven known eruptions since the beginning of written records in 1812. Its two most recent eruptions occurred during March-August 1986, and January-March 2006 The 1986 and 2006 Augustine eruptions produced significant pyroclastic flow deposits (PFDs) on the island, both which have been well mapped by previous studies. Subsidence of material deposited by these pyroclastic flows has been measured by InSAR data, and can be attributed to at least four processes: (1) initial, granular settling; (2) thermal contraction; (3) loading of 1986 PFDs from overlying 2006 deposits; and (4) continuing subsidence of 1986 PFDs buried beneath 2006 flows. For this paper, SAR data for PFDs from Augustine Volcano were obtained from 1992 through 2005, from 2006-2007, and from 2007-2011. These time frames provided InSAR data for long-term periods after both 1986 and 2006 eruptions. From time-series analysis of these datasets, deformation rates of 1986 PFDs and 2006 PFDs were determined, and corrections applied where newer deposits were emplaced over old deposits. The combination of data sets analyzed in this study enabled, for the first time, an analysis of long and short term subsidence rates of volcanic deposits emplaced by the two eruptive episodes. The generated deformation time series provides insight into the significance and duration of the initial settling period and allows us to study the thermal regime and heat loss of the PFDs. To extract quantitative information about thermal properties and composition of the PFDs, we measured the thickness

Mapping three-dimensional surface deformation by combining multiple-aperture interferometry and conventional interferometry: Application to the June 2007 eruption of Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii

Science.gov (United States)

Jung, H.-S.; Lu, Z.; Won, J.-S.; Poland, Michael P.; Miklius, Asta

2011-01-01

Surface deformation caused by an intrusion and small eruption during June 17-19, 2007, along the East Rift Zone of Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii, was three-dimensionally reconstructed from radar interferograms acquired by the Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) phased-array type L-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) (PALSAR) instrument. To retrieve the 3-D surface deformation, a method that combines multiple-aperture interferometry (MAI) and conventional interferometric SAR (InSAR) techniques was applied to one ascending and one descending ALOS PALSAR interferometric pair. The maximum displacements as a result of the intrusion and eruption are about 0.8, 2, and 0.7 m in the east, north, and up components, respectively. The radar-measured 3-D surface deformation agrees with GPS data from 24 sites on the volcano, and the root-mean-square errors in the east, north, and up components of the displacement are 1.6, 3.6, and 2.1 cm, respectively. Since a horizontal deformation of more than 1 m was dominantly in the north-northwest-south-southeast direction, a significant improvement of the north-south component measurement was achieved by the inclusion of MAI measurements that can reach a standard deviation of 3.6 cm. A 3-D deformation reconstruction through the combination of conventional InSAR and MAI will allow for better modeling, and hence, a more comprehensive understanding, of the source geometry associated with volcanic, seismic, and other processes that are manifested by surface deformation.

Crustal Deformation Caused by Earthquake Detected by InSAR Technique Using ALOS/PALSAR Data

Science.gov (United States)

Miyagi, Y.; Nishimura, Y.; Takahashi, H.; Shimada, M.

2007-12-01

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched the Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS), which is commonly called 'Daichi' in Japanese, on 24th January 2006. This satellite has the Phased Array type L- band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) following the mission of the Japanese Earth Resource Satellite-1 (JERS-1). The PALSAR is an advanced SAR sensor with up to 10 m of spatial resolution and variable off-nadir angle. The ALOS/PALSAR can determine the position and attitude with high accuracy by use of mounted dual frequency GPS system and high precision star trackers, and L-band SAR sensor is suitable to observe even heavily-vegetated area. Therefore it is expected much better coherent SAR images than the JERS-1 and the other previous C-band SAR satellites, and major step forward for InSAR (Interferometric SAR) technique. Actually, several outstanding results from InSAR measurements have been reported for the period after the launch. In 2007, two big earthquakes causing some damages on the periphery occurred in Japan. One is M6.7 Noto Peninsula earthquake on 25th March 2007, and the other is M6.8 off the Chuetsu region earthquake on 16th July 2007. Because both seismic faults inferred from these earthquakes are located at shallow depth beneath the bottom of the sea near the coast, obvious crustal deformation in a land area were detected by PALSAR data. In Japan, there is a dense nation-wide GPS network (GEONET) composed of more than 1200 GPS sites established and operated by Geographical Survey Institute and a lot of seismometers. Similarly GPS and seismometer could detect signals caused by the earthquakes, so these are noticeable cases from the standpoint of a comparison among various kinds of data. A remote sensing technique like the ALOS/PALSAR has advantage to observe and monitor a disaster occurred in a remote location where it is difficult to get and there has been little geophysical observation. In this presentation, we notice the case of

L band InSAR sudy on the Ganos section of the North Anatolian Fault Zone (NAFZ)

Science.gov (United States)

de Michele, Marcello

2016-04-01

The North Anatolian Fault (NAF), with a total length of about 1500 km, is one of the most active right-lateral strike-slip faults in the world. It defines the tectonic boundary between the Anatolian Plate and the Eurasian Plate in northern Turkey, accommodating ~14-30 mm/yr of relative plate motion between the two plates (fig. 1). The Gazikoy-Saros segment (the Ganos fault, GF) is the onshore segment of the northern strand of the NAF between the Marmara Sea and the Gulf of Saros. It was last ruptured in 1912 with a Ms=7.4 earthquake that broke the entire inland segment of the fault, a length of about 50 km, and produced a right-lateral strike-slip component of at least 3 m. Other large historical earthquakes that have been attributed to the Ganos fault occurred in A.D. 824, 1343, 1509 and 1766 (e. g. Reilinger et al., 2000; Meade et al., 2002; Motagh et al., 2007; Janssen et al., 2009; Megraoui et al., 2012 ; Ersen Aksoy et al., 2010). The GF forms a 45 km long linear fault system and represents the link between the northern strand of the NAFZ in the Sea of Marmara and the North Aegean Trough where slip partitioning results in branching of the fault zone. The present study aims at showing the results retrieved from L band Interferometric Syntethic Aperture Radar (InSAR) measurements for the monitoring of Crustal Deformation in the Anatolian Fault Zone in the frame of the MARMARA SUPERSITE PROJECT "MARSITE" on the Ganos section of the North Anatolian fault zone. We processed SAR data made available through the CAT-1 ESA (European Space Agency) archives, acquired by the L-band radar sensor ALOS PALSAR between 2007 and 2011. The aim of this exercise is to test L-band capabilities to map the spatial and temporal evolution of the present-day crustal deformation phenomena affecting the Ganos section of the NAFZ with high level of spatial details. The goal of this task is to assess whether InSAR L-Band data can be useful to evaluate the long-term behavior of active faults

The 2008 Wells, Nevada earthquake sequence: Source constraints using calibrated multiple event relocation and InSAR

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Nealy, Jennifer; Benz, Harley M.; Hayes, Gavin; Berman, Eric; Barnhart, William

2017-01-01

The 2008 Wells, NV earthquake represents the largest domestic event in the conterminous U.S. outside of California since the October 1983 Borah Peak earthquake in southern Idaho. We present an improved catalog, magnitude complete to 1.6, of the foreshock-aftershock sequence, supplementing the current U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Preliminary Determination of Epicenters (PDE) catalog with 1,928 well-located events. In order to create this catalog, both subspace and kurtosis detectors are used to obtain an initial set of earthquakes and associated locations. The latter are then calibrated through the implementation of the hypocentroidal decomposition method and relocated using the BayesLoc relocation technique. We additionally perform a finite fault slip analysis of the mainshock using InSAR observations. By combining the relocated sequence with the finite fault analysis, we show that the aftershocks occur primarily updip and along the southwestern edge of the zone of maximum slip. The aftershock locations illuminate areas of post-mainshock strain increase; aftershock depths, ranging from 5 to 16 km, are consistent with InSAR imaging, which shows that the Wells earthquake was a buried source with no observable near-surface offset.

Analysis of Secular Ground Motions in Istanbul from a Long-Term InSAR Time-Series (1992–2017

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Gokhan Aslan

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The identification and measurement of ground deformations in urban areas is of great importance for determining the vulnerable parts of the cities that are prone to geohazards, which is a crucial element of both sustainable urban planning and hazard mitigation. Interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR time series analysis is a very powerful tool for the operational mapping of ground deformation related to urban subsidence and landslide phenomena. With an analysis spanning almost 25 years of satellite radar observations, we compute an InSAR time series of data from multiple satellites (European Remote Sensing satellites ERS-1 and ERS-2, Envisat, Sentinel-1A, and its twin sensor Sentinel-1B in order to investigate the spatial extent and rate of ground deformation in the megacity of Istanbul. By combining the various multi-track InSAR datasets (291 images in total and analysing persistent scatterers (PS-InSAR, we present mean velocity maps of ground surface displacement in selected areas of Istanbul. We identify several sites along the terrestrial and coastal regions of Istanbul that underwent vertical ground subsidence at varying rates, from 5 ± 1.2 mm/yr to 15 ± 2.1 mm/yr. The results reveal that the most distinctive subsidence patterns are associated with both anthropogenic factors and relatively weak lithologies along the Haramirede valley in particular, where the observed subsidence is up to 10 ± 2 mm/yr. We show that subsidence has been occurring along the Ayamama river stream at a rate of up to 10 ± 1.8 mm/yr since 1992, and has also been slowing down over time following the restoration of the river and stream system. We also identify subsidence at a rate of 8 ± 1.2 mm/yr along the coastal region of Istanbul, which we associate with land reclamation, as well as a very localised subsidence at a rate of 15 ± 2.3 mm/yr starting in 2016 around one of the highest skyscrapers of Istanbul, which was built in 2010.

Land subsidence, Ground Fissures and Buried Faults: InSAR Monitoring of Ciudad Guzmán (Jalisco, Mexico

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Carlo Alberto Brunori

2015-07-01

Full Text Available We study land subsidence processes and the associated ground fissuring, affecting an active graben filled by thick unconsolidated deposits by means of InSAR techniques and fieldwork. On 21 September 2012, Ciudad Guzmán (Jalisco, Mexico was struck by ground fissures of about 1.5 km of length, causing the deformation of the roads and the propagation of fissures in adjacent buildings. The field survey showed that fissures alignment is coincident with the escarpments produced on 19 September 1985, when a strong earthquake with magnitude 8.1 struck central Mexico. In order to detect and map the spatio-temporal features of the processes that led to the 2012 ground fissures, we applied InSAR multi-temporal techniques to process ENVISAT-ASAR and RADARSAT-2 satellite SAR images acquired between 2003 and 2012. We detect up to 20 mm/year of subsidence of the northwestern part of Ciudad Guzmán. These incremental movements are consistent with the ground fissures observed in 2012. Based on interferometric results, field data and 2D numerical model, we suggest that ground deformations and fissuring are due to the presence of areal subsidence correlated with variable sediment thickness and differential compaction, partly driven by the exploitation of the aquifers and controlled by the distribution and position of buried faults.

A Least Square Approach for Joining Persistent Scatterer InSAR Time Series Acquired by Different Satellites

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Caro Cuenca, Miguel; Esfahany, Sami Samiei; Hanssen, Ramon F.

2010-12-01

Persistent scatterer Radar Interferometry (PSI) can provide with a wealth of information on surface motion. These methods overcome the major limitations of the antecessor technique, interferometric SAR (InSAR), such as atmospheric disturbances, by detecting the scatterers which are slightly affected by noise. The time span that surface deformation processes are observed is limited by the satellite lifetime, which is usually less than 10 years. However most of deformation phenomena last longer. In order to fully monitor and comprehend the observed signal, acquisitions from different sensors can be merged. This is a complex task for one main reason. PSI methods provide with estimations that are relative in time to one of the acquisitions which is referred to as master or reference image. Therefore, time series acquired by different sensors will have different reference images and cannot be directly compared or joint unless they are set to the same time reference system. In global terms, the operation of translating from one to another reference systems consist of calculating a vertical offset, which is the total deformation that occurs between the two master times. To estimate this offset, different strategies can be applied, for example, using additional data such as leveling or GPS measurements. In this contribution we propose to use a least squares to merge PSI time series without any ancillary information. This method treats the time series individually, i.e. per PS, and requires some knowledge of the deformation signal, for example, if a polynomial would fairly describe the expected behavior. To test the proposed approach, we applied it to the southern Netherlands, where the surface is affected by ground water processes in abandoned mines. The time series were obtained after processing images provided by ERS1/2 and Envisat. The results were validated using in-situ water measurements, which show very high correlation with deformation time series.

InSAR Reveals Land Deformation at Guangzhou and Foshan, China between 2011 and 2017 with COSMO-SkyMed Data

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Alex Hay-Man Ng

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Subsidence from groundwater extraction and underground tunnel excavation has been known for more than a decade in Guangzhou and Foshan, but past studies have only monitored the subsidence patterns as far as 2011 using InSAR. In this study, the deformation occurring during the most recent time-period between 2011 and 2017 has been measured using COSMO-SkyMed (CSK to understand if changes in temporal and spatial patterns of subsidence rates occurred. Using InSAR time-series analysis (TS-InSAR, we found that significant surface displacement rates occurred in the study area varying from −35 mm/year (subsidence to 10 mm/year (uplift. The 2011–2017 TS-InSAR results were compared to two separate TS-InSAR analyses (2011–2013, and 2013–2017. Our CSK TS-InSAR results are in broad agreement with previous ENVISAT results and levelling data, strengthening our conclusion that localised subsidence phenomena occurs at different locations in Guangzhou and Foshan. A comparison between temporal and spatial patterns of deformations from our TS-InSAR measurements and different land use types in Guangzhou shows that there is no clear relationship between them. Many local scale deformation zones have been identified related to different phenomena. The majority of deformations is related to excessive groundwater extraction for agricultural and industrial purposes but subsidence in areas of subway construction also occurred. Furthermore, a detailed analysis on the sinkhole collapse in early 2018 has been conducted, suggesting that surface loading may be a controlling factor of the subsidence, especially along the road and highway. Roads and highways with similar subsidence phenomenon are identified. Continuous monitoring of the deforming areas identified by our analysis is important to measure the magnitude and spatial pattern of the evolving deformations in order to minimise the risk and hazards of land subsidence.

Collaborative Research: Ground Truth of African and Eastern Mediterranean Shallow Seismicity Using SAR Interferometry and Gibbs Sampling Inversion

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Brooks, Benjamin A; Gomez, Francisco; Sandvol, Eric; Frazer, L. N

2006-01-01

...) in primarily Africa and the Middle East, although we also included some events from Asia. We find that InSAR is capable of routine detection of surface displacements associated with small (

Seamless Synthetic Aperture Radar Archive for Interferometry Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Baker, S.; Baru, C.; Bryson, G.; Buechler, B.; Crosby, C.; Fielding, E.; Meertens, C.; Nicoll, J.; Youn, C.

2014-11-01

The NASA Advancing Collaborative Connections for Earth System Science (ACCESS) seamless synthetic aperture radar (SAR) archive (SSARA) project is a collaboration between UNAVCO, the Alaska Satellite Facility (ASF), the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and OpenTopography at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) to design and implement a seamless distributed access system for SAR data and derived interferometric SAR (InSAR) data products. A unified application programming interface (API) has been created to search the SAR archives at ASF and UNAVCO, 30 and 90-m SRTM DEM data available through OpenTopography, and tropospheric data from the NASA OSCAR project at JPL. The federated query service provides users a single access point to search for SAR granules, InSAR pairs, and corresponding DEM and tropospheric data products from the four archives, as well as the ability to search and download pre-processed InSAR products from ASF and UNAVCO.

Remarkable Urban Uplift in Staufen im Breisgau, Germany: Observations from TerraSAR-X InSAR and Leveling from 2008 to 2011

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Hermann Kaufmann

2013-06-01

Full Text Available As geothermal energy is of increasing importance as a renewable energy source, there is a high demand for comprehensive studies to prevent failure during implementation, as is the case in Staufen im Breisgau, Germany. The drilling of seven wells for the geothermal heating of the city hall in 2007 is thought to have disturbed the existing hydro-geological system in the complex structured transition zone of the Upper Rhine Graben and the Schwarzwald massif. This event has led to uplift, related to the transformation of anhydrite to gypsum, which affects the infrastructure of the city centre via the generation of large cracks. This study focuses on the application of the InSAR Small Baseline Subset (SBAS approach using 50 X-band radar images from the German TerraSAR-X satellite (TSX to map the spatial and temporal patterns of the deformation field in detail. X-band InSAR time series analysis for the three-year time period from July 2008 through May 2011 indicates maximum velocities of ~12 cm/yr in the line of sight (LOS direction, from the ground to the satellite, approximately 50 m northeast of the drilling field. In comparison with leveling data for the same time period, TSX data analysis better delineates the border of the deformation area, and it is able to map the amount of deformation associated with different parts of the city. Moreover, this comparison indicates contributions of horizontal motion, as is expected for uplift patterns.

Multitemporal monitoring of Karviná subsidence troughs using Sentinel-1 and TerraSAR-X interferometry

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Lazecký, M.; Jiránková, E.; Kadlečík, Pavel

2017-01-01

Roč. 14, č. 1 (2017), s. 53-59 ISSN 1214-9705 Institutional support: RVO:67985891 Keywords : subsidence * SAR Interferometry * Sentinel-1 * TerraSAR-X * mining Subject RIV: DE - Earth Magnetism, Geodesy, Geography OBOR OECD: Physical geography Impact factor: 0.699, year: 2016 https://www.irsm.cas.cz/index_en.php?page=acta_detail_doi&id=187

Controls on slow-moving landslides revealed by satellite and airborne InSAR

Science.gov (United States)

Handwerger, Alexander L.; Fielding, Eric J.

2017-04-01

Landslides display a wide variety of behaviors ranging from slow persistent motion to rapid acceleration and catastrophic failure. Given the variety of possible behaviors, improvements to our understanding of landslide mechanics are critical for accurate predictions of landslide dynamics. To better constrain the mechanisms that control landslide motion, we use recent SAR data collected by Copernicus Sentinel-1A/B, NASA UAVSAR, JAXA ALOS-2, and DLR TerraSAR-X to quantify the time-dependent kinematics of over 200 slow-moving landslides in the Central and Northern California Coast Ranges. These landslides are ideally suited for InSAR investigations due to their size (up to 5 km in length and 0.5 km in width), persistent downslope motion with low velocities (m/yr), and sparse vegetation. We quantify the seasonal and multi-year changes in velocity driven by changes in precipitation and find that landslide velocity varies over both timescales. Over seasonal timescales, each landslide displays a period of acceleration that occurs within weeks of the onset of seasonal rainfall suggesting that motion is governed by precipitation-induced changes in pore-water pressure. We also examine the effects of multi-year climate variations (i.e., recent historic California drought and the possible wet period that began in late 2016) on the activity of landslides. We find that the drought has led to a decrease in annual displacement over the past several years and predict that a resurgence in annual displacement will occur with an increase in annual rainfall. Lastly, we use UAVSAR data acquired at 4 different look directions to quantify 3D surface displacement of multiple landslides and invert for their subsurface geometry (i.e. basal slip surface) using recently developed 3D mass conservation techniques. The application of NASA's UAVSAR data represents a major advance from previous InSAR studies on landslides in this region and provides one of the first 3D dataset that contains

Volcano-tectonic interactions at Sabancaya and other Peruvian volcanoes revealed by InSAR and seismicity

Science.gov (United States)

Jay, J.; Pritchard, M. E.; Aron, F.; Delgado, F.; Macedo, O.; Aguilar, V.

2013-12-01

An InSAR survey of all 13 Holocene volcanoes in the Andean Central Volcanic Zone of Peru reveals previously undocumented surface deformation that is occasionally accompanied by seismic activity. Our survey utilizes SAR data spanning from 1992 to the present from the ERS-1, ERS-2, and Envisat satellites, as well as selected data from the TerraSAR-X satellite. We find that the recent unrest at Sabancaya volcano (heightened seismicity since 22 February 2013 and increased fumarolic output) has been accompanied by surface deformation. We also find two distinct deformation episodes near Sabancaya that are likely associated with an earthquake swarm in February 2013 and a M6 normal fault earthquake that occurred on 17 July 2013. Preliminary modeling suggests that faulting from the observed seismic moment can account for nearly all of the observed deformation and thus we have not yet found clear evidence for recent magma intrusion. We also document an earlier episode of deformation that occurred between December 2002 and September 2003 which may be associated with a M5.3 earthquake that occurred on 13 December 2002 on the Solarpampa fault, a large EW-striking normal fault located about 25 km northwest of Sabancaya volcano. All of the deformation episodes between 2002 and 2013 are spatially distinct from the inflation seen near Sabancaya from 1992 to 1997. In addition to the activity at Sabancaya, we also observe deformation near Coropuna volcano, in the Andagua Valley, and in the region between Ticsani and Tutupaca volcanoes. InSAR images reveal surface deformation that is possibly related to an earthquake swarm near Coropuna and Sabancaya volcanoes in December 2001. We also find persistent deformation in the scoria cone and lava field along the Andagua Valley, located 40 km east of Corpuna. An earthquake swarm near Ticsani volcano in 2005 produced surface deformation centered northwest of the volcano and was accompanied by a north-south elongated subsidence signal to the

Forest Structure Characterization Using Jpl's UAVSAR Multi-Baseline Polarimetric SAR Interferometry and Tomography

Science.gov (United States)

Neumann, Maxim; Hensley, Scott; Lavalle, Marco; Ahmed, Razi

2013-01-01

This paper concerns forest remote sensing using JPL's multi-baseline polarimetric interferometric UAVSAR data. It presents exemplary results and analyzes the possibilities and limitations of using SAR Tomography and Polarimetric SAR Interferometry (PolInSAR) techniques for the estimation of forest structure. Performance and error indicators for the applicability and reliability of the used multi-baseline (MB) multi-temporal (MT) PolInSAR random volume over ground (RVoG) model are discussed. Experimental results are presented based on JPL's L-band repeat-pass polarimetric interferometric UAVSAR data over temperate and tropical forest biomes in the Harvard Forest, Massachusetts, and in the La Amistad Park, Panama and Costa Rica. The results are partially compared with ground field measurements and with air-borne LVIS lidar data.

InSAR observations of aseismic slip associated with an earthquake swarm in the Columbia River flood basalts

Science.gov (United States)

Wicks, Charles; Thelen, W.; Weaver, C.; Gomberg, J.; Rohay, A.; Bodin, P.

2011-01-01

In 2009 a swarm of small shallow earthquakes occurred within the basalt flows of the Columbia River Basalt Group (CRBG). The swarm occurred within a dense seismic network in the U.S. Department of Energys Hanford Site. Data from the seismic network along with interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) data from the European Space Agencys (ESA) ENVISAT satellite provide insight into the nature of the swarm. By modeling the InSAR deformation data we constructed a model that consists of a shallow thrust fault and a near horizontal fault. We suggest that the near horizontal lying fault is a bedding-plane fault located between basalt flows. The geodetic moment of the modeled fault system is about eight times the cumulative seismic moment of the swarm. Precise location estimates of the swarm earthquakes indicate that the area of highest slip on the thrust fault, ???70mm of slip less than ???0.5km depth, was not located within the swarm cluster. Most of the slip on the faults appears to have progressed aseismically and we suggest that interbed sediments play a central role in the slip process. Copyright 2011 by the American Geophysical Union.

Evaluation of the SBAS InSAR Service of the European Space Agency’s Geohazard Exploitation Platform (GEP

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Jorge Pedro Galve

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The analysis of remote sensing data to assess geohazards is being improved by web-based platforms and collaborative projects, such as the Geohazard Exploitation Platform (GEP of the European Space Agency (ESA. This paper presents the evaluation of a surface velocity map that is generated by this platform. The map was produced through an unsupervised Multi-temporal InSAR (MTI analysis applying the Parallel-SBAS (P-SBAS algorithm to 25 ENVISAT satellite images from the South of Spain that were acquired between 2003 and 2008. This analysis was carried out using a service implemented in the GEP called “SBAS InSAR”. Thanks to the map that was generated by the SBAS InSAR service, we identified processes not documented so far; provided new monitoring data in places affected by known ground instabilities; defined the area affected by these instabilities; and, studied a case where GEP could have been able to help in the forecast of a slope movement reactivation. This amply demonstrates the reliability and usefulness of the GEP, and shows how web-based platforms may enhance the capacity to identify, monitor, and assess hazards that are associated to geological processes.

InSAR Deformation Time Series Processed On-Demand in the Cloud

Science.gov (United States)

Horn, W. B.; Weeden, R.; Dimarchi, H.; Arko, S. A.; Hogenson, K.

2017-12-01

During this past year, ASF has developed a cloud-based on-demand processing system known as HyP3 (http://hyp3.asf.alaska.edu/), the Hybrid Pluggable Processing Pipeline, for Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data. The system makes it easy for a user who doesn't have the time or inclination to install and use complex SAR processing software to leverage SAR data in their research or operations. One such processing algorithm is generation of a deformation time series product, which is a series of images representing ground displacements over time, which can be computed using a time series of interferometric SAR (InSAR) products. The set of software tools necessary to generate this useful product are difficult to install, configure, and use. Moreover, for a long time series with many images, the processing of just the interferograms can take days. Principally built by three undergraduate students at the ASF DAAC, the deformation time series processing relies the new Amazon Batch service, which enables processing of jobs with complex interconnected dependencies in a straightforward and efficient manner. In the case of generating a deformation time series product from a stack of single-look complex SAR images, the system uses Batch to serialize the up-front processing, interferogram generation, optional tropospheric correction, and deformation time series generation. The most time consuming portion is the interferogram generation, because even for a fairly small stack of images many interferograms need to be processed. By using AWS Batch, the interferograms are all generated in parallel; the entire process completes in hours rather than days. Additionally, the individual interferograms are saved in Amazon's cloud storage, so that when new data is acquired in the stack, an updated time series product can be generated with minimal addiitonal processing. This presentation will focus on the development techniques and enabling technologies that were used in developing the time

PSP SAR interferometry monitoring of ground and structure deformations in the archeological site of Pompeii

Science.gov (United States)

Costantini, Mario; Francioni, Elena; Paglia, Luca; Minati, Federico; Margottini, Claudio; Spizzichino, Daniele; Trigila, Alessandro; Iadanza, Carla; De Nigris, Bruno

2016-04-01

The "Major Project Pompeii" (MPP) is a great collective commitment of different institututions and people to set about solving the serious problem of conservation of the largest archeological sites in the world. The ancient city of Pompeii with its 66 hectares, 44 of which are excaveted, is divided into 9 regiones (district), subdivided in 118 insulae (blocks) and almost 1500 domus (houses), and is Unesco site since 1996. The Italian Ministry for Heritage and Cultural Activities and Tourism (MiBACT) and Finmeccanica Group have sealed an agreement whereby the Finmeccanica Group will donate innovative technologies and services for monitoring and protecting the archaeological site of Pompeii. Moreover, the Italian Institute for Environment Protection and Research (ISPRA) - Geological Survey of Italy, was also involved to support the ground based analysis and interpretation of the measurements provided by the industrial team, in order to promote an interdisciplinary approach. In this work, we will focus on ground deformation measurements obtained by satellite SAR interferometry and on their interpretation. The satellite monitoring service is based on the processing of COSMO-SkyMed Himage data by the e-Geos proprietary Persistent Scatterer Pair (PSP) SAR interferometry technology. The PSP technique is a proven SAR interferometry method characterized by the fact of exploiting in the processing only the relative properties between close points (pairs) in order to overcome atmospheric artifacts (which are one of the main problems of SAR interferometry). Validations analyses showed that this technique applied to COSMO-SkyMed Himage data is able to retrieve very dense (except of course on vegetated or cultivated areas) millimetric deformation measurements with sub-metric localization. By means of the COSMO-SkyMed PSP SAR interferometry processing, a historical analysis of the ground and structure deformations occurred over the entire archaeological site of Pompeii in the

Water Storage Changes using Floodplain Bathymetry from InSAR and satellite altimetry in the Congo River Basin

Science.gov (United States)

Yuan, T.; Lee, H.; Jung, H. C.; Beighley, E.; Alsdorf, D. E.

2016-12-01

Extensive wetlands and swamps expand along the Congo River and its tributaries. These wetlands store water and attenuate flood wave during high water season. Substantial dissolved and solid substances are also transported with the water flux, influencing geochemical environment and biogeochemistry processes both in the wetlands and the river. To understand the role of the wetlands in partitioning the surface water and the accompanied material movement, water storage change is one of the most fundamental observations. The water flow through the wetlands is complex, affected by topography, vegetation resistance, and hydraulic variations. Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) has been successfully used to map relative water level changes in the vegetated wetlands with high spatial resolution. By examining interferograms generated from ALOS PALSAR along the middle reach of the Congo River floodplain, we found greater water level changes near the Congo mainstem. Integrated analysis of InSAR and Envisat altimetry data has shown that proximal floodplain with higher water level change has lower elevation during dry season. This indicates that the spatial variation of water level change in the Congo floodplain is mostly controlled by floodplain bathymetry. A method based on water level and bathymetry model is proposed to estimate water storage change. The bathymetry model is composed of (1) elevation at the intersection of the floodplain and the river and (2) floodplain bathymetry slope. We first constructed the floodplain bathymetry by selecting an Envisat altimetry profile during low water season to estimate elevation at the intersection of the floodplain and the river. Floodplain bathymetry slope was estimated using InSAR measurements. It is expected that our new method can estimate water storage change with higher temporal resolution corresponding to altimeter's repeat cycle. In addition, given the multi-decadal archive of satellite altimetry measurements

INSAR AND FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF GROUND DEFORMATION AT LAKE URMIA CAUSEWAY (LUC, NORTHWEST IRAN

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R. Shamshiri

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Precise long-term deformation monitoring of causeways and bridges is of vital task for maintenance and management work related to transportation safety. In this study, we analyse the settlement of Lake Urmia Causeway (LUC, northwest Iran, using observations from InSAR and Finite Element Model (FEM simulation. For InSAR processing, we analyse 58 SAR images of ENVISAT, ALOS and TerraSAR-X (TSX using the SBAS technique to assess the settlement of embankments in the years 2003–2013. The InSAR results show deflation on both embankments with a peak velocity of > 5 cm/year in the satellite Line Of Sight (LOS direction. The InSAR observations are then used to construct a settlement compaction model for the cross section at the distance of 4 km from the most western edge of the causeway, using a 2D Finite Element Model. Our FEM results suggest that settlement of the embankments will continue in the future due to consolidation phenomenon.

PSP SAR interferometry monitoring of ground and structure deformations applied to archaeological sites

Science.gov (United States)

Costantini, Mario; Francioni, Elena; Trillo, Francesco; Minati, Federico; Margottini, Claudio; Spizzichino, Daniele; Trigila, Alessandro; Iadanza, Carla

2017-04-01

Archaeological sites and cultural heritage are considered as critical assets for the society, representing not only the history of region or a culture, but also contributing to create a common identity of people living in a certain region. In this view, it is becoming more and more urgent to preserve them from climate changes effect and in general from their degradation. These structures are usually just as precious as fragile: remote sensing technology can be useful to monitor these treasures. In this work, we will focus on ground deformation measurements obtained by satellite SAR interferometry and on the methodology adopted and implemented in order to use the results operatively for conservation policies in a Italian archaeological site. The analysis is based on the processing of COSMO-SkyMed Himage data by the e-GEOS proprietary Persistent Scatterer Pair (PSP) SAR interferometry technology. The PSP technique is a proven SAR interferometry technology characterized by the fact of exploiting in the processing only the relative properties between close points (pairs) in order to overcome atmospheric artefacts (which are one of the main problems of SAR interferometry). Validations analyses [Costantini et al. 2015] settled that this technique applied to COSMO-SkyMed Himage data is able to retrieve very dense (except of course on vegetated or cultivated areas) millimetric deformation measurements with sub-metric localization. Considering the limitations of all the interferometric techniques, in particular the fact that the measurement are along the line of sight (LOS) and the geometric distortions, in order to obtain the maximum information from interferometric analysis, both ascending and descending geometry have been used. The ascending analysis allows selecting measurements points over the top and, approximately, South-West part of the structures, while the descending one over the top and the South-East part of the structures. The interferometric techniques needs

Permanent scatterer InSAR processing: Forsmark

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dehls, John F.

2006-04-01

It has been speculated that slow, aseismic movement may be occurring along some of the fracture zones crosscutting the Forsmark area. The purpose of this study is to determine if it is possible to measure such movement using dInSAR. Differential SAR Interferometry (DInSAR) is a technique that compares the phases of multiple radar images of an area to measure surface change. The method has the potential to detect millimetric surface deformation along the sensor - target line-of-sight. Differences in phase between two images are easily viewed by combining, or interfering, the two phase-images. In the resulting image, the waves will either reinforce or cancel one another, depending upon the relative phases. The resulting image is called an interferogram and contains concentric bands of colour, or fringes, that are related to topography and/or surface deformation. New algorithms use many images acquired over a long time period to determine the movement history of individual objects, referred to as permanent scatterers. In the current project, standard PSInSAR processing was performed on 40 ERS-1 and ERS-2 scenes. The total area processed is approximately 1,500 km 2 . Slightly less than 20,000 permanent scatterers were identified.The highest densities were obtained along the coast and on the islands, where natural outcrops are more abundant. Two main classes of objects act as permanent scatterers in this area. The first are natural reflectors, such as rocks. The second are man-made reflectors, such as parts of buildings. Numerous local movements were found in the study area, relating to building subsidence, or compaction of anthropogenic fill. The dataset was divided into three groups for analysis, based upon the location of regional lineaments provided by SKB. Both statistical and geostatistical techniques were used. The median velocity of the three blocks did not differ by more than 0.2 mm/yr. This is not considered significant, given the possible magnitude of errors

Permanent scatterer InSAR processing: Forsmark

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dehls, John F [Geological Survey of Norway, Trondheim (Norway)

2006-04-15

It has been speculated that slow, aseismic movement may be occurring along some of the fracture zones crosscutting the Forsmark area. The purpose of this study is to determine if it is possible to measure such movement using dInSAR. Differential SAR Interferometry (DInSAR) is a technique that compares the phases of multiple radar images of an area to measure surface change. The method has the potential to detect millimetric surface deformation along the sensor - target line-of-sight. Differences in phase between two images are easily viewed by combining, or interfering, the two phase-images. In the resulting image, the waves will either reinforce or cancel one another, depending upon the relative phases. The resulting image is called an interferogram and contains concentric bands of colour, or fringes, that are related to topography and/or surface deformation. New algorithms use many images acquired over a long time period to determine the movement history of individual objects, referred to as permanent scatterers. In the current project, standard PSInSAR processing was performed on 40 ERS-1 and ERS-2 scenes. The total area processed is approximately 1,500 km{sup 2}. Slightly less than 20,000 permanent scatterers were identified.The highest densities were obtained along the coast and on the islands, where natural outcrops are more abundant. Two main classes of objects act as permanent scatterers in this area. The first are natural reflectors, such as rocks. The second are man-made reflectors, such as parts of buildings. Numerous local movements were found in the study area, relating to building subsidence, or compaction of anthropogenic fill. The dataset was divided into three groups for analysis, based upon the location of regional lineaments provided by SKB. Both statistical and geostatistical techniques were used. The median velocity of the three blocks did not differ by more than 0.2 mm/yr. This is not considered significant, given the possible magnitude of

Performance Analysis of Satellite Missions for Multi-Temporal SAR Interferometry.

Science.gov (United States)

Bovenga, Fabio; Belmonte, Antonella; Refice, Alberto; Pasquariello, Guido; Nutricato, Raffaele; Nitti, Davide O; Chiaradia, Maria T

2018-04-27

Multi-temporal InSAR (MTI) applications pose challenges related to the availability of coherent scattering from the ground surface, the complexity of the ground deformations, atmospheric artifacts, and visibility problems related to ground elevation. Nowadays, several satellite missions are available providing interferometric SAR data at different wavelengths, spatial resolutions, and revisit time. A new and interesting opportunity is provided by Sentinel-1, which has a spatial resolution comparable to that of previous ESA C-band sensors, and revisit times improved by up to 6 days. According to these different SAR space-borne missions, the present work discusses current and future opportunities of MTI applications in terms of ground instability monitoring. Issues related to coherent target detection, mean velocity precision, and product geo-location are addressed through a simple theoretical model assuming backscattering mechanisms related to point scatterers. The paper also presents an example of a multi-sensor ground instability investigation over Lesina Marina, a village in Southern Italy lying over a gypsum diapir, where a hydration process, involving the underlying anhydride, causes a smooth uplift and the formation of scattered sinkholes. More than 20 years of MTI SAR data have been processed, coming from both legacy ERS and ENVISAT missions, and latest-generation RADARSAT-2, COSMO-SkyMed, and Sentinel-1A sensors. Results confirm the presence of a rather steady uplift process, with limited to null variations throughout the whole monitored time-period.

Performance Analysis of Satellite Missions for Multi-Temporal SAR Interferometry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fabio Bovenga

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Multi-temporal InSAR (MTI applications pose challenges related to the availability of coherent scattering from the ground surface, the complexity of the ground deformations, atmospheric artifacts, and visibility problems related to ground elevation. Nowadays, several satellite missions are available providing interferometric SAR data at different wavelengths, spatial resolutions, and revisit time. A new and interesting opportunity is provided by Sentinel-1, which has a spatial resolution comparable to that of previous ESA C-band sensors, and revisit times improved by up to 6 days. According to these different SAR space-borne missions, the present work discusses current and future opportunities of MTI applications in terms of ground instability monitoring. Issues related to coherent target detection, mean velocity precision, and product geo-location are addressed through a simple theoretical model assuming backscattering mechanisms related to point scatterers. The paper also presents an example of a multi-sensor ground instability investigation over Lesina Marina, a village in Southern Italy lying over a gypsum diapir, where a hydration process, involving the underlying anhydride, causes a smooth uplift and the formation of scattered sinkholes. More than 20 years of MTI SAR data have been processed, coming from both legacy ERS and ENVISAT missions, and latest-generation RADARSAT-2, COSMO-SkyMed, and Sentinel-1A sensors. Results confirm the presence of a rather steady uplift process, with limited to null variations throughout the whole monitored time-period.

On the use of InSAR technology to assess land subsidence in Jakarta coastal flood plain

Science.gov (United States)

Koudogbo, Fifame; Duro, Javier; Garcia Robles, Javier; Arnaud, Alain; Abidin, Hasanuddin Z.

2014-05-01

Jakarta is the capital of Indonesia and is home to approximately 10 million people on the coast of the Java Sea. It is situated on the northern coastal alluvial plane of Java which shares boundaries with West Java Province in the south and in the east, and with Banten Province in the west. The Capital District of Jakarta (DKI) sits in the lowest lying areas of the basin. Its topography varies, with the northern part just meters above current sea level and lying on a flood plain. Subsequently, this portion of the city frequently floods. The southern part of the city is hilly. Thirteen major rivers flow through Jakarta to the Java Sea. The Ciliwung River is the most significant river and divides the city West to East. In the last three decades, urban growing of Jakarta has been very fast in sectors as industry, trade, transportation, real estate, among others. This exponential development has caused several environmental issues; land subsidence is one of them. Subsidence in Jakarta has been known since the early part of the 20th century. It is mainly due to groundwater extraction, the fast development (construction load), soil natural consolidation and tectonics. Evidence of land subsidence exists through monitoring with GPS, level surveys and InSAR investigations. InSAR states for "Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar". Its principle is based on comparing the distance between the satellite and the ground in consecutive satellite passes over the same area on the Earth's surface. Radar satellites images record, with very high precision, the distance travelled by the radar signal that is emitted by the satellite is registered. When this distance is compared through time, InSAR technology can provide highly accurate ground deformation measurements. ALTAMIRA INFORMATION, company specialized in ground motion monitoring, has developed GlobalSARTM, which combines several processing techniques and algorithms based on InSAR technology, to achieve ground motion

Landslide kinematics and their potential controls from hourly to decadal timescales: Insights from integrating ground-based InSAR measurements with structural maps and long-term monitoring data

Science.gov (United States)

Schulz, William H.; Coe, Jeffrey A.; Ricci, Pier P.; Smoczyk, Gregory M.; Shurtleff, Brett L.; Panosky, Joanna

2017-05-01

Knowledge of kinematics is rudimentary for understanding landslide controls and is increasingly valuable with greater spatiotemporal coverage. However, characterizing landslide-wide kinematics is rare, especially at broadly ranging timescales. We used highly detailed kinematic data obtained using photogrammetry and field mapping during the 1980s and 1990s and our 4.3-day ground-based InSAR survey during 2010 to study kinematics of the large, persistently moving Slumgullion landslide. The landslide was segregated into 11 kinematic elements using the 1980s-1990s data and the InSAR survey revealed most of these elements within a few hours. Averages of InSAR-derived displacement point measures within each element agreed well with higher quality in situ observations; averaging was deemed necessary because adverse look angles for the radar coupled with tree cover on the landslide introduced error in the InSAR results. We found that the landslide moved during 2010 at about half its 1985-1990 speed, but slowing was most pronounced at the landslide head. Gradually decreased precipitation and increased temperature between the periods likely resulted in lower groundwater levels and consequent slowing of the landslide. We used GPS survey results and limit-equilibrium modeling to analyze changing stability of the landslide head from observed thinning and found that its stability increased between the two periods, which would result in its slowing, and the consequent slowing of the entire landslide. Additionally, InSAR results suggested movement of kinematic element boundaries in the head region and our field mapping verified that they moved and changed character, likely because of the long-term increasing head stability. On an hourly basis, InSAR results were near error bounds but suggested landslide acceleration in response to seemingly negligible rainfall. Pore-pressure diffusion modeling suggested that rainfall infiltration affected frictional strength only to shallow depths

High-Level Performance Modeling of SAR Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Curtis

2006-01-01

SAUSAGE (Still Another Utility for SAR Analysis that s General and Extensible) is a computer program for modeling (see figure) the performance of synthetic- aperture radar (SAR) or interferometric synthetic-aperture radar (InSAR or IFSAR) systems. The user is assumed to be familiar with the basic principles of SAR imaging and interferometry. Given design parameters (e.g., altitude, power, and bandwidth) that characterize a radar system, the software predicts various performance metrics (e.g., signal-to-noise ratio and resolution). SAUSAGE is intended to be a general software tool for quick, high-level evaluation of radar designs; it is not meant to capture all the subtleties, nuances, and particulars of specific systems. SAUSAGE was written to facilitate the exploration of engineering tradeoffs within the multidimensional space of design parameters. Typically, this space is examined through an iterative process of adjusting the values of the design parameters and examining the effects of the adjustments on the overall performance of the system at each iteration. The software is designed to be modular and extensible to enable consideration of a variety of operating modes and antenna beam patterns, including, for example, strip-map and spotlight SAR acquisitions, polarimetry, burst modes, and squinted geometries.

RADAR INTERFEROMETRY APPLICATION FOR DIGITAL ELEVATION MODEL IN MOUNT BROMO, INDONESIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Noorlaila Hayati

2015-06-01

Full Text Available This paper reviewed the result and processing of digital elevation model (DEM using L-Band ALOS PALSAR data and two-pass radar interferometry method in Bromo Mountain region. Synthetic Aperture Radar is an advanced technology that has been used to monitor deformation, land cover change, image detection and especially topographic information such as DEM.  We used two scenes of SAR imageries to generate DEM extraction which assumed there is no deformation effect between two acquisitions. We could derive topographic information using phase difference by combining two single looks complex (SLC images called focusing process. The next steps were doing interferogram generation, phase unwrapping and geocoding. DEM-InSAR was compared to SRTM 90m that there were significant elevation differences between two DEMs such as smoothing surface and detail topographic. Particularly for hilly areas, DEM-InSAR showed better quality than SRTM 90 m where the elevation could have 25.94 m maximum gap. Although the processing involved adaptive filter to amplify the phase signal, we concluded that InSAR DEM result still had error noise because of signal wavelength, incidence angle, SAR image relationship, and only using ascending orbit direction.

Block-like plate movements in eastern Anatolia observed by InSAR

KAUST Repository

Cavalie, Olivier

2014-01-16

The question whether continental plates deform internally or move as rigid blocks has been debated for several decades. To further address this question, we use large-scale interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) data sets to study how eastern Anatolia and its surrounding plates deform. We find that most of the deformation is focused at the North and East Anatolian faults and little intraplate deformation takes place. Anatolia is therefore moving, at least its eastern part, as a uniform block. We estimate the slip velocity and locking depth of the North Anatolian fault at this location to be 20 mm/yr and ~14 km, respectively. High deformation gradient found near the East Anatolian fault, on the other hand, suggests that little stress is accumulating along the eastern sections of that fault.

Surface deformation induced by magmatic processes at Pacaya Volcano, Guatemala revealed by InSAR

Science.gov (United States)

Wnuk, K.; Wauthier, C.

2017-09-01

Pacaya Volcano, Guatemala is a continuously active, basaltic volcano with an unstable western flank. Despite continuous activity since 1961, a lack of high temporal resolution geodetic surveying has prevented detailed modeling of Pacaya's underlying magmatic plumbing system. A new, temporally dense dataset of Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) RADARSAT-2 images, spanning December 2012 to March 2014, show magmatic deformation before and during major eruptions in January and March 2014. Inversion of InSAR surface displacements using simple analytical forward models suggest that three magma bodies are responsible for the observed deformation: (1) a 4 km deep spherical reservoir located northwest of the summit, (2) a 0.4 km deep spherical source located directly west of the summit, and (3) a shallow dike below the summit. Periods of heightened volcanic activity are instigated by magma pulses at depth, resulting in rapid inflation of the edifice. We observe an intrusion cycle at Pacaya that consists of deflation of one or both magma reservoirs followed by dike intrusion. Intrusion volumes are proportional to reservoir volume loss and do not always result in an eruption. Periods of increased activity culminate with larger dike-fed eruptions. Large eruptions are followed by inter-eruptive periods marked by a decrease in crater explosions and a lack of detected deformation. Co-eruptive flank motion appears to have initiated a new stage of volcanic rifting at Pacaya defined by repeated NW-SE oriented dike intrusions. This creates a positive feedback relationship whereby magmatic forcing from eruptive dike intrusions induce flank motion.

Advanced Differential Radar Interferometry (A-DInSAR) as integrative tool for a structural geological analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Crippa, B.; Calcagni, L.; Rossi, G.; Sternai, P.

2009-04-01

Advanced Differential SAR interferometry (A-DInSAR) is a technique monitoring large-coverage surface deformations using a stack of interferograms generated from several complex SLC SAR images, acquired over the same target area at different times. In this work are described the results of a procedure to calculate terrain motion velocity on highly correlated pixels (E. Biescas, M. Crosetto, M. Agudo, O. Monserrat e B. Crippa: Two Radar Interferometric Approaches to Monitor Slow and Fast Land Deformation, 2007) in two area Gemona - Friuli, Northern Italy, Pollino - Calabria, Southern Italy, and, furthermore, are presented some consideration, based on successful examples of the present analysis. The choice of these pixels whose displacement velocity is calculated depends on the dispersion index value (DA) or using coherence values along the stack interferograms. A-DInSAR technique allows to obtain highly reliable velocity values of the vertical displacement. These values concern the movement of minimum surfaces of about 80m2 at the maximum resolution and the minimum velocity that can be recognized is of the order of mm/y. Because of the high versatility of the technology, because of the large dimensions of the area that can be analyzed (of about 10000Km2) and because of the high precision and reliability of the results obtained, we think it is possible to exploit radar interferometry to obtain some important information about the structural context of the studied area, otherwise very difficult to recognize. Therefore we propose radar interferometry as a valid investigation tool whose results must be considered as an important integration of the data collected in fieldworks.

Error estimation in multitemporal InSAR deformation time series, with application to Lanzarote, Canary Islands

Science.gov (United States)

GonzáLez, Pablo J.; FernáNdez, José

2011-10-01

Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) is a reliable technique for measuring crustal deformation. However, despite its long application in geophysical problems, its error estimation has been largely overlooked. Currently, the largest problem with InSAR is still the atmospheric propagation errors, which is why multitemporal interferometric techniques have been successfully developed using a series of interferograms. However, none of the standard multitemporal interferometric techniques, namely PS or SB (Persistent Scatterers and Small Baselines, respectively) provide an estimate of their precision. Here, we present a method to compute reliable estimates of the precision of the deformation time series. We implement it for the SB multitemporal interferometric technique (a favorable technique for natural terrains, the most usual target of geophysical applications). We describe the method that uses a properly weighted scheme that allows us to compute estimates for all interferogram pixels, enhanced by a Montecarlo resampling technique that properly propagates the interferogram errors (variance-covariances) into the unknown parameters (estimated errors for the displacements). We apply the multitemporal error estimation method to Lanzarote Island (Canary Islands), where no active magmatic activity has been reported in the last decades. We detect deformation around Timanfaya volcano (lengthening of line-of-sight ˜ subsidence), where the last eruption in 1730-1736 occurred. Deformation closely follows the surface temperature anomalies indicating that magma crystallization (cooling and contraction) of the 300-year shallow magmatic body under Timanfaya volcano is still ongoing.

Using Airborne SAR Interferometry to Measure the Elevation of a Greenland Ice Cap

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dall, Jørgen; Keller, K.; Madsen, S.N.

2000-01-01

A digital elevation model (DEM) of an ice cap in Greenland has been generated from airborne SAR interferometry data, calibrated with a new algorithm, and compared with airborne laser altimetry profiles and carrier-phase differential GPS measurements of radar reflectors deployed on the ice cap...... with GPS data and calibrated laser data....

Interseismic Coupling on the Quito Fault System in Ecuador Using New GPS and InSAR Data and Its Implication on Seismic Hazard Assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Mariniere, J.; Champenois, J.; Nocquet, J. M.; Beauval, C. M.; Audin, L.; Baize, S.; Alvarado, A. P.; Yepes, H. A.; Jomard, H.

2017-12-01

Quito, the capital of Ecuador hosting two million inhabitants lies on an active reverse fault system within the Andes. Regular moderate size earthquakes (M 5) occur on these faults, widely felt within the city and its surrounding. Despite a relatively small magnitude of Mw 5.1, the 2014 August 12 earthquake triggered landslides that killed 4 people, cut off one of the main highways for several weeks and caused the temporary shutdown of the airport. Quantifying the seismic potential of the Quito fault system is therefore crucial for a better preparation and mitigation to seismic risk. Previous work using a limited GPS data set found that the Quito fault accommodates 4 mm/yr of EW shortening (Alvarado et al., 2014) at shallow locking depths (3-7 km). We combine GPS and new InSAR data to extend the previous analysis and better quantify the spatial distribution of locking of the Quito fault. GPS dataset includes new continuous sites operating since 2013. 18 ERS SAR scenes, spanning the 1993-2000 time period and covering an area of 85 km by 30 km, were processed using a Permanent Scatter strategy. We perform a joint inversion of both data set (GPS and InSAR) to infer a new and better-constrained kinematic model of the fault to determine both the slip rate and the locking distribution at depth. We find a highly variable level of locking which changes along strike. At some segments, sharp displacement gradients observed both for GPS and InSAR suggest that the fault is creeping up to the surface, while shallow locking is found for other segments. Previous Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Assessment studies have shown that the Quito fault fully controls the hazard in Quito city (Beauval et al. 2014). The results will be used to improve the forecast of earthquakes on the Quito fault system for PSHA studies.

Geodetic integration of Sentinel-1A IW data using PSInSAR in Hungary

Science.gov (United States)

Farkas, Péter; Hevér, Renáta; Grenerczy, Gyula

2015-04-01

ESA's latest Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) mission Sentinel-1 is a huge step forward in SAR interferometry. With its default acquisition mode called the Interferometric Wide Swath Mode (IW) areas through all scales can be mapped with an excellent return time of 12 days (while only the Sentinel-1A is in orbit). Its operational data policy is also a novelty, it allows scientific users free and unlimited access to data. It implements a new type of ScanSAR mode called Terrain Observation with Progressive Scan (TOPS) SAR. It has the same resolution as ScanSAR but with better signal-to-noise ratio distribution. The bigger coverage is achieved by rotation of the antenna in the azimuth direction, therefore it requires very precise co-registration because even errors under a pixel accuracy can introduce azimuth phase variations caused by differences in Doppler-centroids. In our work we will summarize the benefits and the drawbacks of the IW mode. We would like to implement the processing chain of GAMMA Remote Sensing of such data for mapping surface motion with special attention to the co-registration step. Not only traditional InSAR but the advanced method of Persistent Scatterer InSAR (PSInSAR) will be performed and presented as well. PS coverage, along with coherence, is expected to be good due to the small perpendicular and temporal baselines. We would also like to integrate these measurements into national geodetic networks using common reference points. We have installed trihedral corner reflectors at some selected sites to aid precise collocation. Thus, we aim to demonstrate that Sentinel-1 can be effectively used for surface movement detection and monitoring and it can also provide valuable information for the improvement of our networks.

Surface motion of active rock glaciers in the Sierra Nevada, California, USA: inventory and a case study using InSAR

Science.gov (United States)

L. Liu; C.I. Millar; R.D. Westfall; H.A. Zebker

2013-01-01

Despite the abundance of rock glaciers in the Sierra Nevada of California, USA, few efforts have been made to measure their surface flow. Here we use the interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) technique to compile a~benchmark inventory describing the kinematic state of 59 active rock glaciers in this region. Statistically, these rock glaciers moved at...

Subsidence Monitoring in Seville (S Spain) Using Multi-Temporal InSAR

Science.gov (United States)

Ruiz-Armenteros, Antonio M.; Ruiz-Constan, Ana; Lamas-Fernandez, Francisco; Galindo-Zaldivar, Jesus; Sousa, Joaquim J.; Sanz de Galdeano, Carlos; Delgado, Manuel J.; Pedrera-Parias, Antonio; Martos-Rosillo, Sergio; Gil, Antonio J.; Caro-Cuenca, Miguel; Hanssen, Ramon F.

2016-08-01

Seville, with a metropolitan population of about 1.5 million, is the capital and largest city of Andalusia (S Spain). It is the 30th most populous municipality in the European Union and contains three UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The Seville harbour, located about 80 km from the Atlantic Ocean, is the only river port in Spain. The city is located on the plain of the Guadalquivir River. Using Multi-Temporal InSAR with ERS-1/2 and Envisat data a subsidence behavior is detected in the period 1992-2010. The geometry of the subsiding areas suggests that it should be conditioned by the fluvial dynamics of the Guadalquivir River and its tributaries. Facies distribution along the fluvial system (paleochannels, flood plains...), with different grain size and matrix proportion, may explain the relative subsidence between the different sectors.

Very slow lava extrusion continued for more than five years after the 2011 Shinmoedake eruption observed from SAR interferometry

Science.gov (United States)

Ozawa, T.; Miyagi, Y.

2017-12-01

Shinmoe-dake located to SW Japan erupted in January 2011 and lava accumulated in the crater (e.g., Ozawa and Kozono, EPS, 2013). Last Vulcanian eruption occurred in September 2011, and after that, no eruption has occurred until now. Miyagi et al. (GRL, 2014) analyzed TerraSAR-X and Radarsat-2 SAR data acquired after the last eruption and found continuous inflation in the crater. Its inflation decayed with time, but had not terminated in May 2013. Since the time-series of inflation volume change rate fitted well to the exponential function with the constant term, we suggested that lava extrusion had continued in long-term due to deflation of shallow magma source and to magma supply from deeper source. To investigate its deformation after that, we applied InSAR to Sentinel-1 and ALOS-2 SAR data. Inflation decayed further, and almost terminated in the end of 2016. It means that this deformation has continued more than five years from the last eruption. We have found that the time series of inflation volume change rate fits better to the double-exponential function than single-exponential function with the constant term. The exponential component with the short time constant has almost settled in one year from the last eruption. Although InSAR result from TerraSAR-X data of November 2011 and May 2013 indicated deflation of shallow source under the crater, such deformation has not been obtained from recent SAR data. It suggests that this component has been due to deflation of shallow magma source with excess pressure. In this study, we found the possibility that long-term component also decayed exponentially. Then this factor may be deflation of deep source or delayed vesiculation.

Long-term ground deformation patterns of Bucharest using multi-temporal InSAR and multivariate dynamic analyses: a possible transpressional system?

OpenAIRE

Arma?, Iuliana; Mendes, Diana A.; Popa, R?zvan-Gabriel; Gheorghe, Mihaela; Popovici, Diana

2017-01-01

WOS:000395576200001 (Nº de Acesso Web of Science) The aim of this exploratory research is to capture spatial evolution patterns in the Bucharest metropolitan area using sets of single polarised synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite data and multi-temporal radar interferometry. Three sets of SAR data acquired during the years 1992–2010 from ERS-1/-2 and ENVISAT, and 2011–2014 from TerraSAR-X satellites were used in conjunction with the Small Baseline Subset (SBAS) and persistent scattere...

Mechanical properties of conjugate faults in the Makran accretionary prism estimated from InSAR observations of coseismic deformation due to the 2013 Baluchistan (Mw 7.7) earthquake

Science.gov (United States)

Dutta, R.; Harrington, J.; Wang, T.; Feng, G.; Vasyura-Bathke, H.; Jonsson, S.

2017-12-01

Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) measurements allow us to study various mechanical and rheological properties around faults. For example, strain localizations along faults induced by nearby earthquakes observed by InSAR have been explained by the elastic response of compliant fault zones (CFZ) where the elastic moduli is reduced with respect to that of the surrounding rock. We observed similar strain localizations (up to 1-3 cm displacements in the line-of-sight direction of InSAR) along several conjugate faults near the rupture of the 2013 Mw7.7 Baluchistan (Pakistan) earthquake in the accretionary prism of the Makran subduction zone. These conjugate compliant faults, which have strikes of N30°E and N45°W, are located 15-30 km from the mainshock fault rupture in a N-S compressional stress regime. The long-term geologic slip direction of these faults is left-lateral for the N30°E striking faults and right-lateral for the N45°W striking faults. The 2013 Baluchistan earthquake caused WSW-ENE extensional coseismic stress changes across the conjugate fault system and the observed strain localizations shows opposite sense of motion to that of the geologic long-term slip. We use 3D Finite Element modeling (FEM) to study the effects extensional coseismic stresses have on the conjugate CFZs that is otherwise loaded in a compressional regional stress. We use coseismic static displacements due to the earthquake along the FEM domain boundaries to simulate the extensional coseismic stress change acting across the fault system. Around 0.5-2 km wide CFZs with reduction in shear modulus by a factor of 3 to 4 can explain the observed InSAR strain localizations and the opposite sense of motion. The InSAR measurements were also used to constrain the ranges of the length, width and rigidity variations of the CFZs. The FEM solution shows that the N45°W striking faults localize mostly extensional strain and a small amount of left-lateral shear (opposite sense to

Analysis of Land Subsidence Monitoring in Mining Area with Time-Series Insar Technology

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, N.; Wang, Y. J.

2018-04-01

Time-series InSAR technology has become a popular land subsidence monitoring method in recent years, because of its advantages such as high accuracy, wide area, low expenditure, intensive monitoring points and free from accessibility restrictions. In this paper, we applied two kinds of satellite data, ALOS PALSAR and RADARSAT-2, to get the subsidence monitoring results of the study area in two time periods by time-series InSAR technology. By analyzing the deformation range, rate and amount, the time-series analysis of land subsidence in mining area was realized. The results show that InSAR technology could be used to monitor land subsidence in large area and meet the demand of subsidence monitoring in mining area.

InSAR Observations and Finite Element Modeling of Crustal Deformation Around a Surging Glacier, Iceland

Science.gov (United States)

Spaans, K.; Auriac, A.; Sigmundsson, F.; Hooper, A. J.; Bjornsson, H.; Pálsson, F.; Pinel, V.; Feigl, K. L.

2014-12-01

Icelandic ice caps, covering ~11% of the country, are known to be surging glaciers. Such process implies an important local crustal subsidence due to the large ice mass being transported to the ice edge during the surge in a few months only. In 1993-1995, a glacial surge occurred at four neighboring outlet glaciers in the southwestern part of Vatnajökull ice cap, the largest ice cap in Iceland. We estimated that ~16±1 km3 of ice have been moved during this event while the fronts of some of the outlet glaciers advanced by ~1 km.Surface deformation associated with this surge has been surveyed using Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) acquisitions from 1992-2002, providing high resolution ground observations of the study area. The data show about 75 mm subsidence at the ice edge of the outlet glaciers following the transport of the large volume of ice during the surge (Fig. 1). The long time span covered by the InSAR images enabled us to remove ~12 mm/yr of uplift occurring in this area due to glacial isostatic adjustment from the retreat of Vatnajökull ice cap since the end of the Little Ice Age in Iceland. We then used finite element modeling to investigate the elastic Earth response to the surge, as well as confirm that no significant viscoelastic deformation occurred as a consequence of the surge. A statistical approach based on Bayes' rule was used to compare the models to the observations and obtain an estimate of the Young's modulus (E) and Poisson's ratio (v) in Iceland. The best-fitting models are those using a one-kilometer thick top layer with v=0.17 and E between 12.9-15.3 GPa underlain by a layer with v=0.25 and E from 67.3 to 81.9 GPa. Results demonstrate that InSAR data and finite element models can be used successfully to reproduce crustal deformation induced by ice mass variations at Icelandic ice caps.Fig. 1: Interferograms spanning 1993 July 31 to 1995 June 19, showing the surge at Tungnaárjökull (Tu.), Skaftárjökull (Sk.) and S�

Seismic imaging beneath an InSAR anomaly in eastern Washington State: Shallow faulting associated with an earthquake swarm in a low-hazard area

Science.gov (United States)

Stephenson, William J.; Odum, Jackson K.; Wicks, Chuck; Pratt, Thomas L.; Blakely, Richard J.

2016-01-01

In 2001, a rare swarm of small, shallow earthquakes beneath the city of Spokane, Washington, caused ground shaking as well as audible booms over a five‐month period. Subsequent Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) data analysis revealed an area of surface uplift in the vicinity of the earthquake swarm. To investigate the potential faults that may have caused both the earthquakes and the topographic uplift, we collected ∼3  km of high‐resolution seismic‐reflection profiles to image the upper‐source region of the swarm. The two profiles reveal a complex deformational pattern within Quaternary alluvial, fluvial, and flood deposits, underlain by Tertiary basalts and basin sediments. At least 100 m of arching on a basalt surface in the upper 500 m is interpreted from both the seismic profiles and magnetic modeling. Two west‐dipping faults deform Quaternary sediments and project to the surface near the location of the Spokane fault defined from modeling of the InSAR data.

Influence of different DEMs on the quality of the InSAR results: case study over Bankya and Mirovo areas

Science.gov (United States)

Nikolov, Hristo; Atanasova, Mila

2017-10-01

One of the key input parameters in obtaining end products from SAR data is the DEM used during their processing. This holds true especially when persistent scatterers InSAR method should be applied for example to study slow moving landslides or subsidence. Since nowadays most of the raw SAR data are of space borne origin for their correct processing to high precision products for relatively small areas with centimeter accuracy a DEM taking into account the particularities of the local topography is needed. Most of the DEMs used by the SAR processing software such as SRTM or ASTER are obtained by the same type of instrument and present some disagreements with height information acquired by leveling measurements or other geodetic means. This was the motivation for initiating this research - to prove the need of creating and using local DEM in SAR data processing at small scale and to check what the magnitude of the discrepancy between final InSAR products is in both cases where SRTM/ASTER and local DEM has been used. In addition investigated were two scenarios for SAR data processing - one with small baseline between image pairs and one having large baseline image pairs - in order to find out in which case local DEM has bigger impact. In course of this study two reference areas were considered - Bankya village near Sofia (SW region of Bulgaria) and Mirovo salt extraction site (NE region of Bulgaria). The reason those areas were selected lies in the high number of landslides registered and monitored by the competent authorities in the mentioned locations. The significance of the results obtained is witnessed by the fact that both sites we used have been included as reference sites for Bulgaria in the PanGeo EU funded project dealing with delivering information regarding ground instability geohazard as areas prone to subsidence of natural and manmade origin. In the said project largest part of the information has been extracted from Envisat SAR data, but now this

Landslide Susceptibility Mapping Using GIS-based Vector Grid File (VGF Validating with InSAR Techniques: Three Gorges, Yangtze River (China

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Cem Kıncal

2017-04-01

Full Text Available A landslide susceptibility assessment for the Three Gorges (TG region (China was performed in a Geographical Information System (GIS environment and Persistent Scatterer (PS InSAR derived displacements were used for validation purposes. Badong County of TG was chosen as case study field. Landslide parameters were derived from two datasets. The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER Global Digital Elevation Map (GDEM was used to calculate slope geometry parameters (slope, aspect, drainage, and lineament, while geology and vegetation cover were obtained from Landsat and ASTER data. The majority of historical landslides occurred in the sandstone-shale-claystone intercalations. It appears that slope gradients are more critical than other parameters such as aspect and drainage. The susceptibility assessment was based on a summation of assigned susceptibility scores (points for each 30×30 m unit in a database of a Vector Grid File (VGF composed of ‘vector pixels’. A landslide susceptibility map (LSM was generated using VGF and classified with low, moderate and high landslide susceptibility zones. The comparison between the LSM and PS InSAR derived displacements suggests that landslides only account for parts of the observed surface movements.

Multi-temporal and Dual-polarization Interferometric SAR for Land Cover Type Classification

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WANG Xinshuang

2015-05-01

Full Text Available In order to study SAR land cover classification method, this paper uses the multi-dimensional combination of temporal,polarization and InSAR data. The area covered by space borne data of ALOS PALSAR in Xunke County,Heilongjiang Province was chosen as test site. A land cover classification technique of SVM based on multi-temporal, multi-polarization and InSAR data had been proposed, using the sensitivity to land cover type of multi-temporal, multi-polarization SAR data and InSAR measurements, and combing time series characteristic of backscatter coefficient and correlation coefficient to identify ground objects. The results showed the problem of confusion between forest land and urban construction land can be nicely solved, using the correlation coefficient between HH and HV, and also combing the selected temporal, polarization and InSAR characteristics. The land cover classification result with higher accuracy is gotten using the classification algorithm proposed in this paper.

Pre-eruption deformation caused by dike intrusion beneath Kizimen volcano, Kamchatka, Russia, observed by InSAR

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Ji, Lingyun; Lu, Zhong; Dzurisin, Daniel; Senyukov, Sergey

2013-01-01

Interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) images reveal a pre-eruption deformation signal at Kizimen volcano, Kamchatka, Russia, where an ongoing eruption began in mid-November, 2010. The previous eruption of this basaltic andesite-to-dacite stratovolcano occurred in 1927–1928. InSAR images from both ascending and descending orbital passes of Envisat and ALOS PALSAR satellites show as much as 6 cm of line-of-sight shortening from September 2008 to September 2010 in a broad area centered at Kizimen. About 20 cm of opening of a nearly vertical dike provides an adequate fit to the surface deformation pattern. The model dike is approximately 14 km long, 10 km high, centered 13 km beneath Kizimen, and strikes NE–SW. Time-series analysis of multi-temporal interferograms indicates that (1) intrusion started sometime between late 2008 and July 2009, (2) continued at a nearly constant rate, and (3) resulted in a volume expansion of 3.2 × 107 m3 by September 2010, i.e., about two months before the onset of the 2010 eruption. Earthquakes located above the tip of the dike accompanied the intrusion. Eventually, magma pressure in the dike exceeded the confining strength of the host rock, triggering the 2010 eruption. Our results provide insight into the intrusion process that preceded an explosive eruption at a Pacific Rim stratovolcano following nearly a century of quiescence, and therefore have implications for monitoring and hazards assessment at similar volcanoes elsewhere.

Forest parameter estimation using polarimetric SAR interferometry techniques at low frequencies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Seung-Kuk

2013-01-01

Polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (Pol-InSAR) is an active radar remote sensing technique based on the coherent combination of both polarimetric and interferometric observables. The Pol-InSAR technique provided a step forward in quantitative forest parameter estimation. In the last decade, airborne SAR experiments evaluated the potential of Pol-InSAR techniques to estimate forest parameters (e.g., the forest height and biomass) with high accuracy over various local forest test sites. This dissertation addresses the actual status, potentials and limitations of Pol-InSAR inversion techniques for 3-D forest parameter estimations on a global scale using lower frequencies such as L- and P-band. The multi-baseline Pol-InSAR inversion technique is applied to optimize the performance with respect to the actual level of the vertical wave number and to mitigate the impact of temporal decorrelation on the Pol-InSAR forest parameter inversion. Temporal decorrelation is a critical issue for successful Pol-InSAR inversion in the case of repeat-pass Pol-InSAR data, as provided by conventional satellites or airborne SAR systems. Despite the limiting impact of temporal decorrelation in Pol-InSAR inversion, it remains a poorly understood factor in forest height inversion. Therefore, the main goal of this dissertation is to provide a quantitative estimation of the temporal decorrelation effects by using multi-baseline Pol-InSAR data. A new approach to quantify the different temporal decorrelation components is proposed and discussed. Temporal decorrelation coefficients are estimated for temporal baselines ranging from 10 minutes to 54 days and are converted to height inversion errors. In addition, the potential of Pol-InSAR forest parameter estimation techniques is addressed and projected onto future spaceborne system configurations and mission scenarios (Tandem-L and BIOMASS satellite missions at L- and P-band). The impact of the system parameters (e.g., bandwidth

Seven years of postseismic deformation following the 2003 Mw = 6.8 Zemmouri earthquake (Algeria) from InSAR time series

KAUST Repository

Cetin, Esra

2012-05-28

We study the postseismic surface deformation of the Mw 6.8, 2003 Zemmouri earthquake (northern Algeria) using the Multi-Temporal Small Baseline InSAR technique. InSAR time series obtained from 31 Envisat ASAR images from 2003 to 2010 reveal sub-cm coastline ground movements between Cap Matifou and Dellys. Two regions display subsidence at a maximum rate of 2 mm/yr in Cap Djenet and 3.5 mm/yr in Boumerdes. These regions correlate well with areas of maximum coseismic uplifts, and their association with two rupture segments. Inverse modeling suggest that subsidence in the areas of high coseismic uplift can be explained by afterslip on shallow sections (<5 km) of the fault above the areas of coseismic slip, in agreement with previous GPS observations. The earthquake impact on soft sediments and the ground water table southwest of the earthquake area, characterizes ground deformation of non-tectonic origin. The cumulative postseismic moment due to 7 years afterslip is equivalent to an Mw 6.3 earthquake. Therefore, the postseismic deformation and stress buildup has significant implications on the earthquake cycle models and recurrence intervals of large earthquakes in the Algiers area.

Seven years of postseismic deformation following the 2003 Mw = 6.8 Zemmouri earthquake (Algeria) from InSAR time series

KAUST Repository

Cetin, Esra; Meghraoui, Mustapha; Cakir, Ziyadin; Akoglu, Ahmet M.; Mimouni, Omar; Chebbah, Mouloud

2012-01-01

We study the postseismic surface deformation of the Mw 6.8, 2003 Zemmouri earthquake (northern Algeria) using the Multi-Temporal Small Baseline InSAR technique. InSAR time series obtained from 31 Envisat ASAR images from 2003 to 2010 reveal sub-cm coastline ground movements between Cap Matifou and Dellys. Two regions display subsidence at a maximum rate of 2 mm/yr in Cap Djenet and 3.5 mm/yr in Boumerdes. These regions correlate well with areas of maximum coseismic uplifts, and their association with two rupture segments. Inverse modeling suggest that subsidence in the areas of high coseismic uplift can be explained by afterslip on shallow sections (<5 km) of the fault above the areas of coseismic slip, in agreement with previous GPS observations. The earthquake impact on soft sediments and the ground water table southwest of the earthquake area, characterizes ground deformation of non-tectonic origin. The cumulative postseismic moment due to 7 years afterslip is equivalent to an Mw 6.3 earthquake. Therefore, the postseismic deformation and stress buildup has significant implications on the earthquake cycle models and recurrence intervals of large earthquakes in the Algiers area.

Imaging Land Subsidence Induced by Groundwater Extraction in Beijing (China Using Satellite Radar Interferometry

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Mi Chen

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Beijing is one of the most water-stressed cities in the world. Due to over-exploitation of groundwater, the Beijing region has been suffering from land subsidence since 1935. In this study, the Small Baseline InSAR technique has been employed to process Envisat ASAR images acquired between 2003 and 2010 and TerraSAR-X stripmap images collected from 2010 to 2011 to investigate land subsidence in the Beijing region. The maximum subsidence is seen in the eastern part of Beijing with a rate greater than 100 mm/year. Comparisons between InSAR and GPS derived subsidence rates show an RMS difference of 2.94 mm/year with a mean of 2.41 ± 1.84 mm/year. In addition, a high correlation was observed between InSAR subsidence rate maps derived from two different datasets (i.e., Envisat and TerraSAR-X. These demonstrate once again that InSAR is a powerful tool for monitoring land subsidence. InSAR derived subsidence rate maps have allowed for a comprehensive spatio-temporal analysis to identify the main triggering factors of land subsidence. Some interesting relationships in terms of land subsidence were found with groundwater level, active faults, accumulated soft soil thickness and different aquifer types. Furthermore, a relationship with the distances to pumping wells was also recognized in this work.

Understanding earthquakes: The key role of radar images

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Atzori, Simone

2013-01-01

The investigation of the fault rupture underlying earthquakes greatly improved thanks to the spread of radar images. Following pioneer applications in the eighties, Interferometry from Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) gained a prominent role in geodesy. Its capability to measure millimetric deformations for wide areas and the increased data availability from the early nineties, made InSAR a diffused and accepted analysis tool in tectonics, though several factors contribute to reduce the data quality. With the introduction of analytical or numerical modeling, InSAR maps are used to infer the source of an earthquake by means of data inversion. Newly developed algorithms, known as InSAR time-series, allowed to further improve the data accuracy and completeness, strengthening the InSAR contribution even in the study of the inter- and post-seismic phases. In this work we describe the rationale at the base of the whole processing, showing its application to the New Zealand 2010–2011 seismic sequence

Understanding earthquakes: The key role of radar images

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Atzori, Simone, E-mail: simone.atzori@ingv.it [Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Rome (Italy)

2013-08-21

The investigation of the fault rupture underlying earthquakes greatly improved thanks to the spread of radar images. Following pioneer applications in the eighties, Interferometry from Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) gained a prominent role in geodesy. Its capability to measure millimetric deformations for wide areas and the increased data availability from the early nineties, made InSAR a diffused and accepted analysis tool in tectonics, though several factors contribute to reduce the data quality. With the introduction of analytical or numerical modeling, InSAR maps are used to infer the source of an earthquake by means of data inversion. Newly developed algorithms, known as InSAR time-series, allowed to further improve the data accuracy and completeness, strengthening the InSAR contribution even in the study of the inter- and post-seismic phases. In this work we describe the rationale at the base of the whole processing, showing its application to the New Zealand 2010–2011 seismic sequence.

Retrieving Precise Three-Dimensional Deformation on the 2014 M6.0 South Napa Earthquake by Joint Inversion of Multi-Sensor SAR.

Science.gov (United States)

Jo, Min-Jeong; Jung, Hyung-Sup; Yun, Sang-Ho

2017-07-14

We reconstructed the three-dimensional (3D) surface displacement field of the 24 August 2014 M6.0 South Napa earthquake using SAR data from the Italian Space Agency's COSMO-SkyMed and the European Space Agency's Sentinel-1A satellites. Along-track and cross-track displacements produced with conventional SAR interferometry (InSAR) and multiple-aperture SAR interferometry (MAI) techniques were integrated to retrieve the east, north, and up components of surface deformation. The resulting 3D displacement maps clearly delineated the right-lateral shear motion of the fault rupture with a maximum surface displacement of approximately 45 cm along the fault's strike, showing the east and north components of the trace particularly clearly. These maps also suggested a better-constrained model for the South Napa earthquake. We determined a strike of approximately 338° and dip of 85° by applying the Okada dislocation model considering a single patch with a homogeneous slip motion. Using the distributed slip model obtained by a linear solution, we estimated that a peak slip of approximately 1.7 m occurred around 4 km depth from the surface. 3D modelling using the retrieved 3D maps helps clarify the fault's nature and thus characterize its behaviour.

Application of persistent scatterers interferometry for surface displacements monitoring in N5E open pit iron mine using TerraSAR-X data, in Carajás Province, Amazon region

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Filipe Altoé Temporim

Full Text Available ABSTRACT: Carajás Mineral Province, Amazon region, is the most important one in Brazil. Vale S.A. Company has the right to operate in the area of the N5E mine. The work is conducted on rock alteration products of low geomechanical quality related to sandstones, siltstones, and a lateritic cover. In order to monitor ground deformation, 33 TerraSAR-X images covering the period of March 2012-April 2013 were used in the investigation. An interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR approach based on permanent scatterer interferometry (PSI using an interferometric point target analysis algorithm was applied. Results demonstrated that most of the area was considered stable during the time span of the image acquisition. However, persistent scatterers (PSs with high deformation rates were mapped over a landfill probably related to settlements. To validate the PSI data, graphs were generated with the displaced information based on topographic measurements in the field. The graphs showed that the surface deformations during TSX-1 runway coverage are within the miner’s safety threshold and do not present a risk of major problems. The PSI data provided a synoptic and detailed view of the deformation process that affects the mining complex without the need of field campaign or instrumentation.

SAR interferometry monitoring along the ancient Rome City Walls -the PROTHEGO project case study

Science.gov (United States)

Carta, Cristina; Cimino, Maria gabriella; Leoni, Gabriele; Marcelli, Marina; Margottini, Claudio; Spizzichino, Daniele

2017-04-01

Led by the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research, in collaboration with NERC British Geological Survey, Geological and Mining Institute of Spain, University of Milano-Bicocca and Cyprus University of Technology, the PROTHEGO project, co-funded in the framework of JPI on Cultural Heritage EU program (2015-2018), brings an innovative contribution towards the analysis of geo-hazards in areas of cultural heritage in Europe. The project apply InSAR techniques to monitor monuments and sites that are potentially unstable due to natural geo-hazard. After the remote sensing investigation, detailed geological interpretation, hazard analysis, local-scale monitoring, advanced modeling and field surveying for some case studies is implemented. The selected case studies are: the Alhambra in Granada (ES); the Choirokoitia village (CY); the Derwent Valley Mills (UK); the Pompei archaeological site and Historical centre of Rome (IT). In this work, in particular, we will focus on ground deformation measurements (obtained by satellite SAR Interferometry) and on their interpretation with respect to the ancient Rome City Walls. The research activities carried out jointly with the Superintendence's technicians, foresee the implementation of a dedicated web GIS platform as a final repository for data storage and spatial data elaboration. The entire circuit of the ancient city walls (both Mura Aureliane and Mura Gianicolensi), was digitalized and georeferenced. All the elements (towers, gates and wall segments) were drawn and collected in order to produce a map of elements at risk. A detailed historical analysis (during the last twenty years) of the ground and structural deformations were performed. A specific data sheet of ruptures was created and fulfilled in order to produce a geographic inventory of past damage. This data sheet contains the following attributes: triggering data; typology of damage; dimension, triggering mechanism; presence of restoration works

Assessment of Polarimetric SAR Interferometry for Improving Ship Classification based on Simulated Data

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Jordi J. Mallorqui

2008-12-01

Full Text Available This paper uses a complete and realistic SAR simulation processing chain, GRECOSAR, to study the potentialities of Polarimetric SAR Interferometry (POLInSAR in the development of new classification methods for ships. Its high processing efficiency and scenario flexibility have allowed to develop exhaustive scattering studies. The results have revealed, first, vessels’ geometries can be described by specific combinations of Permanent Polarimetric Scatterers (PePS and, second, each type of vessel could be characterized by a particular spatial and polarimetric distribution of PePS. Such properties have been recently exploited to propose a new Vessel Classification Algorithm (VCA working with POLInSAR data, which, according to several simulation tests, may provide promising performance in real scenarios. Along the paper, explanation of the main steps summarizing the whole research activity carried out with ships and GRECOSAR are provided as well as examples of the main results and VCA validation tests. Special attention will be devoted to the new improvements achieved, which are related to simulations processing a new and highly realistic sea surface model. The paper will show that, for POLInSAR data with fine resolution, VCA can help to classify ships with notable robustness under diverse and adverse observation conditions.

Federated query services provided by the Seamless SAR Archive project

Science.gov (United States)

Baker, S.; Bryson, G.; Buechler, B.; Meertens, C. M.; Crosby, C. J.; Fielding, E. J.; Nicoll, J.; Youn, C.; Baru, C.

2013-12-01

The NASA Advancing Collaborative Connections for Earth System Science (ACCESS) seamless synthetic aperture radar (SAR) archive (SSARA) project is a 2-year collaboration between UNAVCO, the Alaska Satellite Facility (ASF), the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and OpenTopography at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) to design and implement a seamless distributed access system for SAR data and derived data products (i.e. interferograms). A major milestone for the first year of the SSARA project was a unified application programming interface (API) for SAR data search and results at ASF and UNAVCO (WInSAR and EarthScope data archives) through the use of simple web services. A federated query service was developed using the unified APIs, providing users a single search interface for both archives (http://www.unavco.org/ws/brokered/ssara/sar/search). A command line client that utilizes this new service is provided as an open source utility for the community on GitHub (https://github.com/bakerunavco/SSARA). Further API development and enhancements added more InSAR specific keywords and quality control parameters (Doppler centroid, faraday rotation, InSAR stack size, and perpendicular baselines). To facilitate InSAR processing, the federated query service incorporated URLs for DEM (from OpenTopography) and tropospheric corrections (from the JPL OSCAR service) in addition to the URLs for SAR data. This federated query service will provide relevant QC metadata for selecting pairs of SAR data for InSAR processing and all the URLs necessary for interferogram generation. Interest from the international community has prompted an effort to incorporate other SAR data archives (the ESA Virtual Archive 4 and the DLR TerraSAR-X_SSC Geohazard Supersites and Natural Laboratories collections) into the federated query service which provide data for researchers outside the US and North America.

Characterization of open and closed volcanic systems in Indonesia and Mexico using InSAR time series

Science.gov (United States)

Chaussard, E.; Amelung, F.; Aoki, Y.

2013-08-01

use 2007-2011 Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) data to perform an arc-wide interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) time series survey of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt (TMVB) and to study time-dependent ground deformation of four Indonesian volcanoes selected following the 2007-2009 study of Chaussard and Amelung (2012). Our objectives are to examine whether arc volcanoes exhibit long-term edifice-wide cyclic deformation patterns that can be used to characterize open and closed volcanic systems and to better constrain in which cases precursory inflation is expected. We reveal deformation cycles at both regularly active and previously inactive Indonesian volcanoes, but we do not detect deformation in the TMVB, reflecting a lower activity level. We identify three types of relationships between deformation and activity: inflation prior to eruption and associated with or followed by deflation (Kerinci and Sinabung), inflation without eruption and followed by slow deflation (Agung), and eruption without precursory deformation (Merapi, Colima, and Popocatépetl; at Merapi, no significant deformation is detected even during eruption). The first two cases correspond to closed volcanic systems and suggest that the traditional model of magmatic systems and eruptive cycles do apply to andesitic volcanoes (i.e., inflation and deflation episodes associated with magma accumulation or volatile exsolution in a crustal reservoir followed by eruptions or in situ cooling). In contrast, the last case corresponds to open volcanic systems where no significant pressurization of the magmatic reservoirs is taking place prior to eruptions and thus no long-term edifice-wide ground deformation can be detected. We discuss these results in terms of InSAR's potential for forecasting volcanic unrest.

L’interferometria SAR satellitare per la misura delle deformazioni superficiali

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Marco Chini

2012-04-01

Full Text Available La tecnica interferometrica, basata  sull’elaborazione coerente della fase del ritorno del segnale radar dalla superficie terrestre, ha reso il telerilevamento radar uno strumento di analisi quantitativa in molteplici campi applicativi quali cartografia, geodesia, rischio sismico, idrogeologico e vulcanico. In particolare, l’InSAR consente di produrre mappe di spostamento co-sismico, ovvero di misurare  il campo di deformazione superficiale causato da un terremoto con accuratezze centimetriche.Satellite  SAR  interferometry  for the measurement of surface deformationThe SAR Interferometry (InSAR technique is mostly used to measure the characteristics of the topography and its  changes  during  time.  The  interferometric  technique,  based  on  the coherent elaboration of radar returns from the surface, has made the radar remote  sensing  a  valuable  tool  for a  quantitative  analysis  in  many  applicative  fields  such  as  cartography, geodesy, seismic, hydrogeologic and volcanic  hazards.  In  particular,  InSAR technique is able to measure the co-seismic  surface  deformation  caused by  an  earthquake  with  accuracies  at order of centimeters. This kind of data is extremely important for the estima-tion  of  the  geometric  parameters  of the seismic source  which is a relevant information  for  the  management  of event scenarios.In the last decade a new technique for the elaboration of the interferometric signal  arises,  the  multitemporal  SAR Interferometry. Thanks to the exploita-tion of a conspicuous number of SAR images,  it  is  possible  detecting  and monitoring the slow soil deformation with millimetric accuracies. Moreover, the recent very high resolution satellite  SAR  sensors  make  possible  to apply  this  technique  in  urban  areas in  order  to  monitor  single  structures such as bridges, buildings, roads and

Estimating tropical forest structure using LIDAR AND X-BAND INSAR

Science.gov (United States)

Palace, M. W.; Treuhaft, R. N.; Keller, M. M.; Sullivan, F.; Roberto dos Santos, J.; Goncalves, F. G.; Shimbo, J.; Neumann, M.; Madsen, S. N.; Hensley, S.

2013-12-01

Tropical forests are considered the most structurally complex of all forests and are experiencing rapid change due to anthropogenic and climatic factors. The high carbon stocks and fluxes make understanding tropical forests highly important to both regional and global studies involving ecosystems and climate. Large and remote areas in the tropics are prime targets for the use of remotely sensed data. Radar and lidar have previously been used to estimate forest structure, with an emphasis on biomass. These two remote sensing methods have the potential to yield much more information about forest structure, specifically through the use of X-band radar and waveform lidar data. We examined forest structure using both field-based and remotely sensed data in the Tapajos National Forest, Para, Brazil. We measured multiple structural parameters for about 70 plots in the field within a 25 x 15 km area that have TanDEM-X single-pass horizontally and vertically polarized radar interferometric data. High resolution airborne lidar were collected over a 22 sq km portion of the same area, within which 33 plots were co-located. Preliminary analyses suggest that X-band interferometric coherence decreases by about a factor of 2 (from 0.95 to 0.45) with increasing field-measured vertical extent (average heights of 7-25 m) and biomass (10-430 Mg/ha) for a vertical wavelength of 39 m, further suggesting, as has been observed at C-band, that interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) is substantially more sensitive to forest structure/biomass than SAR. Unlike InSAR coherence versus biomass, SAR power at X-band versus biomass shows no trend. Moreover, airborne lidar coherence at the same vertical wavenumbers as InSAR is also shown to decrease as a function of biomass, as well. Although the lidar coherence decrease is about 15% more than the InSAR, implying that lidar penetrates more than InSAR, these preliminary results suggest that X-band InSAR may be useful for structure and

Integration between ground based and satellite SAR data in landslide mapping: The San Fratello case study

Science.gov (United States)

Bardi, Federica; Frodella, William; Ciampalini, Andrea; Bianchini, Silvia; Del Ventisette, Chiara; Gigli, Giovanni; Fanti, Riccardo; Moretti, Sandro; Basile, Giuseppe; Casagli, Nicola

2014-10-01

The potential use of the integration of PSI (Persistent Scatterer Interferometry) and GB-InSAR (Ground-based Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry) for landslide hazard mitigation was evaluated for mapping and monitoring activities of the San Fratello landslide (Sicily, Italy). Intense and exceptional rainfall events are the main factors that triggered several slope movements in the study area, which is susceptible to landslides, because of its steep slopes and silty-clayey sedimentary cover. In the last three centuries, the town of San Fratello was affected by three large landslides, developed in different periods: the oldest one occurred in 1754, damaging the northeastern sector of the town; in 1922 a large landslide completely destroyed a wide area in the western hillside of the town. In this paper, the attention is focussed on the most recent landslide that occurred on 14 February 2010: in this case, the phenomenon produced the failure of a large sector of the eastern hillside, causing severe damages to buildings and infrastructures. In particular, several slow-moving rotational and translational slides occurred in the area, making it suitable to monitor ground instability through different InSAR techniques. PS-InSAR™ (permanent scatterers SAR interferometry) techniques, using ERS-1/ERS-2, ENVISAT, RADARSAT-1, and COSMO-SkyMed SAR images, were applied to analyze ground displacements during pre- and post-event phases. Moreover, during the post-event phase in March 2010, a GB-InSAR system, able to acquire data continuously every 14 min, was installed collecting ground displacement maps for a period of about three years, until March 2013. Through the integration of space-borne and ground-based data sets, ground deformation velocity maps were obtained, providing a more accurate delimitation of the February 2010 landslide boundary, with respect to the carried out traditional geomorphological field survey. The integration of GB-InSAR and PSI techniques proved to

Mapping the Extent and Magnitude of Severe Flooding Induced by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria with Sentinel-1 SAR and InSAR Observations

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, B.; Koirala, R.; Oliver-Cabrera, T.; Wdowinski, S.; Osmanoglu, B.

2017-12-01

Hurricanes can cause winds, rainfall and storm surge, all of which could result in flooding. Between August and September 2017, Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria made landfall over Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico causing destruction and damages. Flood mapping is important for water management and to estimate risks and property damage. Though water gauges are able to monitor water levels, they are normally distributed sparsely. To map flooding products of these extreme events, we use Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) observations acquired by the European satellite constellation Sentinel-1. We obtained two acquisitions from before each flooding event, a single acquisition during the hurricane, and two after each event, a total of five acquisitions. We use both amplitude and phase observations to map extent and magnitude of flooding respectively. To map flooding extents, we use amplitude images from before, after and if possible during the hurricane pass. A calibration is used to convert the image raw data to backscatter coefficient, termed sigma nought. We generate a composite of the two image layers using red and green bands to show the change of sigma nought between acquisitions, which directly reflects the extent of flooding. Because inundation can result with either an increase or decrease of sigma nought values depending on the surface scattering characteristics, we map flooded areas in location where sigma nought changes were above a detection threshold. To study magnitude of flooding we study Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) phase changes. Changes in the water level can be detected by the radar when the signal is reflected away from water surface and bounces again by another object (e.g. trees and/or buildings) known as double bounce phase. To generate meaningful interferograms, we compare phase information with the nearest water gauge records to verify our results. Preliminary results show that the three hurricanes caused flooding condition over

The management of scarce water resources using GNSS, InSAR and in-situ micro gravity measurements as monitoring tools

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Wonnacott, R

2015-08-01

Full Text Available of Geomatics, Vol. 4, No. 3, August 2015 213  The management of scarce water resources using GNSS, InSAR and in-situ micro gravity measurements as monitoring tools Richard Wonnacott1, Chris Hartnady1, Jeanine Engelbrecht2 1Umvoto Africa (Pty) Ltd... shown to provide a useful tool for the measurement and monitoring of ground subsidence resulting from numerous natural and anthropogenic causes including the abstraction of groundwater and gas. Zerbini et al (2007) processed and combined data from a...

High-Accuracy Elevation Data at Large Scales from Airborne Single-Pass SAR Interferometry

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Guy Jean-Pierre Schumann

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Digital elevation models (DEMs are essential data sets for disaster risk management and humanitarian relief services as well as many environmental process models. At present, on the hand, globally available DEMs only meet the basic requirements and for many services and modeling studies are not of high enough spatial resolution and lack accuracy in the vertical. On the other hand, LiDAR-DEMs are of very high spatial resolution and great vertical accuracy but acquisition operations can be very costly for spatial scales larger than a couple of hundred square km and also have severe limitations in wetland areas and under cloudy and rainy conditions. The ideal situation would thus be to have a DEM technology that allows larger spatial coverage than LiDAR but without compromising resolution and vertical accuracy and still performing under some adverse weather conditions and at a reasonable cost. In this paper, we present a novel single pass In-SAR technology for airborne vehicles that is cost-effective and can generate DEMs with a vertical error of around 0.3 m for an average spatial resolution of 3 m. To demonstrate this capability, we compare a sample single-pass In-SAR Ka-band DEM of the California Central Valley from the NASA/JPL airborne GLISTIN-A to a high-resolution LiDAR DEM. We also perform a simple sensitivity analysis to floodplain inundation. Based on the findings of our analysis, we argue that this type of technology can and should be used to replace large regions of globally available lower resolution DEMs, particularly in coastal, delta and floodplain areas where a high number of assets, habitats and lives are at risk from natural disasters. We conclude with a discussion on requirements, advantages and caveats in terms of instrument and data processing.

InSAR analysis of the crustal deformation affecting the megacity of Istanbul: the results of the FP7 Marsite Project as a GEO Supersite Initiative

Science.gov (United States)

Solaro, Giuseppe; Bonano, Manuela; Manzo, Mariarosaria

2016-04-01

The North Anatolian Fault (NAF) is one of the most active faults worldwide, extending approximately 1,200 km from Eastern Turkey to the Northern Aegean Sea. During the 20th century series of damaging earthquakes occurred along the NAF, generally propagated westward towards Istanbul; the last one occurred in 1999 at Izmit, a city 80 km away from Istanbul. Within this scenario, the FP7 MARsite project (New Directions in Seismic Hazard assessment through Focused Earth Observation in Marmara Supersite), supported by EU, intends to collect, share and integrate multidisciplinary data (seismologic, geochemical, surveying, satellite, etc.) in order to carry out assessment, mitigation and management of seismic risk in the region of the Sea of Marmara. In the framework of the MARsite project, we performed the analysis and monitoring of the surface deformation affecting the Istanbul mega city by exploiting the large archives of X-band satellite SAR data, made available through the Supersites Initiatives, and by processing them via the advanced multi-temporal and multi-scale InSAR technique, known as the Small BAseline Subset (SBAS) approach. In particular, we applied the SBAS technique to a dataset of 101 SAR images acquired by the TerraSAR-X constellation of the German Space Agency (DLR) over descending orbits and spanning the November 2010 - August 2014 time interval. From,these images, we generated 312 differential interferograms with a maximum spatial separation (perpendicular baseline) between the acquisition orbits of about 500 m., that were used to generate, via the SBAS approach, mean deformation velocity map and corresponding ground time series of the investigated area. The performed InSAR analysis reveals a generalized stability over the Istanbul area, except for some localized displacements, related to subsidence and slope instability phenomena. In particular, we identified: (i) a displacement pattern related to the Istanbul airport, showing a mostly linear

Research on the method of extracting DEM based on GBInSAR

Science.gov (United States)

Yue, Jianping; Yue, Shun; Qiu, Zhiwei; Wang, Xueqin; Guo, Leping

2016-05-01

Precise topographical information has a very important role in geology, hydrology, natural resources survey and deformation monitoring. The extracting DEM technology based on synthetic aperture radar interferometry (InSAR) obtains the three-dimensional elevation of the target area through the phase information of the radar image data. The technology has large-scale, high-precision, all-weather features. By changing track in the location of the ground radar system up and down, it can form spatial baseline. Then we can achieve the DEM of the target area by acquiring image data from different angles. Three-dimensional laser scanning technology can quickly, efficiently and accurately obtain DEM of target area, which can verify the accuracy of DEM extracted by GBInSAR. But research on GBInSAR in extracting DEM of the target area is a little. For lack of theory and lower accuracy problems in extracting DEM based on GBInSAR now, this article conducted research and analysis on its principle deeply. The article extracted the DEM of the target area, combined with GBInSAR data. Then it compared the DEM obtained by GBInSAR with the DEM obtained by three-dimensional laser scan data and made statistical analysis and normal distribution test. The results showed the DEM obtained by GBInSAR was broadly consistent with the DEM obtained by three-dimensional laser scanning. And its accuracy is high. The difference of both DEM approximately obeys normal distribution. It indicated that extracting the DEM of target area based on GBInSAR is feasible and provided the foundation for the promotion and application of GBInSAR.

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR Interferometry for Assessing Wenchuan Earthquake (2008 Deforestation in the Sichuan Giant Panda Site

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Fulong Chen

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Synthetic aperture radar (SAR has been an unparalleled tool in cloudy and rainy regions as it allows observations throughout the year because of its all-weather, all-day operation capability. In this paper, the influence of Wenchuan Earthquake on the Sichuan Giant Panda habitats was evaluated for the first time using SAR interferometry and combining data from C-band Envisat ASAR and L-band ALOS PALSAR data. Coherence analysis based on the zero-point shifting indicated that the deforestation process was significant, particularly in habitats along the Min River approaching the epicenter after the natural disaster, and as interpreted by the vegetation deterioration from landslides, avalanches and debris flows. Experiments demonstrated that C-band Envisat ASAR data were sensitive to vegetation, resulting in an underestimation of deforestation; in contrast, L-band PALSAR data were capable of evaluating the deforestation process owing to a better penetration and the significant coherence gain on damaged forest areas. The percentage of damaged forest estimated by PALSAR decreased from 20.66% to 17.34% during 2009–2010, implying an approximate 3% recovery rate of forests in the earthquake impacted areas. This study proves that long-wavelength SAR interferometry is promising for rapid assessment of disaster-induced deforestation, particularly in regions where the optical acquisition is constrained.

Correcting atmospheric effects on InSAR with MERIS water vapour data and elevation-dependent interpolation model

KAUST Repository

Li, Z. W.; Xu, Wenbin; Feng, G. C.; Hu, J.; Wang, C. C.; Ding, X. L.; Zhu, J. J.

2012-01-01

The propagation delay when radar signals travel from the troposphere has been one of the major limitations for the applications of high precision repeat-pass Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR). In this paper, we first present an elevation-dependent atmospheric correction model for Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR—the instrument aboard the ENVISAT satellite) interferograms with Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) integrated water vapour (IWV) data. Then, using four ASAR interferometric pairs over Southern California as examples, we conduct the atmospheric correction experiments with cloud-free MERIS IWV data. The results show that after the correction the rms differences between InSAR and GPS have reduced by 69.6 per cent, 29 per cent, 31.8 per cent and 23.3 per cent, respectively for the four selected interferograms, with an average improvement of 38.4 per cent. Most importantly, after the correction, six distinct deformation areas have been identified, that is, Long Beach–Santa Ana Basin, Pomona–Ontario, San Bernardino and Elsinore basin, with the deformation velocities along the radar line-of-sight (LOS) direction ranging from −20 mm yr−1 to −30 mm yr−1 and on average around −25 mm yr−1, and Santa Fe Springs and Wilmington, with a slightly low deformation rate of about −10 mm yr−1 along LOS. Finally, through the method of stacking, we generate a mean deformation velocity map of Los Angeles over a period of 5 yr. The deformation is quite consistent with the historical deformation of the area. Thus, using the cloud-free MERIS IWV data correcting synchronized ASAR interferograms can significantly reduce the atmospheric effects in the interferograms and further better capture the ground deformation and other geophysical signals.

Temporal Evolution of Surface Deformation and Magma Sources at Pacaya Volcano, Guatemala Revealed by InSAR

Science.gov (United States)

Wnuk, K.; Wauthier, C.

2016-12-01

Pacaya Volcano, Guatemala is a persistently active volcano whose western flank is unstable. Despite continuous activity since 1961, a lack of high temporal resolution geodetic surveying has prevented detailed modeling of Pacaya's underlying magmatic plumbing system. A new, temporally dense dataset of Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) RADARSAT-2 images, spanning December 2012 to March 2014, shows magmatic deformation before and during major eruptions in January and March 2014. Inverse modeling of InSAR surface displacements suggest that three magma bodies are responsible for observed deformation: (1) a 3.7 km deep spherical reservoir located northwest of the summit, (2) a 0.4 km deep spherical source located directly west of the summit, and (3) a shallow dike below the summit that provides the primary transport pathway for erupted materials. Periods of heightened activity are brought on by magma pulses at depth, which result in rapid inflation of the edifice. We observe an intrusion cycle at Pacaya that consists of deflation of one or both magma reservoirs followed by dike intrusion. Intrusion volumes are proportional to reservoir volume loss, and do not always result in an eruption. Periods of increased activity culminate with larger dike fed eruptions. Large eruptions are followed by inter eruptive periods marked by a decrease in crater explosions and a lack of deformation. A full understanding of magmatic processes at Pacaya is required to assess potential impacts on other aspects of the volcano such as the unstable western flank. Co-eruptive flank motion appears to have initiated a new stage of volcanic rifting at Pacaya defined by repeated NW-SE dike intrusions. This creates a positive feedback relationship whereby magmatic forcing from eruptive dike intrusions induces flank motion

Correcting atmospheric effects on InSAR with MERIS water vapour data and elevation-dependent interpolation model

KAUST Repository

Li, Z. W.

2012-05-01

The propagation delay when radar signals travel from the troposphere has been one of the major limitations for the applications of high precision repeat-pass Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR). In this paper, we first present an elevation-dependent atmospheric correction model for Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR—the instrument aboard the ENVISAT satellite) interferograms with Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) integrated water vapour (IWV) data. Then, using four ASAR interferometric pairs over Southern California as examples, we conduct the atmospheric correction experiments with cloud-free MERIS IWV data. The results show that after the correction the rms differences between InSAR and GPS have reduced by 69.6 per cent, 29 per cent, 31.8 per cent and 23.3 per cent, respectively for the four selected interferograms, with an average improvement of 38.4 per cent. Most importantly, after the correction, six distinct deformation areas have been identified, that is, Long Beach–Santa Ana Basin, Pomona–Ontario, San Bernardino and Elsinore basin, with the deformation velocities along the radar line-of-sight (LOS) direction ranging from −20 mm yr−1 to −30 mm yr−1 and on average around −25 mm yr−1, and Santa Fe Springs and Wilmington, with a slightly low deformation rate of about −10 mm yr−1 along LOS. Finally, through the method of stacking, we generate a mean deformation velocity map of Los Angeles over a period of 5 yr. The deformation is quite consistent with the historical deformation of the area. Thus, using the cloud-free MERIS IWV data correcting synchronized ASAR interferograms can significantly reduce the atmospheric effects in the interferograms and further better capture the ground deformation and other geophysical signals.

Forest biomass mapping from fusion of GEDI Lidar data and TanDEM-X InSAR data

Science.gov (United States)

Qi, W.; Hancock, S.; Armston, J.; Marselis, S.; Dubayah, R.

2017-12-01

Mapping forest above-ground biomass (hereafter biomass) can significantly improve our ability to assess the role of forest in terrestrial carbon budget and to analyze the ecosystem productivity. Global Ecosystem Dynamic Investigation (GEDI) mission will provide the most complete lidar observations of forest vertical structure and has the potential to provide global-scale forest biomass data at 1-km resolution. However, GEDI is intrinsically a sampling mission and will have a between-track spacing of 600 m. An increase in adjacent-swath distance and the presence of cloud cover may also lead to larger gaps between GEDI tracks. In order to provide wall-to-wall forest biomass maps, fusion algorithms of GEDI lidar data and TanDEM-X InSAR data were explored in this study. Relationship between biomass and lidar RH metrics was firstly developed and used to derive biomass values over GEDI tracks which were simulated using airborne lidar data. These GEDI biomass values were then averaged in each 1-km cell to represent the biomass density within that cell. Whereas for cells without any GEDI observations, regression models developed between GEDI-derived biomass and TDX InSAR variables were applied to predict biomass over those places. Based on these procedures, contiguous biomass maps were finally generated at 1-km resolution over three representative forest types. Uncertainties for these biomass maps were also estimated at 1 km following methods developed in Saarela et al. (2016). Our results indicated great potential of GEDI/TDX fusion for large-scale biomass mapping. Saarela, S., Holm, S., Grafstrom, A., Schnell, S., Naesset, E., Gregoire, T.G., Nelson, R.F., & Stahl, G. (2016). Hierarchical model-based inference for forest inventory utilizing three sources of information. Annals of Forest Science, 73, 895-910

ERT, GPR, InSAR, and tracer tests to characterize karst aquifer systems under urban areas: The case of Quebec City

Science.gov (United States)

Martel, Richard; Castellazzi, Pascal; Gloaguen, Erwan; Trépanier, Luc; Garfias, Jaime

2018-06-01

Urban infrastructures built over karst settings may be at risk of collapse due to hydro-chemical erosion of underlying rock structures. In such settings, mapping cave networks and monitoring ground stability is important to assure civil safety and guide future infrastructure development decisions. However, no technique can directly and comprehensively map these hydrogeological features and monitor their stability. The most reliable method to map a cave network is through speleological exploration, which is not always possible due to restrictions, narrow corridors/passages, or high water levels. Borehole drilling is expensive and is often only performed where the presence of karsts is suggested by other techniques. Numerous indirect and cost-effective methods exist to map a karst flow system, such as geophysics, geodesy, and tracer tests. This paper presents the outcomes from a challenging application in Quebec City, Canada, where a multidisciplinary approach was designed to better understand the groundwater dynamics and cave paths. Two tracer tests in groundwater flowing through the cave system indicated that water flows along an approximately straight path from the sinking stream to the spring. It also suggests the presence of a parallel flow path close to the one already partially mapped. This observation was confirmed by combining Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) techniques, and ultimately by observing voids in several boreholes drilled close to the main cave path. Lowering the water levels at the suspected infiltration zone and inside the karst, the infiltration cracks were identified and the hydraulic link between them was confirmed. In fact, almost no infiltration occurs into the karst system when the water level at the sinking stream drops below a threshold level. Finally, SAR interferometry (InSAR) using RADARSAT-2 images detected movements on few buildings located over a backfilled sinkhole intercepted by the karst

Integration of InSAR and GIS in the Study of Surface Faults Caused by Subsidence-Creep-Fault Processes in Celaya, Guanajuato, Mexico

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Avila-Olivera, Jorge A.; Farina, Paolo; Garduno-Monroy, Victor H.

2008-01-01

In Celaya city, Subsidence-Creep-Fault Processes (SCFP) began to become visible at the beginning of the 1980s with the sprouting of the crackings that gave rise to the surface faults 'Oriente' and 'Poniente'. At the present time, the city is being affected by five surface faults that display a preferential NNW-SSE direction, parallel to the regional faulting system 'Taxco-San Miguel de Allende'. In order to study the SCFP in the city, the first step was to obtain a map of surface faults, by integrating in a GIS field survey and an urban city plan. The following step was to create a map of the current phreatic level decline in city with the information of deep wells and using the 'kriging' method in order to obtain a continuous surface. Finally the interferograms maps resulted of an InSAR analysis of 9 SAR images covering the time interval between July 12 of 2003 and May 27 of 2006 were integrated to a GIS. All the maps generated, show how the surface faults divide the city from North to South, in two zones that behave in a different way. The difference of the phreatic level decline between these two zones is 60 m; and the InSAR study revealed that the Western zone practically remains stable, while sinkings between the surface faults 'Oriente' and 'Universidad Pedagogica' are present, as well as in portions NE and SE of the city, all of these sinkings between 7 and 10 cm/year

Integration of InSAR and GIS in the Study of Surface Faults Caused by Subsidence-Creep-Fault Processes in Celaya, Guanajuato, Mexico

Science.gov (United States)

Avila-Olivera, Jorge A.; Farina, Paolo; Garduño-Monroy, Victor H.

2008-05-01

In Celaya city, Subsidence-Creep-Fault Processes (SCFP) began to become visible at the beginning of the 1980s with the sprouting of the crackings that gave rise to the surface faults "Oriente" and "Poniente". At the present time, the city is being affected by five surface faults that display a preferential NNW-SSE direction, parallel to the regional faulting system "Taxco-San Miguel de Allende". In order to study the SCFP in the city, the first step was to obtain a map of surface faults, by integrating in a GIS field survey and an urban city plan. The following step was to create a map of the current phreatic level decline in city with the information of deep wells and using the "kriging" method in order to obtain a continuous surface. Finally the interferograms maps resulted of an InSAR analysis of 9 SAR images covering the time interval between July 12 of 2003 and May 27 of 2006 were integrated to a GIS. All the maps generated, show how the surface faults divide the city from North to South, in two zones that behave in a different way. The difference of the phreatic level decline between these two zones is 60 m; and the InSAR study revealed that the Western zone practically remains stable, while sinkings between the surface faults "Oriente" and "Universidad Pedagógica" are present, as well as in portions NE and SE of the city, all of these sinkings between 7 and 10 cm/year.

Pyroclastic Flow Deposits and InSAR: Analysis of Long-Term Subsidence at Augustine Volcano, Alaska

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David B. McAlpin

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Deformation of pyroclastic flow deposits begins almost immediately after emplacement, and continues thereafter for months or years. This study analyzes the extent, volume, thickness, and variability in pyroclastic flow deposits (PFDs on Augustine Volcano from measuring their deformation rates with interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR. To conduct this analysis, we obtained 48 SAR images of Augustine Volcano acquired between 1992 and 2010, spanning its most recent eruption in 2006. The data were processed using d-InSAR time-series analysis to measure the thickness of the Augustine PFDs, as well as their surface deformation behavior. Because much of the 2006 PFDs overlie those from the previous eruption in 1986, geophysical models were derived to decompose deformation contributions from the 1986 deposits underlying the measured 2006 deposits. To accomplish this, we introduce an inversion approach to estimate geophysical parameters for both 1986 and 2006 PFDs. Our analyses estimate the expanded volume of pyroclastic flow material deposited during the 2006 eruption to be 3.3 × 107 m3 ± 0.11 × 107 m3, and that PFDs in the northeastern part of Augustine Island reached a maximum thickness of ~31 m with a mean of ~5 m. Similarly, we estimate the expanded volume of PFDs from the 1986 eruption at 4.6 × 107 m3 ± 0.62 × 107 m3, with a maximum thickness of ~31 m, and a mean of ~7 m.

Detection of the Subsidence Affecting a Shopping Center in Marseilles (France) using Sar Interferometry

Science.gov (United States)

Feurer, D.; Le Mouelic, S.; Raucoules, D.; Carnec, C.; Nédellec, J.-L.

2004-06-01

Help of satellite radar interferometry for urban subsidence observation has been demonstrated for several years now. This monitoring tool is able to provide an assessment of the ground motion with a millimetric accuracy and a large spatial coverage. We present here a result of this technique applied to the monitoring of a small area : the shopping centre complex and cinema multiplex in Marseilles, France. This construction work was one of the most important construction site of this last few years in France. Inaugurated in October, 1997, the multiplex had to close 6 of its 15 cinemas five months later because of collapsing risks due to important ground movements. It has been totally closed in July, 1999. The multiplex building demolition is currently under way. Finally, this "flop" represents a cost of 30 millions euros. 14 ERS images acquired between 1992 and 2000 had been processed in order to produce a set of 105 differential interferograms. We performed a recursive correction of orbital and topographic fringes using a FFT computation and a Digital Elevation Model provided by the French National Institute (IGN). The analysis of the interferograms series has allowed to detect unambiguously a signature of few pixels corresponding to the ground movement. From this study, we observed a ground deformation during 1997 to 1998, an overall stability during late 1998 to 1999 and again a deformation during late 1999 to 2000. This study shows that, in specific cases, traditional InSAR is able to provide valuable information on very localised ground deformation. It also shows the interest of a comprehensive study of the full ERS archive of this site in order to assess the stability of the ground before, when no ground-based measurements were available, during, and after the construction works.

Seasonal deformation and active landslide thickness revealed by spaceborne InSAR observations: a case study of Crescent lake landslide, WA

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, X.; Lu, Z.; Pierson, T. C.; Kramer, R.

2017-12-01

Understanding the precipitation triggering mechanism and quantifying the creeping landslide thickness are important to conduct early warnings and estimate potential failure volume and runout extent. However, it is problematic to use traditional geodetic methods to identify the active landslide boundaries and capture the transient mobility over hilly and vegetated landslide landscape. Here we present a novel InSAR processing strategy to characterize the spatial distribution and temporal behavior of the landslide movement in response to precipitation over Crescent lake landslide, WA using spaceborne SAR data of ALOS-1 PALSAR-1, ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 and Sentinel-1A. Time-series measurements reveal the seasonal deformation of landslide lobe, showing a much larger magnitude compared to the motion at lower elevated terrain expressed by an off-slide GPS station, suggesting an amplified hydrological loading effect associated with thick unconsolidated zone. Thanks to the high temporal resolution of Sentinel-1A and on-slide GPS data, we capture the progressive incipient motions in the wet season, characterized by the elastic slope-normal contraction due to loading during antecedent rainfall, followed by downslope slip and lateral propagation in less than one-month intense precipitation, because the elevated pore pressure and the reduced friction at the basal instigate the shear motion. The proposed threshold precipitation concept, in terms of the intensity and duration, can be an integral part of the landslide warning system. The active thickness can be inverted using three-dimensional (3D) displacement map based on the principle of mass conservation. We extract quasi-3D displacements using two independent (ascending and descending) InSAR measurements assuming that the targets move exclusively along the aspect direction on the slope-parallel plane. This routine of the extraction of quasi-3D displacement and the inversion of active lobe thickness can be utilized in the study of

Ongoing Deformation of Sinkholes in Wink, Texas, Observed by Time-Series Sentinel-1A SAR Interferometry (Preliminary Results

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jin-Woo Kim

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Spatiotemporal deformation of existing sinkholes and the surrounding region in Wink, TX are probed using time-series interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR methods with radar images acquired from the Sentinel-1A satellite launched in April 2014. The two-dimensional deformation maps, calculated using InSAR observations from ascending and descending tracks, reveal that much of the observed deformation is vertical. Our results indicate that the sinkholes are still influenced by ground depression, implying that the sinkholes continue to expand. Particularly, a region 1 km northeast of sinkhole #2 is sinking at a rate of up to 13 cm/year, and its aerial extent has been enlarged in the past eight years when compared with a previous survey. Furthermore, there is a high correlation between groundwater level and surficial subsidence during the summer months, representing the complicated characteristics of sinkhole deformation under the influence of successive roof failures in underlying cavities. We also modeled the sinkhole deformation in a homogenous elastic half-space with two dislocation sources, and the ground depression above cavities could be numerically analyzed. Measurements of ongoing deformation in sinkholes and assessments of the stability of the land surface at sinkhole-prone locations in near real-time, are essential for mitigating the threat posed to people and property by the materialization of sinkholes.

Analysis of Land Deformation on Slope Area using PS InSAR. Case Study: Malang Area

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sudiana, Dodi; Rizkinia, Mia; Arief, Rahmat; Rokhmatuloh; Ardiansyah; Setiadi, Bambang; Bayuaji, Luhur; Sri Sumantyo, Josaphat Tetuko

2014-01-01

The geographical position of Indonesia located between two continents and oceans is strategic, but at large risk of experiencing various disasters. Climate change and vulnerable location (surrounded by plates and geological faults in the Earth's crust) creates an earthquake-prone region and causes land/mudslides. In this paper, PS InSAR method (Persistent Scatterer Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar) is implemented to Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) data to study the potential damage caused by the earthquake or volcanic eruption in Malang vicinity. By comparing the amplitude images periodically, shifting soil can be determined using precise orbital information. The analysis showed a significant decrease of land deformation on slope area in Klojen district in Malang city, reached up to −7.128 mm/year

Monitoring the ongoing deformation and seasonal behaviour affecting Mosul Dam through space-borne SAR data

Science.gov (United States)

Tessari, G.; Riccardi, P.; Pasquali, P.

2017-12-01

Monitoring of dam structural health is an important practice to control the structure itself and the water reservoir, to guarantee efficient operation and safety of surrounding areas. Ensuring the longevity of the structure requires the timely detection of any behaviour that could deteriorate the dam and potentially result in its shutdown or failure.The detection and monitoring of surface displacements is increasingly performed through the analysis of satellite Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data, thanks to the non-invasiveness of their acquisition, the possibility to cover large areas in a short time and the new space missions equipped with high spatial resolution sensors. The availability of SAR satellite acquisitions from the early 1990s enables to reconstruct the historical evolution of dam behaviour, defining its key parameters, possibly from its construction to the present. Furthermore, the progress on SAR Interferometry (InSAR) techniques through the development of Differential InSAR (DInSAR) and Advanced stacking techniques (A-DInSAR) allows to obtain accurate velocity maps and displacement time-series.The importance of these techniques emerges when environmental or logistic conditions do not allow to monitor dams applying the traditional geodetic techniques. In such cases, A-DInSAR constitutes a reliable diagnostic tool of dam structural health to avoid any extraordinary failure that may lead to loss of lives.In this contest, an emblematic case will be analysed as test case: the Mosul Dam, the largest Iraqi dam, where monitoring and maintaining are impeded for political controversy, causing possible risks for the population security. In fact, it is considered one of the most dangerous dams in the world because of the erosion of the gypsum rock at the basement and the difficult interventions due to security problems. The dam consists of 113 m tall and 3.4 km long earth-fill embankment-type, with a clay core, and it was completed in 1984.The deformation

Tracking morphological changes and slope instability using spaceborne and ground-based SAR data

Science.gov (United States)

Di Traglia, Federico; Nolesini, Teresa; Ciampalini, Andrea; Solari, Lorenzo; Frodella, William; Bellotti, Fernando; Fumagalli, Alfio; De Rosa, Giuseppe; Casagli, Nicola

2018-01-01

Stromboli (Aeolian Archipelago, Italy) is an active volcano that is frequently affected by moderate to large mass wasting, which has occasionally triggered tsunamis. With the aim of understanding the relationship between the geomorphologic evolution and slope instability of Stromboli, remote sensing information from space-born Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) change detection and interferometry (InSAR) () and Ground Based InSAR (GBInSAR) was compared with field observations and morphological analyses. Ground reflectivity and SqueeSAR™ (an InSAR algorithm for surface deformation monitoring) displacement measurements from X-band COSMO-SkyMed satellites (CSK) were analysed together with displacement measurements from a permanent-sited, Ku-band GBInSAR system. Remote sensing results were compared with a preliminary morphological analysis of the Sciara del Fuoco (SdF) steep volcanic flank, which was carried out using a high-resolution Digital Elevation Model (DEM). Finally, field observations, supported by infrared thermographic surveys (IRT), allowed the interpretation and validation of remote sensing data. The analysis of the entire dataset (collected between January 2010 and December 2014) covers a period characterized by a low intensity of Strombolian activity. This period was punctuated by the occurrence of lava overflows, occurring from the crater terrace evolving downslope toward SdF, and flank eruptions, such as the 2014 event. The amplitude of the CSK images collected between February 22nd, 2010, and December 18th, 2014, highlights that during periods characterized by low-intensity Strombolian activity, the production of materials ejected from the crater terrace towards the SdF is generally low, and erosion is the prevailing process mainly affecting the central sector of the SdF. CSK-SqueeSAR™ and GBInSAR data allowed the identification of low displacements in the SdF, except for high displacement rates (up to 1.5 mm/h) that were measured following both lava

Rapid groundwater-related land subsidence in Yemen observed by multi-temporal InSAR

KAUST Repository

Abdullin, Ayrat

2015-04-01

of some of the basins. Our results highlight the usefulness of InSAR in monitoring land subsidence in areas where limited or no conventional geodetic observations are carried out. Future work will focus on obtaining more InSAR and well pressure data and on analyzing further the subsidence and its connection with the groundwater reservoir pressure distribution.

Rapid groundwater-related land subsidence in Yemen observed by multi-temporal InSAR

Science.gov (United States)

Abdullin, Ayrat; Xu, Wenbin; Kosmicki, Maximillian; Jonsson, Sigurjon

2015-04-01

of the basins. Our results highlight the usefulness of InSAR in monitoring land subsidence in areas where limited or no conventional geodetic observations are carried out. Future work will focus on obtaining more InSAR and well pressure data and on analyzing further the subsidence and its connection with the groundwater reservoir pressure distribution.

ATMOSPHERIC PHASE DELAY CORRECTION OF D-INSAR BASED ON SENTINEL-1A

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

X. Li

2018-04-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we used the Generic Atmospheric Correction Online Service for InSAR (GACOS tropospheric delay maps to correct the atmospheric phase delay of the differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar (D-InSAR monitoring, and we improved the accuracy of subsidence monitoring using D-InSAR technology. Atmospheric phase delay, as one of the most important errors that limit the monitoring accuracy of InSAR, would lead to the masking of true phase in subsidence monitoring. For the problem, this paper used the Sentinel-1A images and the tropospheric delay maps got from GACOS to monitor the subsidence of the Yellow River Delta in Shandong Province. The conventional D-InSAR processing was performed using the GAMMA software. The MATLAB codes were used to correct the atmospheric delay of the D-InSAR results. The results before and after the atmospheric phase delay correction were verified and analyzed in the main subsidence area. The experimental results show that atmospheric phase influences the deformation results to a certain extent. After the correction, the measurement error of vertical deformation is reduced by about 18 mm, which proves that the removal of atmospheric effects can improve the accuracy of the D-InSAR monitoring.

Land subsidence caused by the East Mesa geothermal field, California, observed using SAR interferometry

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Massonnet, D.; Holzer, T.; Vadon, H.

1997-01-01

Interferometric combination of pairs of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images acquired by the ERS-1 satellite maps the deformation field associated with the activity of the East Mesa geothermal plant, located in southern California. SAR interferometry is applied to this flat area without the need of a digital terrain model. Several combinations are used to ascertain the nature of the phenomenon. Short term interferograms reveal surface phase changes on agricultural fields similar to what had been observed previously with SEASAT radar data. Long term (2 years) interferograms allow the study of land subsidence and improve prior knowledge of the displacement field, and agree with existing, sparse levelling data. This example illustrates the power of the interferometric technique for deriving accurate industrial intelligence as well as its potential for legal action, in cases involving environmental damages. Copyright 1997 by the American Geophysical Union.

INSAR For Early Warning Of Possible Highway Instability Over Undermined Area Of Ostrava

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Lazecky, Milan; Kacmarik, Michal; Rapant, Petr

2012-01-01

A part of czech highway D1 connecting Ostrava with Prague and Poland, is built over an undermined area of Ostrava-Svinov. Since the end of 2010, this part of the highway is fully operational. Because of undermining, a subsidence can be expected, however with a very slow rate since the mines are no more active in this area. Several TerraSAR-X images from 2011 are investigated interferometrically in order to estimate a precise deformation model. Subjects of interest are movements of newly built highway bridges, banks and close neighbourhood. Existing C-band multitemporal InSAR processing results of ERS and Envisat are available from an earlier period that reveil a slow trend of residual subsidence. In this project, InSAR will be investigated as a tool for an early warning for highway stability.

Constraining magma physical properties and its temporal evolution from InSAR and topographic data only: a physics-based eruption model for the effusive phase of the Cordon Caulle 2011-2012 rhyodacitic eruption

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Delgado, F.; Kubanek, J.; Anderson, K. R.; Lundgren, P.; Pritchard, M. E.

2017-12-01

The 2011-2012 eruption of Cordón Caulle volcano in Chile is the best scientifically observed rhyodacitic eruption and is thus a key place to understand the dynamics of these rare but powerful explosive rhyodacitic eruptions. Because the volatile phase controls both the eruption temporal evolution and the eruptive style, either explosive or effusive, it is important to constrain the physical parameters that drive these eruptions. The eruption began explosively and after two weeks evolved into a hybrid explosive - lava flow effusion whose volume-time evolution we constrain with a series of TanDEM-X Digital Elevation Models. Our data shows the intrusion of a large volume laccolith or cryptodome during the first 2.5 months of the eruption and lava flow effusion only afterwards, with a total volume of 1.4 km3. InSAR data from the ENVISAT and TerraSAR-X missions shows more than 2 m of subsidence during the effusive eruption phase produced by deflation of a finite spheroidal source at a depth of 5 km. In order to constrain the magma total H2O content, crystal cargo, and reservoir pressure drop we numerically solve the coupled set of equations of a pressurized magma reservoir, magma conduit flow and time dependent density, volatile exsolution and viscosity that we use to invert the InSAR and topographic data time series. We compare the best-fit model parameters with independent estimates of magma viscosity and total gas content measured from lava samples. Preliminary modeling shows that although it is not possible to model both the InSAR and the topographic data during the onset of the laccolith emplacement, it is possible to constrain the magma H2O and crystal content, to 4% wt and 30% which agree well with published literature values.

Monitoring and modeling of sinkhole-related subsidence in west-central Florida mapped from InSAR and surface observations

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Kiflu, H.; Oliver-Cabrera, T.; Robinson, T.; Wdowinski, S.; Kruse, S.

2017-12-01

Sinkholes in Florida cause millions of dollars in damage to infrastructure each year. Methods of early detection of sinkhole-related subsidence are clearly desirable. We have completed two years of monitoring of selected sinkhole-prone areas in west central Florida with XXX data and analysis with XXX algorithms. Filters for selecting targets with high signal-to-noise ratio and subsidence over this time window (XX-2015-XX-2017) are being used to select sites for ground study. A subset of the buildings with InSAR-detected subsidence indicated show clear structural indications of subsidence in the form of cracks in walls and roofs. Comsol Multiphysics models have been developed to describe subsidence at the rates identified from the InSAR analysis (a few mm/year) and on spatial scales observed from surface observations, including structural deformation of buildings and ground penetrating radar images of subsurface deformation (length scales of meters to tens of meters). These models assume cylindrical symmetry and deformation of elastic and poroelastic layers over a growing sphering void.

Magnitude and extent of land subsidence in central Mexico revealed by regional InSAR ALOS time-series survey

Science.gov (United States)

Chaussard, E.; Wdowinski, S.; Amelung, F.; Cabral-Cano, E.

2013-05-01

Massive groundwater extraction is very common in Mexico and is well known to result in land subsidence. However, most surveys dedicated to land subsidence focus on one single city, mainly Mexico City, and thus fail to provide a comprehensive picture of the problem. Here we use a space-based radar remote sensing technique, known as Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) to detect land subsidence in the entire central Mexico area. We used data from the Japanese satellite ALOS, processed over 600 SAR images acquired between 2007-2011 and produced over 3000 interferograms to cover and area of 200,000 km2 in central Mexico. We identify land subsidence in twenty-one areas, including seventeen cities, namely from east to west, Puebla, Mexico city, Toluca de Lerdo, Queretaro, San Luis de la Paz, south of San Luis de la Paz, Celaya, south of Villa de Reyes, San Luis Potosi, west of Villa de Arista, Morelia, Salamanca, Irapuato, Silao, Leon, Aguascalientes, north of Aguascalientes, Zamora de Hidalgo, Guadalajara, Ahuacatlan, and Tepic. Subsidence rates of 30 cm/yr are observed in Mexico City, while in the other locations typical rates of 5-10 cm/yr are noticed. Regional surveys of this type are necessary for the development of hazard mitigation plans and efficient use of ground-based monitoring. We additionally correlate subsidence with land use, surface geology, and faults distribution and suggest that groundwater extraction for agricultural, urban, and industrial uses are the main causes of land subsidence. We also reveal that the limits of the subsiding areas often correlate with existing faults, motion on these faults being driven by water extraction rather than by tectonic activity. In all the subsiding locations we observe high ground velocity gradients emphasizing the significant risks associated with land subsidence in central Mexico. Averaged 2007-2011 ground velocity map from ALOS InSAR time-series in central Mexico, revealing land subsidence in 21

Deformation patterns, magma supply, and magma storage at Karymsky Volcanic Center, Kamchatka, Russia, 2000-2010, revealed by InSAR

Science.gov (United States)

Ji, Lingyun; Izbekov, Pavel; Senyukov, Sergey; Lu, Zhong

2018-02-01

Under a complex geological region influenced by the subduction of the Pacific plate, Kamchatka Peninsula is one of the most active volcanic arcs in the Pacific Rim. Due to logistical difficulty in instrumentation, shallow magma plumbing systems beneath some of the Kamchatkan volcanoes are poorly understood. InSAR offers a safe and quick method for monitoring volcanic deformation with a high spatial resolution. In this study, a group of satellite radar interferograms that span the time interval from 2000 to 2010 shows eruptive and non-eruptive deformation at Karymsky Volcanic Center (KVC), Kamchatka, Russia. All the interferograms provide details of the activity around the KVC during 2000-2010, as follows: (1) from 2000 to 2004, the Karymsky-AN (Akademia Nauk) area deflated and the MS (Maly Semyachik) area inflated, (2) from 2004 to 2006, the Karymsky-AN area deflated with ongoing eruption, while the MS area subsided without eruption, (3) from 2006 to 2008, as with 2000-2004, the Karymsky-AN area deflated and the MS area inflated, (4) from 2008 to 2010, the Karymsky-AN area inflated up to 3 cm, and the MS area subsided. Point source models suggest that two magma reservoirs provide a good fit to the observed deformation. One source is located beneath the area between Karymsky and AN at a depth of approximately 7.0 km, and the other one is situated beneath MS at a depth of around 5.8 km. Synchronous deformation patterns suggest that two magma systems are fed from the same deep magma source and connected by a fracture zone. The InSAR results are consistent with GPS ground deformation measurements, seismic data, and petrological constraints.

Investigation on Insar Time Series Deformation Model Considering Rheological Parameters for Soft Clay Subgrade Monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Xing, X.; Yuan, Z.; Chen, L. F.; Yu, X. Y.; Xiao, L.

2018-04-01

The stability control is one of the major technical difficulties in the field of highway subgrade construction engineering. Building deformation model is a crucial step for InSAR time series deformation monitoring. Most of the InSAR deformation models for deformation monitoring are pure empirical mathematical models, without considering the physical mechanism of the monitored object. In this study, we take rheology into consideration, inducing rheological parameters into traditional InSAR deformation models. To assess the feasibility and accuracy for our new model, both simulation and real deformation data over Lungui highway (a typical highway built on soft clay subgrade in Guangdong province, China) are investigated with TerraSAR-X satellite imagery. In order to solve the unknows of the non-linear rheological model, three algorithms: Gauss-Newton (GN), Levenberg-Marquarat (LM), and Genetic Algorithm (GA), are utilized and compared to estimate the unknown parameters. Considering both the calculation efficiency and accuracy, GA is chosen as the final choice for the new model in our case study. Preliminary real data experiment is conducted with use of 17 TerraSAR-X Stripmap images (with a 3-m resolution). With the new deformation model and GA aforementioned, the unknown rheological parameters over all the high coherence points are obtained and the LOS deformation (the low-pass component) sequences are generated.

Constraints on Pressure-Driven Flow Beneath Askja Volcano, Iceland, from Microgravity and InSAR Measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Giniaux, J. M.; Hooper, A. J.; Dumont, S.; Bagnardi, M.; Drouin, V.; Sigmundsson, F.

2017-12-01

Askja is an active volcano in the Northern Volcanic Zone of Iceland, lying within a spreading segment of the mid-Atlantic ridge. There have been at least 40 eruptions in the last 1100 years, including the 1875 VEI-5 caldera-forming Plinian event. However the current state of the complex magmatic system and the probability of an eruption in the near future are not well understood. Steadily decaying subsidence within the main caldera has been recorded with a variety of geodetic measurements since at least 1983. It has been postulated that rifting extension and shallow magmatic processes, e.g. outflow and/or crystallisation, could be responsible for this subsidence. All models using surface deformation data agree that there is at least one shallow source at 2-2.5 km b.s.l. (3-3.5 km below the surface), shrinking at a rate of approximately -1.4 to -2.1x106 km3yr-1. This depth is consistent with results from seismic tomography, which also reveal the presence of two melt storage regions at about 5-7 and 9-11 km b.s.l. The subsidence has been accompanied by a gravity decrease (mass loss) since at least 1988, except for a measured increase between 2007 and 2008. These gravity signals have been interpreted as the result of magma drainage and magma intrusion, respectively. Here, we present new gravity results from 2015-2017, measured over an extended network within the caldera, together with new InSAR time series results. We use these data to model the location, depth, volume and mass changes beneath Askja from 2002-2017. Our results show a gravity decrease over a larger area than previously recognised, implying greater mass loss than previously thought. The InSAR results show a gradually decreasing rate of subsidence, consistent with earlier results from levelling and GPS, but the spatial pattern is more complicated than a simple spherical source would imply. Taken together the volume and mass decreases can be explained by magmatic drainage from shallow to deeper reservoirs

Comparison of Laser and Stereo Optical, SAR and InSAR Point Clouds from Air- and Space-Borne Sources in the Retrieval of Forest Inventory Attributes

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Xiaowei Yu

2015-11-01

Full Text Available It is anticipated that many of the future forest mapping applications will be based on three-dimensional (3D point clouds. A comparison study was conducted to verify the explanatory power and information contents of several 3D remote sensing data sources on the retrieval of above ground biomass (AGB, stem volume (VOL, basal area (G, basal-area weighted mean diameter (Dg and Lorey’s mean height (Hg at the plot level, utilizing the following data: synthetic aperture radar (SAR Interferometry, SAR radargrammetry, satellite-imagery having stereo viewing capability, airborne laser scanning (ALS with various densities (0.8–6 pulses/m2 and aerial stereo imagery. Laser scanning is generally known as the primary source providing a 3D point cloud. However, photogrammetric, radargrammetric and interferometric techniques can be used to produce 3D point clouds from space- and air-borne stereo images. Such an image-based point cloud could be utilized in a similar manner as ALS providing that accurate digital terrain model is available. In this study, the performance of these data sources for providing point cloud data was evaluated with 91 sample plots that were established in Evo, southern Finland within a boreal forest zone and surveyed in 2014 for this comparison. The prediction models were built using random forests technique with features derived from each data sources as independent variables and field measurements of forest attributes as response variable. The relative root mean square errors (RMSEs varied in the ranges of 4.6% (0.97 m–13.4% (2.83 m for Hg, 11.7% (3.0 cm–20.6% (5.3 cm for Dg, 14.8% (4.0 m2/ha–25.8% (6.9 m2/ha for G, 15.9% (43.0 m3/ha–31.2% (84.2 m3/ha for VOL and 14.3% (19.2 Mg/ha–27.5% (37.0 Mg/ha for AGB, respectively, depending on the data used. Results indicate that ALS data achieved the most accurate estimates for all forest inventory attributes. For image-based 3D data, high-altitude aerial images and WorldView-2

Landslide Kinematical Analysis through Inverse Numerical Modelling and Differential SAR Interferometry

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Castaldo, R.; Tizzani, P.; Lollino, P.; Calò, F.; Ardizzone, F.; Lanari, R.; Guzzetti, F.; Manunta, M.

2015-11-01

The aim of this paper is to propose a methodology to perform inverse numerical modelling of slow landslides that combines the potentialities of both numerical approaches and well-known remote-sensing satellite techniques. In particular, through an optimization procedure based on a genetic algorithm, we minimize, with respect to a proper penalty function, the difference between the modelled displacement field and differential synthetic aperture radar interferometry (DInSAR) deformation time series. The proposed methodology allows us to automatically search for the physical parameters that characterize the landslide behaviour. To validate the presented approach, we focus our analysis on the slow Ivancich landslide (Assisi, central Italy). The kinematical evolution of the unstable slope is investigated via long-term DInSAR analysis, by exploiting about 20 years of ERS-1/2 and ENVISAT satellite acquisitions. The landslide is driven by the presence of a shear band, whose behaviour is simulated through a two-dimensional time-dependent finite element model, in two different physical scenarios, i.e. Newtonian viscous flow and a deviatoric creep model. Comparison between the model results and DInSAR measurements reveals that the deviatoric creep model is more suitable to describe the kinematical evolution of the landslide. This finding is also confirmed by comparing the model results with the available independent inclinometer measurements. Our analysis emphasizes that integration of different data, within inverse numerical models, allows deep investigation of the kinematical behaviour of slow active landslides and discrimination of the driving forces that govern their deformation processes.

Soil gases and SAR measurements reveal hidden faults on the sliding flank of Mt. Etna (Italy)

Science.gov (United States)

Bonforte, Alessandro; Federico, Cinzia; Giammanco, Salvatore; Guglielmino, Francesco; Liuzzo, Marco; Neri, Marco

2013-02-01

From October 2008 to November 2009, soil CO2, radon and structural field surveys were performed on Mt. Etna, in order to acquire insights into active tectonic structures in a densely populated sector of the south-eastern flank of the volcano, which is involved in the flank dynamics, as highlighted by satellite data (InSAR). The studied area extends about 150 km2, in a sector of the volcano where InSAR results detected several lineaments that were not well-defined from previous geological surveys. In order to validate and better constrain these features with ground data evidences, soil CO2 and soil radon measurements were performed along transects roughly orthogonal to the newly detected faults, with measurement points spaced about 100 m. In each transect, the highest CO2 values were found very close to the lineaments evidenced by InSAR observations. Anomalous soil CO2 and radon values were also measured at old eruptive fractures. In some portions of the investigated area soil gas anomalies were rather broad over transects, probably suggesting a complex structural framework consisting of several parallel volcano-tectonic structures, instead of a single one. Soil gas measurements proved particularly useful in areas at higher altitude on Mt. Etna (i.e. above 900 m asl), where InSAR results are not very informative/are fairly limited, and allowed recognizing the prolongation of some tectonic lineaments towards the summit of the volcano. At a lower altitude on the volcanic edifice, soil gas anomalies define the active structures indicated by InSAR results prominently, down to almost the coastline and through the northern periphery of the city of Catania. Coupling InSAR with soil gas prospecting methods has thus proved to be a powerful tool in detecting hidden active structures that do not show significant field evidences.

Applicability of interferometric SAR technology to ground movement and pipeline monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Grivas, Dimitri A.; Bhagvati, Chakravarthy; Schultz, B. C.; Trigg, Alan; Rizkalla, Moness

1998-03-01

This paper summarizes the findings of a cooperative effort between NOVA Gas Transmission Ltd. (NGTL), the Italian Natural Gas Transmission Company (SNAM), and Arista International, Inc., to determine whether current remote sensing technologies can be utilized to monitor small-scale ground movements over vast geographical areas. This topic is of interest due to the potential for small ground movements to cause strain accumulation in buried pipeline facilities. Ground movements are difficult to monitor continuously, but their cumulative effect over time can have a significant impact on the safety of buried pipelines. Interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR or SARI) is identified as the most promising technique of those considered. InSAR analysis involves combining multiple images from consecutive passes of a radar imaging platform. The resulting composite image can detect changes as small as 2.5 to 5.0 centimeters (based on current analysis methods and radar satellite data of 5 centimeter wavelength). Research currently in progress shows potential for measuring ground movements as small as a few millimeters. Data needed for InSAR analysis is currently commercially available from four satellites, and additional satellites are planned for launch in the near future. A major conclusion of the present study is that InSAR technology is potentially useful for pipeline integrity monitoring. A pilot project is planned to test operational issues.

Characterizing the deformation of reservoirs using interferometry, gravity, and seismic analyses

Science.gov (United States)

Schiek, Cara Gina

In this dissertation, I characterize how reservoirs deform using surface and subsurface techniques. The surface technique I employ is radar interferometry, also known as InSAR (Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar). The subsurface analyses I explore include gravity modeling and seismic techniques consisting of determining earthquake locations from a small-temporary seismic network of six seismometers. These techniques were used in two different projects to determine how reservoirs deform in the subsurface and how this deformation relates to its remotely sensed surface deformation. The first project uses InSAR to determine land subsidence in the Mimbres basin near Deming, NM. The land subsidence measurements are visually compared to gravity models in order to determine the influence of near surface faults on the subsidence and the physical properties of the aquifers in these basins. Elastic storage coefficients were calculated for the Mimbres basin to aid in determining the stress regime of the aquifers. In the Mimbres basin, I determine that it is experiencing elastic deformation at differing compaction rates. The west side of the Mimbres basin is deforming faster, 17 mm/yr, while the east side of the basin is compacting at a rate of 11 mm/yr. The second project focuses on San Miguel volcano, El Salvador. Here, I integrate InSAR with earthquake locations using surface deformation forward modeling to investigate the explosive volcanism in this region. This investigation determined the areas around the volcano that are undergoing deformation, and that could lead to volcanic hazards such as slope failure from a fractured volcano interior. I use the earthquake epicenters with field data to define the subsurface geometry of the deformation source, which I forward model to produce synthetic interferograms. Residuals between the synthetic and observed interferograms demonstrate that the observed deformation is a direct result of the seismic activity along the San

The Development and Delivery of On-Demand RADARSAT Constellation Mission Ground Deformation Products Based on Advanced Insar Technology

Science.gov (United States)

Samsonov, S. V.; Feng, W.

2017-12-01

InSAR-based mapping of surface deformation (displacement) has proven valuable to a variety of geoscience applications within NRCan. Conventional approaches to InSAR analysis require significant expert intervention to separate useful signal from noise and are not suited to the address the opportunities and challenges presented by the large multi-temporal SAR datasets provided by future radar constellations. The Canada Centre for Mapping and Earth Observation (CCMEO) develops, in support of NRCAN and Government of Canada priorities a framework for automatic generation of standard and advanced deformation products based on Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) technology from RADARSAT Constellation Mission (RCM) Synthetic Aperture Radar data. We utilize existing processing algorithms that are currently used for processing RADARSAT-2 data and adapt them to RCM specifications. In addition we develop novel advanced processing algorithms that address large data sets made possible by the satellites' rapid revisit cycle and expand InSAR functionality to regional and national scales across a wide range of time scales. Through automation the system makes it possible to extend the mapping of surface deformation to non-SAR experts. The architecture is scalable and expandable to serve large number of clients and simultaneously address multiple application areas including: natural and anthropogenic hazards, natural resource development, permafrost and glacier monitoring, coastal and environmental change and wetlands mapping.

Quality Assessment of Surface Current Fields From TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X Along-Track Interferometry and Doppler Centroid Analysis

OpenAIRE

Romeiser, Roland; Runge, Harmut; Suchandr, Steffan; Kahle, Ralph; Rossi, Cristian; Bell, Paul S.

2014-01-01

All existing examples of current measurements by spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) along-track (AT) interferometry (ATI) have suffered from short baselines and corresponding low sensitivities. Theoretically, the best data quality at X-band is expected at effective baselines on the order of 30 m, i.e., 30 times as long as the baselines of the divided-antenna modes of TerraSAR-X. In early 2012, we had a first opportunity to obtain data at near-optimum baselines from the TanDEM-X satelli...

Intermittent Small Baseline Subset (ISBAS) InSAR of rural and vegetated terrain: a new method to monitor land motion applied to peatlands in Wales, UK

Science.gov (United States)

Cigna, Francesca; Rawlins, Barry G.; Jordan, Colm J.; Sowter, Andrew; Evans, Christopher D.

2014-05-01

It is renowned that the success of multi-interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) methods such as Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI) and Small BASeline Subset (SBAS) is controlled by not only the availability of data, but also local topography and land cover. Locations with sufficient temporal phase stability and coherence are typically limited to either built-up, urban areas or areas of exposed bedrock. Whilst conventional PSI and SBAS approaches have limited potential to monitor surface motions in areas where few (or zero) scatterers or coherent targets exist, the newly developed Intermittent SBAS (ISBAS) technique (Sowter et al. 2013) can fill the gap by providing a more complete picture of ground movement in rural and vegetated regions. ISBAS is a small baseline, multi-look, coherent target method, which considers the intermittent coherence of rural areas and can work over a wide range of land cover classes including agriculture and grassland. Building upon a nationwide study that the British Geological Survey (BGS) undertook to assess the feasibility of InSAR techniques to monitor the landmass of Great Britain (Cigna et al. 2013), we identified a rural region in North Wales as an appropriate target area to evaluate the efficacy of ISBAS, where conventional SBAS and PSI approaches are unlikely to succeed. According to the UK Land Cover Map 2007 (LCM2007) from the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH), this area is dominated by improved and acid grassland, heather, bog and coniferous woodland, which are likely to result into extremely low PSI or SBAS point densities and sparse coverage of monitoring results. We employed 53 ERS-1/2 C-band (5.3GHz frequency) SAR data acquired in descending mode between 1993 and 2000, which were made available to BGS via the ESA Category 1 project id.13543. In the framework of the Glastir Monitoring & Evaluation Programme (Emmett et al. 2013), funded by the Welsh Government, we processed these using ISBAS covering a 4

Ka-band SAR interferometry studies for the SWOT mission

Science.gov (United States)

Fernandez, D. E.; Fu, L.; Rodriguez, E.; Hodges, R.; Brown, S.

2008-12-01

The primary objective of the NRC Decadal Survey recommended SWOT (Surface Water and Ocean Topography) Mission is to measure the water elevation of the global oceans, as well as terrestrial water bodies (such as rivers, lakes, reservoirs, and wetlands), to answer key scientific questions on the kinetic energy of ocean circulation, the spatial and temporal variability of the world's surface freshwater storage and discharge, and to provide societal benefits on predicting climate change, coastal zone management, flood prediction, and water resources management. The SWOT mission plans to carry the following suite of microwave instruments: a Ka-band interferometer, a dual-frequency nadir altimeter, and a multi-frequency water-vapor radiometer dedicated to measuring wet tropospheric path delay to correct the radar measurements. We are currently funded by the NASA Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO) Instrument Incubator Program (IIP) to reduce the risk of the main technological drivers of SWOT, by addressing the following technologies: the Ka-band radar interferometric antenna design, the on-board interferometric SAR processor, and the internally calibrated high-frequency radiometer. The goal is to significantly enhance the readiness level of the new technologies required for SWOT, while laying the foundations for the next-generation missions to map water elevation for studying Earth. The first two technologies address the challenges of the Ka-band SAR interferometry, while the high- frequency radiometer addresses the requirement for small-scale wet tropospheric corrections for coastal zone applications. In this paper, we present the scientific rational, need and objectives behind these technology items currently under development.

Ground subsidence and associated ground fracturing in urban areas: InSAR monitoring of active tectonic structures (Ciudad Guzman, Colima Graben - Mexico)

Science.gov (United States)

Bignami, C.; Brunori, C.; Zucca, F.; Groppelli, G.; Norini, G.; Hernandez, N. D.; Stramondo, S.

2013-12-01

This study focuses on the observation of a creeping phenomenon that produces subsidence of the Zapotlan basin and ground fracturing in correspondence of the Ciudad Guzmàn (Jalisco - Mexico). The September 21, 2012, the Ciudad Guzmàn has been struck by a phenomenon of ground fracturing of about 1.5 km of length. This event caused the deformation of the roads and the damage of 30 houses, of which eight have been declared uninhabitable. The alignment of fractures is coincident with the escarpments produced in September 19, 1985, in the Ciudad Guzman urban area, when a strong earthquake, magnitude 8.1, struck the Mexican area, causing the deaths of at least 10,000 people and serious damage in Mexico City. In Ciudad Guzmán, about 60% of the buildings were destroyed, with about 50 loss of life. The city is located in the Zapotlan basin (northern Colima graben), a wide tectonic depression where the depth of the infilling sediments is about 1 km. This subsidence cannot be measured outside the urbanized area, but it can be considered as a deformation mechanism of the central part of the basin. In order to detect and mapping the spatio-temporal features of the processes that led to this event, we applied InSAR multi-temporal techniques to analyze a dataset of ENVISAT satellite SAR images, acquired in a time span between 2003-2010. InSAR techniques detect a subsidence of the north-western part of Ciudad Guzmàn of about 15 mm/yr in the time interval 2003-2010. The displacement occurred in September 21, 2012, was detected using two RadarSAT2 acquisitions (2012-03-22 and 2013-03-17). The explanation of surface movements based on interferometric results, ground data and geological field observations, allowed confirming surface effect due to the overexploitation of the aquifers and highlights a subsidence due to anthropogenic causes coupled to buried tectonic structures.

Interpolation of GPS and Geological Data Using InSAR Deformation Maps: Method and Application to Land Subsidence in the Alto Guadalentín Aquifer (SE Spain

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Marta Béjar-Pizarro

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Land subsidence resulting from groundwater extractions is a global phenomenon adversely affecting many regions worldwide. Understanding the governing processes and mitigating associated hazards require knowing the spatial distribution of the implicated factors (piezometric levels, lithology, ground deformation, usually only known at discrete locations. Here, we propose a methodology based on the Kriging with External Drift (KED approach to interpolate sparse point measurements of variables influencing land subsidence using high density InSAR measurements. In our study, located in the Alto Guadalentín basin, SE Spain, these variables are GPS vertical velocities and the thickness of compressible soils. First, we estimate InSAR and GPS rates of subsidence covering the periods 2003–2010 and 2004–2013, respectively. Then, we apply the KED method to the discrete variables. The resulting continuous GPS velocity map shows maximum subsidence rates of 13 cm/year in the center of the basin, in agreement with previous studies. The compressible deposits thickness map is significantly improved. We also test the coherence of Sentinel-1 data in the study region and evaluate the applicability of this methodology with the new satellite, which will improve the monitoring of aquifer-related subsidence and the mapping of variables governing this phenomenon.

Ground subsidence monitoring of the Vega Media of the Segura River by means of Advanced differential Sar Interferometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tomas, R.; Herrera, G.; Lopez-Sanchez, J. M.; Mallorqui, J. J.; Mulas, J.

2010-01-01

Ground subsidence caused by aquifer withdrawal is a geotechnical hazard that affects wide areas, causing high economic losses. This phenomenon id due to aquifer system fine soil consolidation produced by the increase of effective stress caused by piezo metric depletion. The Vega Media of the Segura River basin (SE Spain) has suffered this type of phenomena since 90s being until the moment the first documented case at a regional scale in Spain. In this work a Differential SAR Interferometry (DInSAR) remote sensing technique called Coherent Pixel (CPT) is applied to monitoring subsidence in the Vega Media of the Segura River using 81 SAR images provided by ERS-1, ERS-2 and ENVISAT European Space Agency satellites. The processing has provided the subsidence spatial distribution and temporal evolution for the whole study area showing maximum subsidence values near 15 cm for the 1994-2007 period. (Author) 33 refs.

Interpretation of recent alpine landscape system evolution using geomorphic mapping and L-band InSAR analyses

Science.gov (United States)

Imaizumi, Fumitoshi; Nishiguchi, Takaki; Matsuoka, Norikazu; Trappmann, Daniel; Stoffel, Markus

2018-06-01

Alpine landscapes are typically characterized by inherited features of past glaciations and, for the more recent past, by the interplay of a multitude of types of geomorphic processes, including permafrost creep, rockfalls, debris flows, and landslides. These different processes usually exhibit large spatial and temporal variations in activity and velocity. The understanding of these processes in a wide alpine area is often hindered by difficulties in their surveying. In this study, we attempt to disentangle recent changes in an alpine landscape system using geomorphic mapping and L-band DInSAR analyses (ALOS-PALSAR) in the Zermatt Valley, Swiss Alps. Geomorphic mapping points to a preferential distribution of rock glaciers on north-facing slopes, whereas talus slopes are concentrated on south-facing slopes. Field-based interpretation of ground deformation in rock glaciers and movements in talus slopes correlates well with the ratio of InSAR images showing potential ground deformation. Moraines formed during the Little Ice Age, rock glaciers, and talus slopes on north-facing slopes are more active than landforms on south-facing slopes, implying that the presence of permafrost facilitates the deformation of these geomorphic units. Such deformations of geomorphic units prevail also at the elevation of glacier termini. For rock cliffs, the ratio of images indicating retreat is affected by slope orientation and elevation. Linkages between sediment supply from rock cliffs and sediment transport in torrents are different among tributaries, affected by relative locations between sediment supply areas and the channel network. We conclude that the combined use of field surveys and L-band DInSAR analyses can substantially improve process understanding in steep, high-mountain terrain.

Regional Land Subsidence Analysis in Eastern Beijing Plain by InSAR Time Series and Wavelet Transforms

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Mingliang Gao

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Land subsidence is the disaster phenomenon of environmental geology with regionally surface altitude lowering caused by the natural or man-made factors. Beijing, the capital city of China, has suffered from land subsidence since the 1950s, and extreme groundwater extraction has led to subsidence rates of more than 100 mm/year. In this study, we employ two SAR datasets acquired by Envisat and TerraSAR-X satellites to investigate the surface deformation in Beijing Plain from 2003 to 2013 based on the multi-temporal InSAR technique. Furthermore, we also use observation wells to provide in situ hydraulic head levels to perform the evolution of land subsidence and spatial-temporal changes of groundwater level. Then, we analyze the accumulated displacement and hydraulic head level time series using continuous wavelet transform to separate periodic signal components. Finally, cross wavelet transform (XWT and wavelet transform coherence (WTC are implemented to analyze the relationship between the accumulated displacement and hydraulic head level time series. The results show that the subsidence centers in the northern Beijing Plain is spatially consistent with the groundwater drop funnels. According to the analysis of well based results located in different areas, the long-term groundwater exploitation in the northern subsidence area has led to the continuous decline of the water level, resulting in the inelastic and permanent compaction, while for the monitoring wells located outside the subsidence area, the subsidence time series show obvious elastic deformation characteristics (seasonal characteristics as the groundwater level changes. Moreover, according to the wavelet transformation, the land subsidence time series at monitoring well site lags several months behind the groundwater level change.

Deformation responses of slow moving landslides to seasonal rainfall in the Northern Apennines, measured by InSAR

Science.gov (United States)

Bayer, Benedikt; Simoni, Alessandro; Mulas, Marco; Corsini, Alessandro; Schmidt, David

2018-05-01

Slow moving landslides are widespread geomorphological features in the Northern Apennines of Italy where they represent one of the main landscape forming processes. The lithology of the Northern Apennines fold and thrust belt is characterized by alternations of sandstone, siltstone and clayshales, also known as flysch, and clay shales with a chaotic block in matrix fabric, which are often interpreted as tectonic or sedimentary mélanges. While flysch rocks with a high pelitic fraction host earthslides that occasionally evolve into flow like movements, earthflows are the dominant landslide type in chaotic clay shales. In the present work, we document the kinematic response to rainfall of landslides in these different lithologies using radar interferometry. The study area includes three river catchments in the Northern Apennines. Here, the Mediterranean climate is characterized by two wet seasons during autumn and spring respectively, separated by dry summers and winters with moderate precipitation. We use SAR imagery from the X-band satellite COSMO SkyMed and from the C-band satellite Sentinel 1 to retrieve spatial displacement measurements between 2009 and 2016 for 25 landslides in our area of interest. We also document detailed temporal and spatial deformation signals for eight representative landslides, although the InSAR derived deformation signal is only well constrained by our dataset during the years 2013 and 2015. In spring 2013, long enduring rainfalls struck the study area and numerous landslide reactivations were documented by the regional authorities. During 2013, we measured higher displacement rates on the landslides in pelitic flysch formations compared to the earthflows in the clay shales. Slower mean velocities were measured on most landslides during 2015. We analyse the temporal deformation signal of our eight representative landslides and compare the temporal response to precipitation. We show that earthslides in pelitic flysch formations

Mapping Two-Dimensional Deformation Field Time-Series of Large Slope by Coupling DInSAR-SBAS with MAI-SBAS

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Liming He

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Mapping deformation field time-series, including vertical and horizontal motions, is vital for landslide monitoring and slope safety assessment. However, the conventional differential synthetic aperture radar interferometry (DInSAR technique can only detect the displacement component in the satellite-to-ground direction, i.e., line-of-sight (LOS direction displacement. To overcome this constraint, a new method was developed to obtain the displacement field time series of a slope by coupling DInSAR based small baseline subset approach (DInSAR-SBAS with multiple-aperture InSAR (MAI based small baseline subset approach (MAI-SBAS. This novel method has been applied to a set of 11 observations from the phased array type L-band synthetic aperture radar (PALSAR sensor onboard the advanced land observing satellite (ALOS, spanning from 2007 to 2011, of two large-scale north–south slopes of the largest Asian open-pit mine in the Northeast of China. The retrieved displacement time series showed that the proposed method can detect and measure the large displacements that occurred along the north–south direction, and the gradually changing two-dimensional displacement fields. Moreover, we verified this new method by comparing the displacement results to global positioning system (GPS measurements.

Ionospheric effects on DInSAR measurements of interseismic deformation in China

Science.gov (United States)

Gong, W.; Shan, X.; Song, X.; Liao, H.; Meyer, F. J.

2017-12-01

Interseismic deformation signals are small ground displacement that is critical to monitor the strain accumulates of major faults to foresee the potential seismic hazard. Accurate measurements of surface deformation could help recognize and interpret even subtle displacement and to give a better understanding of active fault behavior. However, the value and applicability of InSAR for inter-seismic monitoring problems is limited by the influence of temporal decorrelation and electromagnetic path delay variations (atmospheric disturbance), both reducing the sensitivity and accuracy of the technique. Ionospheric signal, a major part of atmospheric disturbance in InSAR, is related to the density of free electrons along the ray path, thus, that is dependent on the SAR signal frequency. Ionosphere induced phase distortions can lead to azimuth/range defocusing, geometry distortions and interferometric phase distortions. Some ionosphere phenomenon have been reported more severe at equatorial region and polar zones, e.g., ionosphere irregularity, while for middle latitude regions like West China it has not been thoroughly analyzed. Thus, this study is focus on the evaluation of ionosphere impacts in middle latitude zone, and its impacts in monitoring interseismic deformation in West China. The outcome would be useful to provide an empiric prior error condition of ionosphere disturbance, which can further benefit InSAR result interpretation and geophysical inversion, as well as the SAR data arrangement in future operational-(cloud) InSAR processing system. The study focus on two parts: 1. We will analyze the temporal-spatial variation of ionosphere and its magnitude at middle latitude zone, and investigate its impacts to current satellite SAR (C-band (Sentinel-1) and L-band (ALOS2) dataset) in earthquake-related deformation studies, especially inter-seismic study. 2. Ionosphere phase patterns at mid latitudes is typically small and the structure is compatibly smooth. This

Improved SAR Image Coregistration Using Pixel-Offset Series

KAUST Repository

Wang, Teng

2014-03-14

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image coregistration is a key procedure before interferometric SAR (InSAR) time-series analysis can be started. However, many geophysical data sets suffer from severe decorrelation problems due to a variety of reasons, making precise coregistration a nontrivial task. Here, we present a new strategy that uses a pixel-offset series of detected subimage patches dominated by point-like targets (PTs) to improve SAR image coregistrations. First, all potentially coherent image pairs are coregistered in a conventional way. In this step, we propose a coregistration quality index for each image to rank its relative “significance” within the data set and to select a reference image for the SAR data set. Then, a pixel-offset series of detected PTs is made from amplitude maps to improve the geometrical mapping functions. Finally, all images are resampled depending on the pixel offsets calculated from the updated geometrical mapping functions. We used images from a rural region near the North Anatolian Fault in eastern Turkey to test the proposed method, and clear coregistration improvements were found based on amplitude stability. This enhanced the fact that the coregistration strategy should therefore lead to improved InSAR time-series analysis results.

Improved SAR Image Coregistration Using Pixel-Offset Series

KAUST Repository

Wang, Teng; Jonsson, Sigurjon; Hanssen, Ramon F.

2014-01-01

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image coregistration is a key procedure before interferometric SAR (InSAR) time-series analysis can be started. However, many geophysical data sets suffer from severe decorrelation problems due to a variety of reasons, making precise coregistration a nontrivial task. Here, we present a new strategy that uses a pixel-offset series of detected subimage patches dominated by point-like targets (PTs) to improve SAR image coregistrations. First, all potentially coherent image pairs are coregistered in a conventional way. In this step, we propose a coregistration quality index for each image to rank its relative “significance” within the data set and to select a reference image for the SAR data set. Then, a pixel-offset series of detected PTs is made from amplitude maps to improve the geometrical mapping functions. Finally, all images are resampled depending on the pixel offsets calculated from the updated geometrical mapping functions. We used images from a rural region near the North Anatolian Fault in eastern Turkey to test the proposed method, and clear coregistration improvements were found based on amplitude stability. This enhanced the fact that the coregistration strategy should therefore lead to improved InSAR time-series analysis results.

URBAN MODELLING PERFORMANCE OF NEXT GENERATION SAR MISSIONS

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U. G. Sefercik

2017-09-01

Full Text Available In synthetic aperture radar (SAR technology, urban mapping and modelling have become possible with revolutionary missions TerraSAR-X (TSX and Cosmo-SkyMed (CSK since 2007. These satellites offer 1m spatial resolution in high-resolution spotlight imaging mode and capable for high quality digital surface model (DSM acquisition for urban areas utilizing interferometric SAR (InSAR technology. With the advantage of independent generation from seasonal weather conditions, TSX and CSK DSMs are much in demand by scientific users. The performance of SAR DSMs is influenced by the distortions such as layover, foreshortening, shadow and double-bounce depend up on imaging geometry. In this study, the potential of DSMs derived from convenient 1m high-resolution spotlight (HS InSAR pairs of CSK and TSX is validated by model-to-model absolute and relative accuracy estimations in an urban area. For the verification, an airborne laser scanning (ALS DSM of the study area was used as the reference model. Results demonstrated that TSX and CSK urban DSMs are compatible in open, built-up and forest land forms with the absolute accuracy of 8–10 m. The relative accuracies based on the coherence of neighbouring pixels are superior to absolute accuracies both for CSK and TSX.

Combining L- and X-Band SAR Interferometry to Assess Ground Displacements in Heterogeneous Coastal Environments: The Po River Delta and Venice Lagoon, Italy

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Luigi Tosi

2016-04-01

Full Text Available From leveling to SAR-based interferometry, the monitoring of land subsidence in coastal transitional environments significantly improved. However, the simultaneous assessment of the ground movements in these peculiar environments is still challenging. This is due to the presence of relatively small built-up zones and infrastructures, e.g., coastal infrastructures, bridges, and river embankments, within large natural or rural lands, e.g., river deltas, lagoons, and farmland. In this paper we present a multi-band SAR methodology to integrate COSMO-SkyMed and ALOS-PALSAR images. The method consists of a proper combination of the very high-resolution X-band Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI, which achieves high-density and precise measurements on single structures and constructed areas, with L-band Short-Baseline SAR Interferometry (SBAS, properly implemented to raise its effectiveness in retrieving information in vegetated and wet zones. The combined methodology is applied on the Po River Delta and Venice coastland, Northern Italy, using 16 ALOS-PALSAR and 31 COSMO-SkyMed images covering the period between 2007 and 2011. After a proper calibration of the single PSI and SBAS solution using available GPS records, the datasets have been combined at both the regional and local scales. The measured displacements range from ~0 mm/yr down to −35 mm/yr. The results reveal the variable pattern of the subsidence characterizing the more natural and rural environments without losing the accuracy in quantifying the sinking of urban areas and infrastructures. Moreover, they allow improving the interpretation of the natural and anthropogenic processes responsible for the ongoing subsidence.

MAPPING THE EXTENT AND MAGNITUDE OF SEVER FLOODING INDUCED BY HURRICANE IRMA WITH MULTI-TEMPORAL SENTINEL-1 SAR AND INSAR OBSERVATIONS

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B. Zhang

2018-04-01

Full Text Available During Hurricane Irma’s passage over Florida in September 2017, many sections of the state experienced heavy rain and sequent flooding. In order to drain water out of potential flooding zones and assess property damage, it is important to map the extent and magnitude of the flooded areas at various stages of the storm. We use Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR and Interferometric SAR (InSAR observations, acquired by Sentinel-1 before, during and after the hurricane passage, which enable us to evaluate surface condition during different stages of the hurricane. This study uses multi-temporal images acquired under dry condition before the hurricane to constrain the background backscattering signature. Flooded areas are detected when the backscattering during the hurricane is statistically significantly different from the average dry conditions. The detected changes can be either an increase or decrease of the backscattering, which depends on the scattering characteristics of the surface. In addition, water level change information in Palmdale, South Florida is extracted from an interferogram with the aid of a local water gauge as the reference. The results of our flooding analysis revealed that the majority of the study area in South Florida was flooded during Hurricane Irma.

Graben Formation and Dike Arrest during the 2009 Harrat Lunayyir Dike Intrusion in Saudi Arabia: Insights from InSAR, Stress Calculations and Analog Experiments

KAUST Repository

Xu, Wenbin; Jonsson, Sigurjon; Corbi, Fabio; Rivalta, Eleonora

2016-01-01

Detailed spatial and temporal accounts of propagating dikes from crustal deformation data, including their interplay with faulting, are rare, leaving many questions about how this interplay affects graben formation and the arrest of dikes unanswered. Here we use InSAR observations, stress calculations and analog experiments to investigate the interaction between an intruding dike and normal faulting during the 2009 Harrat Lunayyir dike intrusion in western Saudi Arabia. We generated five displacement maps from InSAR data to unravel the temporal evolution of deformation covering the majority of the intrusion. We find that the observed surface displacements can be modeled by a ~2-m-thick dike with an upper tip ~2 km below the surface on 16 May 2009, four weeks after the onset of seismic unrest. In the following three days, the dike propagated to within ~1 km of the surface with graben-bounding normal faulting dominating the near-field deformation. The volume of the dike doubled between mid-May and mid-June. We carried out analog experiments that indicate that the wedge-shaped graben grew outwards with the faulting style changing progressively from normal faulting to oblique. Coulomb failure stress change calculations show that the intruding dike caused two zones of shallow horizontal tension on both sides of the dike, producing two zones of fissuring and normal faulting at the surface. In return, the faulting provoked compression around the upper tip of the dike, holding back its vertical propagation.

Graben Formation and Dike Arrest during the 2009 Harrat Lunayyir Dike Intrusion in Saudi Arabia: Insights from InSAR, Stress Calculations and Analog Experiments

KAUST Repository

Xu, Wenbin

2016-03-04

Detailed spatial and temporal accounts of propagating dikes from crustal deformation data, including their interplay with faulting, are rare, leaving many questions about how this interplay affects graben formation and the arrest of dikes unanswered. Here we use InSAR observations, stress calculations and analog experiments to investigate the interaction between an intruding dike and normal faulting during the 2009 Harrat Lunayyir dike intrusion in western Saudi Arabia. We generated five displacement maps from InSAR data to unravel the temporal evolution of deformation covering the majority of the intrusion. We find that the observed surface displacements can be modeled by a ~2-m-thick dike with an upper tip ~2 km below the surface on 16 May 2009, four weeks after the onset of seismic unrest. In the following three days, the dike propagated to within ~1 km of the surface with graben-bounding normal faulting dominating the near-field deformation. The volume of the dike doubled between mid-May and mid-June. We carried out analog experiments that indicate that the wedge-shaped graben grew outwards with the faulting style changing progressively from normal faulting to oblique. Coulomb failure stress change calculations show that the intruding dike caused two zones of shallow horizontal tension on both sides of the dike, producing two zones of fissuring and normal faulting at the surface. In return, the faulting provoked compression around the upper tip of the dike, holding back its vertical propagation.

Localized landslide risk assessment with multi pass L band DInSAR analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Yun, HyeWon; Rack Kim, Jung; Lin, Shih-Yuan; Choi, YunSoo

2014-05-01

In terms of data availability and error correction, landslide forecasting by Differential Interferometric SAR (DInSAR) analysis is not easy task. Especially, the landslides by the anthropogenic construction activities frequently occurred in the localized cutting side of mountainous area. In such circumstances, it is difficult to attain sufficient enough accuracy because of the external factors inducing the error component in electromagnetic wave propagation. For instance, the local climate characteristics such as orographic effect and the proximity to water source can produce the significant anomalies in the water vapor distribution and consequently result in the error components of InSAR phase angle measurements. Moreover the high altitude parts of target area cause the stratified tropospheric delay error in DInSAR measurement. The other obstacle in DInSAR observation over the potential landside site is the vegetation canopy which causes the decorrelation of InSAR phase. Thus rather than C band sensor such as ENVISAT, ERS and RADARSAT, DInSAR analysis with L band ALOS PLASAR is more recommendable. Together with the introduction of L band DInSAR analysis, the improved DInSAR technique to cope all above obstacles is necessary. Thus we employed two approaches i.e. StaMPS/MTI (Stanford Method for Persistent Scatterers/Multi-Temporal InSAR, Hopper et al., 2007) which was newly developed for extracting the reliable deformation values through time series analysis and two pass DInSAR with the error term compensation based on the external weather information in this study. Since the water vapor observation from spaceborne radiometer is not feasible by the temporal gap in this case, the quantities from weather Research Forecasting (WRF) with 1 km spatial resolution was used to address the atmospheric phase error in two pass DInSAR analysis. Also it was observed that base DEM offset with time dependent perpendicular baselines of InSAR time series produce a significant error

Capturing Postseismic Processes of the 2016 Mw 7.1 Kumamoto Earthquake, Japan, Using Dense, Continuous GPS and Short-repeat Time ALOS-2 InSAR Data: Implications for the Shallow Slip Deficit Problem

Science.gov (United States)

Milliner, C. W. D.; Burgmann, R.; Wang, T.; Inbal, A.; Bekaert, D. P.; Liang, C.; Fielding, E. J.

2017-12-01

Separating the contribution of shallow coseismic slip from rapidly decaying, postseismic afterslip in surface rupturing events has been difficult to resolve due to the typically sparse configuration of GPS networks and long-repeat time of InSAR acquisitions. Whether shallow fault motion along surface ruptures is a result of coseismic slip, or largely a product of rapid afterslip occurring within the first minutes to days, has significant implications for our understanding of the mechanics and frictional behavior of faulting in the shallow crust. To test this behavior in the case of a major surface rupturing event, we attempt to quantify the co- and postseismic slip of the 2016 Mw 7.1 Kumamoto earthquake sequence using a dense and continuous GPS network ( 10 km spacing), with short-repeat time, ALOS-2 InSAR data. Using the Network Inversion Filter method, we jointly invert the GPS and InSAR data to obtain a time history of afterslip in the first minutes to months following the mainshock. From our initial results, we find no clear evidence of significant shallow afterslip (i.e., no observable slip > 30 cm at depths of changes related to poroelastic processes, the majority of shallow fault slip was largely complete after rupture cessation. We also attempt to improve our coseismic slip model by implementing a method that inverts changes in seismicity rates for coseismic slip, helping constrain parts of the model space at depth where geodetic data loses resolving power. The use of geodetic data with the ability to resolve near-field, coseismic deformation and rapidly decaying postseismic processes will aid in our understanding of the frictional properties of shallow faulting, giving more reliable predictions for ground motion simulations and seismic hazard assessments.

Investigation of Slow-Moving Landslides from ALOS/PALSAR Images with TCPInSAR: A Case Study of Oso, USA

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Qian Sun

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Monitoring slope instability is of great significance for understanding landslide kinematics and, therefore, reducing the related geological hazards. In recent years, interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR has been widely applied to this end, especially thanks to the prompt evolution of multi-temporal InSAR (MTInSAR algorithms. In this paper, temporarily-coherent point InSAR (TCPInSAR, a recently-developed MTInSAR technique, is employed to investigate the slow-moving landslides in Oso, U.S., with 13 ALOS/PALSAR images. Compared to other MTInSAR techniques, TCPInSAR can work well with a small amount of data and is immune to unwrapping errors. Furthermore, the severe orbital ramps emanated from the inaccurate determination of the ALOS satellite’s state vector can be jointly estimated by TCPInSAR, resulting in an exhaustive separation between the orbital errors and displacement signals. The TCPInSAR-derived deformation map indicates that the riverside slopes adjacent to the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River, where the 2014 mudslide occurred, were active during 2007 and 2011. Besides, Coal Mountain has been found to be experiencing slow-moving landslides with clear boundaries and considerable magnitudes. The Deer Creek River is also threatened by a potential landslide dam due to the creeps detected in a nearby slope. The slope instability information revealed in this study is helpful to deal with the landslide hazards in Oso.

InSAR observation of seasonal ground surface deformation in permafrost area near Batagay, Siberia

Science.gov (United States)

Yanagiya, K.; Furuya, M.

2017-12-01

Thawing of permafrost can lead to ground deformation. Ground deformation has been studied as a serious problem in the Arctic Ocean coastal area such as Russia for a long time, because the deformation causes damage to architectures at these areas. However, there have been no quantitative observation data, and the spatial and temporal distributions have hardly been investigated. On the other hand, by the recently global warming influence, the importance of organic carbon stored in permafrost is pointed out. Although the release of methane gas is confirmed in some thermokarst lakes, it is very difficult to observe the permafrost in a wide area by field study. Instead, it is technically possible to monitor the subsidence and uplift of the ground over the permafrost area, which could potentially make a significant contribution to the monitoring thawing process of permafrost. In this study, we attempted to detect ground deformation signal in permafrost area by remote sensing using interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR). Using the data of two SAR satellites ALOS and ALOS2 launched by JAXA, we observed recent ground deformation from 2007 to 2016. Particularly recent observations of ALOS2 from 2014 to 2016 discovered distant displacements towards the LOS direction in the northeast region from the town of Batagay,Siberia. The diameter of the displacements area covers about 7.7 km. In this study, we considered that this signal is likely to be due to permafrost thawing, we also investigated the seasonal characteristics and looked back ALOS data of this area. In addition, since the high latitude area, observation results include noise due to the ionosphere, so we tried to remove the noise.

InSAR Time Series Analysis of Natural and Anthropogenic Coastal Plain Subsidence: The Case of Sibari (Southern Italy

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Giuseppe Cianflone

2015-11-01

Full Text Available We applied the Small Baseline Subset multi-temporal InSAR technique (SBAS to two SAR datasets acquired from 2003 up to 2013 by Envisat (ESA, European Space Agency and COSMO-SkyMed (ASI, Italian Space Agency satellites to investigate spatial and temporal patterns of land subsidence in the Sibari Plain (Southern Italy. Subsidence processes (up to ~20 mm/yr were investigated comparing geological, hydrogeological, and land use information with interferometric results. We suppose a correlation between subsidence and thickness of the Plio-Quaternary succession suggesting an active role of the isostatic compensation. Furthermore, the active back thrusting in the Corigliano Gulf could trigger a flexural subsidence mechanism even if fault activity and earthquakes do not seem play a role in the present subsidence. In this context, the compaction of Holocene deposits contributes to ground deformation. Despite the rapid urbanization of the area in the last 50 years, we do not consider the intensive groundwater pumping and related water table drop as the main triggering cause of subsidence phenomena, in disagreement with some previous publications. Our interpretation for the deformation fields related to natural and anthropogenic factors would be a comprehensive and exhaustive justification to the complexity of subsidence processes in the Sibari Plain.

Studies of Bagley Icefield during surge and Black Rapids Glacier, Alaska, using spaceborne SAR interferometry

Science.gov (United States)

Fatland, Dennis Robert

1998-12-01

This thesis presents studies of two temperate valley glaciers---Bering Glacier in the Chugach-St.Elias Mountains, South Central Alaska, and Black Rapids Glacier in the Alaska Range, Interior Alaska---using differential spaceborne radar interferometry. The first study was centered on the 1993--95 surge of Bering Glacier and the resultant ice dynamics on its accumulation area, the Bagley Icefield. The second study site was chosen for purposes of comparison of the interferometry results with conventional field measurements, particularly camera survey data and airborne laser altimetry. A comprehensive suite of software was written to interferometrically process synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data in order to derive estimates of surface elevation and surface velocity on these subject glaciers. In addition to these results, the data revealed unexpected but fairly common concentric rings called 'phase bull's-eyes', image features typically 0.5 to 4 km in diameter located over the central part of various glaciers. These bull's-eyes led to a hypothetical model in which they were interpreted to indicate transitory instances of high subglacial water pressure that locally lift the glacier from its bed by several centimeters. This model is associated with previous findings about the nature of glacier bed hydrology and glacier surging. In addition to the dynamical analysis presented herein, this work is submitted as a contribution to the ongoing development of spaceborne radar interferometry as a glaciological tool.

Something is “subsiding” in the state of Denmark - Operational prospects for nationwide subsidence mapping with Sentinel-1

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Marinkovic, Petar; Larsen, Yngvar; Fredenslund Levinsen, Joanna

Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (InSAR) has proven to be a highly valuable tool for deformation monitoring applications, and with the emergence of the operational Sentinel-1 mission, the expectations have further increased. However, the technique is also notorious for being challenging, b...

Persistent Scatterer Interferometry using Sentinel-1 Data

Science.gov (United States)

Monserrat, Oriol; Crosetto, Michele; Devanthery, Nuria; Cuevas-Gonzalez, Maria; Qihuan, Huang; Barra, Anna; Crippa, Bruno

2016-04-01

This work will be focused on the deformation measurement and monitoring using SAR imagery from the C-band Sentinel-1, a space mission funded by the European Union and carried out by the European Space Agency (ESA) within the Copernicus Programme. The work will firstly address the data processing and analysis procedure implemented by the authors. This includes both Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI) tools to analyse large stacks of SAR images (say, typically more than 20 images), and Differential SAR Interferometry (DInSAR) tools to analyse short SAR image stacks. The work will discuss the characteristics of the main products derived by using Sentinel-1 DInSAR and PSI: deformation maps, deformation velocity maps, deformation time series, residual topographic error, etc. The analysis will be carried out over different types of land use area, e.g. urban, peri-urban and rural areas. The deformation monitoring based on Sentinel-1 data will be compared with the monitoring based on data from pre-existing missions, e.g. C-band ERS and Envisat, X-band TerraSAR-X and CosmoSkyMed, etc. The comparison will concern different study areas, mainly located in Italy and Spain.

PSInSAR Analysis in the Pisa Urban Area (Italy: A Case Study of Subsidence Related to Stratigraphical Factors and Urbanization

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Lorenzo Solari

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Permanent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI has been used to detect and characterize the subsidence of the Pisa urban area, which extends for 33 km2 within the Arno coastal plain (Tuscany, Italy. Two SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar datasets, covering the time period from 1992 to 2010, were used to quantify the ground subsidence and its temporal evolution. A geotechnical borehole database was also used to make a correspondence with the detected displacements. Finally, the results of the SAR data analysis were contrasted with the urban development of the eastern part of the city in the time period from 1978 to 2013. ERS 1/2 (European Remote-Sensing Satellite and Envisat SAR data, processed with the PSInSAR (Permanent Scatterer InSAR algorithm, show that the investigated area is divided in two main sectors: the southwestern part, with null or very small subsidence rates (<2 mm/year, and the eastern portion which shows a general lowering with maximum deformation rates of 5 mm/year. This second area includes deformation rates higher than 15 mm/year, corresponding to small groups of buildings. The case studies in the eastern sector of the urban area have demonstrated the direct correlation between the age of construction of buildings and the registered subsidence rates, showing the importance of urbanization as an accelerating factor for the ground consolidation process.

Subsidence Detected by Multi-Pass Differential SAR Interferometry in the Cassino Plain (Central Italy: Joint Effect of Geological and Anthropogenic Factors?

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Marco Polcari

2014-10-01

Full Text Available In the present work, the Differential SAR Interferometry (DInSAR technique has been applied to study the surface movements affecting the sedimentary basin of Cassino municipality. Two datasets of SAR images, provided by ERS 1-2 and Envisat missions, have been acquired from 1992 to 2010. Such datasets have been processed independently each other and with different techniques nevertheless providing compatible results. DInSAR data show a subsidence rate mostly located in the northeast side of the city, with a subsidence rate decreasing from about 5–6 mm/yr in the period 1992–2000 to about 1–2 mm/yr between 2004 and 2010, highlighting a progressive reduction of the phenomenon. Based on interferometric results and geological/geotechnical observations, the explanation of the detected movements allows to confirm the anthropogenic (surface effect due to building construction and geological causes (thickness and characteristics of the compressible stratum.

Multi-temporal InSAR monitoring of landslides in a tropical urban environment: focus on Bukavu (DR Congo)

Science.gov (United States)

Nobile, Adriano; Monsieurs, Elise; Dewitte, Olivier; d'Oreyes, Nicolas; Kervyn, Francois

2016-04-01

The western branch of the East African Rift System, in Central Africa, is characterized by the presence of several geohazards: earthquakes, volcanoes, and landslides. Every year, landslides cause fatalities, structural and functional damage to infrastructure and private properties with serious disruptions of the organization of societies and severe impact on the populations. These impacts are particularly important in the city of Bukavu (DR Congo) located within the Rift, on the southern shore of Lake Kivu. Large slow-moving landslides continuously affect highly populated slopes in the city. However little is known about their actual kinematics and the processes at play. Here we use multi-temporal InSAR technique to monitor these ground deformations. Using 50 Cosmo-SkyMed SAR images, acquired between March - October 2015 with a revisiting time of 8 days (ascending and descending orbits), we produce displacement-rate maps and ground deformation time series using the PS technique. Movements with a velocity >5cm/yr are detected, which is consistent with field observations. DGPS measurements, taken at 21 benchmarks in the area during the same period, allow validating the results. Similar ground deformation rates are found for the period 2002-2008 using Envisat ASAR images. Furthermore, comparison with rainfall monitoring data acquire on site should help us to understand the influence of water and the tropical seasonality in the slide mechanisms.

Imaging the complex geometry of a magma reservoir using FEM-based linear inverse modeling of InSAR data: application to Rabaul Caldera, Papua New Guinea

Science.gov (United States)

Ronchin, Erika; Masterlark, Timothy; Dawson, John; Saunders, Steve; Martì Molist, Joan

2017-06-01

We test an innovative inversion scheme using Green's functions from an array of pressure sources embedded in finite-element method (FEM) models to image, without assuming an a-priori geometry, the composite and complex shape of a volcano deformation source. We invert interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) data to estimate the pressurization and shape of the magma reservoir of Rabaul caldera, Papua New Guinea. The results image the extended shallow magmatic system responsible for a broad and long-term subsidence of the caldera between 2007 February and 2010 December. Elastic FEM solutions are integrated into the regularized linear inversion of InSAR data of volcano surface displacements in order to obtain a 3-D image of the source of deformation. The Green's function matrix is constructed from a library of forward line-of-sight displacement solutions for a grid of cubic elementary deformation sources. Each source is sequentially generated by removing the corresponding cubic elements from a common meshed domain and simulating the injection of a fluid mass flux into the cavity, which results in a pressurization and volumetric change of the fluid-filled cavity. The use of a single mesh for the generation of all FEM models avoids the computationally expensive process of non-linear inversion and remeshing a variable geometry domain. Without assuming an a-priori source geometry other than the configuration of the 3-D grid that generates the library of Green's functions, the geodetic data dictate the geometry of the magma reservoir as a 3-D distribution of pressure (or flux of magma) within the source array. The inversion of InSAR data of Rabaul caldera shows a distribution of interconnected sources forming an amorphous, shallow magmatic system elongated under two opposite sides of the caldera. The marginal areas at the sides of the imaged magmatic system are the possible feeding reservoirs of the ongoing Tavurvur volcano eruption of andesitic products on the

Mapping and monitoring coal mine subsidence using LiDAR and InSAR

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Froese, C.R.; Mei, S. [Alberta Geological Survey, Edmonton, AB (Canada). Energy Resources Conservation Board

2008-07-01

In the early 1900s, the abandonment of coal mines in Alberta was not regulated and closure documentation was poor. Although the general locations of mines are known, the locations of the specific adits and shafts are not. As such, there are many cases in southwestern Alberta where infrastructure was built on top of old coal mine workings without any detailed records of the abandoned mine or displacement monitoring. The crowns of these workings have been subject to ongoing strain that is reflected at the surface. The rate at which the strain is progressing prior to collapse is not well understood. Mitigation of collapse events is site specific and reactive. This paper demonstrated that airborne LiDAR and spaceborne InSAR technologies can provide valuable information on the distribution of abandoned underground coal mine workings. Both remote sensing techniques were used on Turtle Mountain in the Crowsnest Pass to obtain quantitative information on landslide mechanics, including the patterns and rate of ground movement and subsidence. These techniques can be used to map the location of surface collapse and delineate the location of the coal mine workings that were not previously documented. It was concluded that these technologies will likely become more readily available in the future and incorporated into geo-engineering practices for use in ground hazard detection, monitoring and management. 8 refs., 6 figs.

Plate boundary deformation in North Iceland during 1992–2009 revealed by InSAR time-series analysis and GPS

KAUST Repository

Metzger, Sabrina

2014-08-20

In North Iceland, extensional plate motion is accommodated by the Northern Volcanic Zone, a set of en-echelon volcanic systems, and the Tjörnes Fracture Zone, a transform offset in the mid-Atlantic Ridge consisting of two parallel transform lineaments. The southern lineament, the Húsavík–Flatey fault, is a 100 km-long right-lateral strike slip fault that has not ruptured for more than 140 years and poses a significant seismic hazard to Húsavík, a fishing town located by the fault, and to other coastal communities. We present results of InSAR time-series analysis data spanning almost two decades (1992–2009) that show extensional and interseismic deformation within the Northern Volcanic Zone and the on-shore part of the Tjörnes Fracture Zone. The results also exhibit transient inflation at Theistareykir volcano, deflation at Krafla central volcano and a broad uplift north of Krafla. The current plate extension is not uniform across the Northern Volcanic Zone, but concentrated at the western fissures of the Theistareykir volcanic system and the outermost fissures of the Krafla fissure swarm. We combine a back-slip plate boundary model with a set of point pressure sources representing volcanic changes to describe the current extensional plate boundary deformation and update the previous estimations of the locking depth and slip rate of the Húsavík–Flatey fault that were based on GPS data alone. Using different combinations of input data, we find that the Húsavík–Flatey fault has a locking depth of 6–10 km and, with a slip rate of 6–9 mm/yr, is accommodating about a third of the full transform motion. We furthermore show that while the InSAR data provide important constraints on the volcanic deformation within the NVZ, they do not significantly improve the model parameter estimation for the HFF, as the dense GPS network appears to better capture the deformation across the fault.

Magmatic Activity Beneath the Quiescent Three Sisters Volcanic Center, Central Oregon Cascade Range, USA, Inferred from Satellite InSAR

Science.gov (United States)

Wicks, C. W.; Dzurisin, D.; Ingebritsen, S.; Thatcher, W.; Lu, Z.; Iverson, J.

2001-12-01

Images from satellite interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) reveal uplift of a broad ~10 km by 20 km area in the Three Sisters volcanic center of the central Oregon Cascade Range, ~130 km south of Mt. St. Helens. The uplift is centered ~5 km west of South Sister volcano, the youngest stratovolcano in the volcanic center. The center has been volcanically inactive since the last eruption ~1500 years ago. Multiple European Space Agency ERS-1 and 2 satellite images from 1992 through 2000, used in this study, were selected based on orbital separation and time of year. Summer and early autumn scenes were necessary to avoid decorrelation from snow cover. Interferograms generated from these images indicate that most if not all of ~100 mm of observed uplift occurred between September 1998 and October 2000. We interpret the uplift as inflation caused by an apparently ongoing episode of magma intrusion at a depth of ~6.5 km. Geochemical (water chemistry) anomalies, first noted ~1990, coincide with the area of uplift and suggest the existence of a magma reservoir prior to the uplift. High chloride and sulfate concentrations, and a positive correlation between chloride concentration and spring temperature were found within the uplift area, with larger SO4/Cl ratios in springs at higher elevations. These findings are indicative of a high-temperature hydrothermal system driven by magma intrusions. The current inflation episode observed with InSAR may lead to an eruption, but the more persistent geochemical evidence suggests that the episode is likely the latest in a series of hitherto undetected magma intrusions. We do not yet know if the inflation has abated, is continuing, or has accelerated since October 2000--we only know that the highest rate of uplift occurred in the last year for which ERS-2 data was available (1999- 2000). In May of 2001, a continuous GPS receiver and seismometer were installed by the USGS within the Three Sisters Wilderness to monitor the

Plate boundary deformation in North Iceland during 1992–2009 revealed by InSAR time-series analysis and GPS

KAUST Repository

Metzger, Sabrina; Jonsson, Sigurjon

2014-01-01

In North Iceland, extensional plate motion is accommodated by the Northern Volcanic Zone, a set of en-echelon volcanic systems, and the Tjörnes Fracture Zone, a transform offset in the mid-Atlantic Ridge consisting of two parallel transform lineaments. The southern lineament, the Húsavík–Flatey fault, is a 100 km-long right-lateral strike slip fault that has not ruptured for more than 140 years and poses a significant seismic hazard to Húsavík, a fishing town located by the fault, and to other coastal communities. We present results of InSAR time-series analysis data spanning almost two decades (1992–2009) that show extensional and interseismic deformation within the Northern Volcanic Zone and the on-shore part of the Tjörnes Fracture Zone. The results also exhibit transient inflation at Theistareykir volcano, deflation at Krafla central volcano and a broad uplift north of Krafla. The current plate extension is not uniform across the Northern Volcanic Zone, but concentrated at the western fissures of the Theistareykir volcanic system and the outermost fissures of the Krafla fissure swarm. We combine a back-slip plate boundary model with a set of point pressure sources representing volcanic changes to describe the current extensional plate boundary deformation and update the previous estimations of the locking depth and slip rate of the Húsavík–Flatey fault that were based on GPS data alone. Using different combinations of input data, we find that the Húsavík–Flatey fault has a locking depth of 6–10 km and, with a slip rate of 6–9 mm/yr, is accommodating about a third of the full transform motion. We furthermore show that while the InSAR data provide important constraints on the volcanic deformation within the NVZ, they do not significantly improve the model parameter estimation for the HFF, as the dense GPS network appears to better capture the deformation across the fault.

Dikes under Pressure - Monitoring the Vulnerability of Dikes by Means of SAR Interferometry

Science.gov (United States)

Marzahn, Philip; Seidel, Moritz; Ludwig, Ralf

2016-04-01

Dikes are the main man made structures in flood protection systems for the protection of humans and economic values. Usually dikes are built with a sandy core and clay or concrete layer covering the core. Thus, dikes are prone to a vertical shrinkage due to soil physical processes such as reduction of pore space and gravity increasing the risk of a crevasse during floods. In addition, this vulnerability is amplified by a sea level rise due to climate change. To guarantee the stability of dikes, a labourer intensive program is carried out by national authorities monitoring the dikes by visual inspection. In the presented study, a quantitative approach is presented using SAR Interferometry for the monitoring of the stability of dikes from space. In particular, the vertical movement of dikes due to shrinkage is monitored using persistent scatterer interferometry. Therefore three different types of dikes have been investigated: a sea coast dike with a concrete cover, a sea coast dike with short grass cover and a smaller river dike with grass cover. All dikes are located in Germany. Results show the potential of the monitoring technique as well as spatial differences in the stability of dikes with subsidence rates in parts of a dike up to 7 mm/a.

A new DEM of the Austfonna ice cap by combining differential SAR interferometry with ICESat laser altimetry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Geir Moholdt

2012-05-01

Full Text Available We present a new digital elevation model (DEM of the Austfonna ice cap in the Svalbard Archipelago, Norwegian Arctic. Previous DEMs derived from synthetic aperture radar (SAR and optical shape-from-shading have been tied to airborne radio echo-sounding surface profiles from 1983 which contain an elevation-dependent bias of up to several tens of metres compared with recent elevation data. The new and freely available DEM is constructed purely from spaceborne remote sensing data using differential SAR interferometry (DInSAR in combination with ICESat laser altimetry. Interferograms were generated from pairs of SAR scenes from the one-day repeat tandem phase of the European Remote Sensing Satellites 1/2 (ERS-1/2 in 1996. ICESat elevations from winter 2006–08 were used as ground control points to refine the interferometric baseline. The resulting DEM is validated against the same ground control points and independent surface elevation profiles from Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS and airborne laser altimetry, yielding root mean square (RMS errors of about 10 m in all cases. This quality is sufficient for most glaciological applications, and the new DEM will be a baseline data set for ongoing and future research at Austfonna. The technique of combining satellite DInSAR with high-resolution satellite altimetry for DEM generation might also be a good solution in other glacier regions with similar characteristics, especially when data from TanDEM-X and CryoSat-2 become available.

Methodology for locale-scale monitoring for the PROTHEGO project: the Choirokoitia case study

Science.gov (United States)

Themistocleous, Kyriacos; Agapiou, Athos; Cuca, Branka; Danezis, Chris; Cigna, Francesca; Margottini, Claudio; Spizzichino, Daniele

2016-10-01

PROTHEGO (PROTection of European Cultural HEritage from GeO-hazards) is a collaborative research project funded in the framework of the Joint Programming Initiative on Cultural Heritage and Global Change (JPICH) - Heritage Plus in 2015-2018 (www.prothego.eu). PROTHEGO aims to make an innovative contribution towards the analysis of geohazards in areas of cultural heritage, and uses novel space technology based on radar interferometry (InSAR) to retrieve information on ground stability and motion in the 400+ UNESCO's World Heritage List monuments and sites of Europe. InSAR can be used to measure micro-movements to identify geo-hazards. In order to verify the InSAR image data, field and close range measurements are necessary. This paper presents the methodology for local-scale monitoring of the Choirokoitia study site in Cyprus, inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List, and part of the demonstration sites of PROTHEGO. Various field and remote sensing methods will be exploited for the local-scale monitoring, static GNSS, total station, leveling, laser scanning and UAV and compared with the Persistent Scatterer Interferometry results. The in-situ measurements will be taken systematically in order to document any changes and geo-hazards that affect standing archaeological remains. In addition, ground truth from in-situ visits will provide feedback related to the classification results of urban expansion and land use change maps. Available archival and current optical satellite images will be used to calibrate and identify the level of risk at the Cyprus case study site. The ground based geotechnical monitoring will be compared and validated with InSAR data to evaluate cultural heritage sites deformation trend and to understand its behaviour over the last two decades.

Tracking Human-Induced Landscape Disturbance at the Nasca Lines UNESCO World Heritage Site in Peru with COSMO-SkyMed InSAR

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francesca Cigna

2018-04-01

Full Text Available The “Lines and Geoglyphs of Nasca and Palpa” in Peru are among the most well-known UNESCO World Heritage Sites globally, and an exemplar of site where heritage assets cannot be separated from their natural and anthropogenic environment. The site is exposed to interactions with natural processes, as well as human presence. In this work, 3-m resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR StripMap HIMAGE HH-polarised scenes acquired by the X-band COSMO-SkyMed constellation are exploited to track two events of human-induced landscape disturbance that occurred in December 2014 and January 2018. Pre-, cross-, and post-event interferometric SAR (InSAR pairs characterised by small temporal and normal baselines allow the detection of temporal decorrelation associated with the two events, the extent and time reference of which match with online photographic and video evidence, published literature, web news, and press releases by the Ministry of Culture in Peru. Further elements enhancing the understanding of the 2018 event come from 10-m resolution Sentinel-2B satellite data that reveal the occurrence of apparent changes of surface reflectance due to uncovering of the light grey-yellow clay underneath the darker pebble constituting the fragile surface of the Pampa de Jumana. This scientific study confirms that SAR imagery archives, such as those being built by COSMO-SkyMed for Nasca, prove valuable for the retrospective analysis and digital recording of human-induced landscape disturbance events from space. These archives therefore act as essential sources of geospatial information on the conservation history of heritage sites and assets.

Lava Lake Level Drop and Related Ground Subsidence in the Nyiragongo Main Crater (D.R.Congo) Measured by Close-Range Photogrammetry and InSAR Time-Series

Science.gov (United States)

Smets, B.; d'Oreye, N.; Samsonov, S. V.; Nobile, A.; Geirsson, H.; Kervyn, F.

2015-12-01

Nyiragongo volcano is the most active African volcano and among the most active volcanoes on Earth. It is also among the infrequent volcanoes that host a long-lived lava lake. The morphology of the Nyiragongo main crater is characterized by 2 levels of remnant platforms partly preserved and attached to its inner flanks, which correspond to former lava lake levels, and by a bottom "active" platform, which delimits the current active lava lake. The elevation of the bottom platform increases through time, with successive lava lake overflows. After a period of low level between late 2010 and August 2011, the lava lake next came back to its highest level. However, on September 30, 2011, it started a long and progressive fall, reaching ~70 m below the bottom platform in July 2014. This recent evolution of the lava lake, which occurred at the same time period as eruptive events at the neighboring Nyamulagira volcano, was accompanied by a ground subsidence of the bottom platform, leading to the appearance of ring fissures. This ground deformation is restricted to the bottom platform and, hence, suggests a very shallow source for the observed movement. All these changes in the Nyiragongo main crater were recorded by time-series of photographs, allowing the 3D reconstruction of the crater using close-range photogrammetric techniques and, hence, a detailed measurement of the observed changes. The ground subsidence was also recorded by time-series of RADARSAT-2 and CosmoSky-Med SAR interferograms, providing more detailed information on the velocity of deformation. Based on field data and the photogrammetric and InSAR time-series measurements, several hypotheses on the cause(s) of these changes in the Nyiragongo crater are discussed. The present work also highlights the potential of close-range photogrammetry and high-resolution InSAR to study and monitor active volcanoes in Equatorial environment.

Inventory and state of activity of rockglaciers in the Ile and Kungöy Ranges of Northern Tien Shan from satellite SAR interferometry

Science.gov (United States)

Strozzi, Tazio; Caduff, Rafael; Kääb, Andreas; Bolch, Tobias

2017-04-01

The best visual expression of mountain permafrost are rockglaciers, which, in contrast to the permafrost itself, can be mapped and monitored directly using remotely sensed data. Studies carried out in various parts of the European Alps have shown surface acceleration of rockglaciers and even destabilization of several such landforms over the two last decades, potentially related to the changing permafrost creep conditions. Changes in rockglacier motion are therefore believed to be the most indicative short- to medium-term response of rockglaciers to environmental changes and thus an indicator of mountain permafrost conditions in general. The ESA DUE GlobPermafrost project develops, validates and implements EO products to support research communities and international organizations in their work on better understanding permafrost characteristics and dynamics. Within this project we are building up a worldwide long-term monitoring network of active rockglacier motion investigated using remote sensing techniques. All sites are analysed through a uniform set of data and methods, and results are thus comparable. In order to quantify the rate of movement and the relative changes over time we consider two remote sensing methods: (i) matching of repeat optical data and (ii) satellite radar interferometry. In this contribution, we focus on the potential of recent high spatial resolution SAR data for the analysis of periglacial processes in mountain environments with special attention to the Ile and Kungöy Ranges of Northern Tien Shan at the border between Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, an area which contains a high number of large and comparably fast (> 1m/yr) rockglaciers and is of interest as dry-season water resource and source of natural hazards. As demonstrated in the past with investigations conducted in the Swiss Alps, the visual analysis of differential SAR interferograms can be employed for the rough estimation of the surface deformation rates of rockglaciers and

Multi-Temporal Interferometry to Investigate Landslide Dynamics in a Tropical Urban Environment: Focus on Bukavu (DR Congo)

Science.gov (United States)

Monsieurs, E.; Dille, A.; Nobile, A.; d'Oreye, N.; Kervyn, F.; Dewitte, O.

2017-12-01

Landslides can lead to high impacts in less developed countries, particularly in some urban tropical environments where a combination of intense rainfall, active tectonics, steep topography and high population density can be found. However, the processes controlling landslides initiation and their evolution through time remains poorly understood. Here we show the relevance of the use of multi-temporal differential SAR interferometry (DInSAR) to characterize ground deformations associated to landslides in the rapidly expanding city of Bukavu (DR Congo). A series of 70 COSMO-SkyMed SAR images acquired between March 2015 and April 2016 with a mean revisiting time of 8 days were used to produce displacement rate maps and ground deformation time series using the Small Baseline Subset approach. Results show that various landslide processes of different ages, mechanisms and state of activity can be identified across Bukavu city. InSAR ground deformation maps reveal for instance the complexity of a large (1.5 km²) active slide affecting a densely inhabited slum neighbourhood and characterized by the presence of sectors moving at different rates (ranging from 10 mm/yr up to 75 mm/yr in LOS direction). The evaluation of the ground deformations captured by DInSAR through a two-step validation procedure combining Differential GPS measurements and field observations attested the reliability of the measurements as well as the capability of the technique to grasp the deformation pattern affecting this complex tropical-urban environment. However, longer time series will be needed to infer landside response to climate, seismic and anthropogenic activities.

Robust tie points selection for InSAR image coregistration

Science.gov (United States)

Skanderi, Takieddine; Chabira, Boulerbah; Afifa, Belkacem; Belhadj Aissa, Aichouche

2013-10-01

Image coregistration is an important step in SAR interferometry which is a well known method for DEM generation and surface displacement monitoring. A practical and widely used automatic coregistration algorithm is based on selecting a number of tie points in the master image and looking for the correspondence of each point in the slave image using correlation technique. The characteristics of these points, their number and their distribution have a great impact on the reliability of the estimated transformation. In this work, we present a method for automatic selection of suitable tie points that are well distributed over the common area without decreasing the desired tie points' number. First we select candidate points using Harris operator. Then from these points we select tie points depending on their cornerness measure (the highest first). Once a tie point is selected, its correspondence is searched for in the slave image, if the similarity measure maximum is less than a given threshold or it is at the border of the search window, this point is discarded and we proceed to the next Harris point, else, the cornerness of the remaining candidates Harris points are multiplied by a spatially radially increasing function centered at the selected point to disadvantage the points in a neighborhood of a radius determined from the size of the common area and the desired number of points. This is repeated until the desired number of points is selected. Results of an ERS1/2 tandem pair are presented and discussed.

Surface deformation monitoring of Sinabung volcano using multi temporal InSAR method and GIS analysis for affected area assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Aditiya, A.; Aoki, Y.; Anugrah, R. D.

2018-04-01

Sinabung Volcano which located in northern part of Sumatera island is part of a hundred active volcano in Indonesia. Surface deformation is detected over Sinabung Volcano and surrounded area since the first eruption in 2010 after 400 years long rest. We present multi temporal Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) time-series method of ALOS-2 L-band SAR data acquired from December 2014 to July 2017 to reveal surface deformation with high spatial resolution. The method includes focusing the SAR data, generating interferogram and phase unwrapping using SNAPHU tools. The result reveal significant deformation over Sinabung Volcano areas at rates up to 10 cm during observation period and the highest deformation occurs in western part which is trajectory of lava. We concluded the observed deformation primarily caused by volcanic activity respectively after long period of rest. In addition, Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis produces disaster affected areas of Sinabung eruption. GIS is reliable technique to estimate the impact of the hazard scenario to the exposure data and develop scenarios of disaster impacts to inform their contingency and emergency plan. The GIS results include the estimated affected area divided into 3 zones based on pyroclastic lava flow and pyroclastic fall (incandescent rock and ash). The highest impact is occurred in zone II due to many settlements are scattered in this zone. This information will be support stakeholders to take emergency preparation for disaster reduction. The continuation of this high rate of decline tends to endanger the population in next periods.

Land Subsidence Monitoring by InSAR Time Series Technique Derived From ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 over Surabaya City, Indonesia

Science.gov (United States)

Aditiya, A.; Takeuchi, W.; Aoki, Y.

2017-12-01

Surabaya is the second largest city in Indonesia and the capital of East Java Province with rapid population and industrialization. The impact of urbanization in the big city can suffer potential disasters either nature or anthropogenic such as land subsidence and flood. The pattern of land subsidence need to be mapped for the purposes of planning and structuring the city as well as taking appropriate policy in anticipating and mitigating the impact. This research has used interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) Small Baseline Subset (SBAS) technique and applied time series analysis to investigate land subsidence occured. The technique includes the process of focusing the SAR data, incorporating the precise orbit, generating interferogram and phase unwrapping using SNAPHU algorithms. The results showed land subsidence has been detected during 2014-2017 over Surabaya city area using ALOS-2/PALSAR-2 images data. These results reveal the subsidence has observed in several area in Surabaya in particular northern part reach up to ∼2 cm/year. The fastest subsidence occurs in highly populated areas suffer vulnerable to flooding and sea level rise impact. In urban areas we found a correlation between land subsidence with residential or industrial land use. It concludes that land subsidence is mainly caused by ground water consumption for industrial and residential use respectively.

Monitoring of Land Deformation Due to Oil Production by InSAR Time Series Analysis Using PALSAR Data in Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

Science.gov (United States)

Deguchi, Tomonori; Narita, Tatsuhiko

2015-05-01

The target area of this study is the Maracaibo sedimentary basin located in the western part of Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. The full-scale exploration and development for oil resources in Venezuela which was the greatest oil-producing country in South America had begun at the Maracaibo sedimentary basin in the 1910s, and it was a center of the oil product in Venezuela until the 1980s. But, in most of oil fields in the Maracaibo sedimentary basin, there is concern over the drain on recoverable reserves due to deterioration, and the production amount of petroleum in Venezuela has been diminishing these days. Leveling and GPS surveying were carried out in the past, and they revealed that the large-scale subsidence phenomenon of which cumulative subsidence amount was approximately 5 meter had occurred. The authors applied the vertical displacement measurement by InSAR time series analysis using PALSAR data obtained in the Fine-beam and ScanSAR observation mode. As a result, it could be confirmed clear ground deformation in the surrounding of three oil fields (Tia Juana, Lagunillas and Bachaquero) and easily recognized that the areas of phase anomalies detected by this analysis had expanded and the number of interference fringes had increased over time. The annual velocity of vertical ground surface displacement measured by InSAR time series analysis was -51 mm per year, -103 mm per year and -58 mm per year in Tia Juana, Lagunillas and Bachaquero oil field respectively. The tendency that an earth surface shifted towards the center of phase anomalies was detected from the result of the horizontal ground change measurement. It was interpreted from Google Earth and Landsat images that oil-related facilities (mainly bowling stations) were built intensively over the areas where phase anomalies were detected. Therefore, it was inferred that there was a high association between the operation activity of the oil field and ground deformation. In addition, the deterioration

Are We Drowning? Urban Land Subsidence in Thyborøn, Denmark, From Ers-2 and Sentinel-1 Imagery and Precision Leveling

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

F. Levinsen, J.; Broge, N.H.; Sørensen, Carlo Sass

2016-01-01

We assess the potential in information on rates of vertical land deformation, which is useful for, e.g., climate change adaptation. The optimal results are obtained from observations with a high spatial coverage, such as those from Sentinel-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (InSAR) data. ...

a High Precision dem Extraction Method Based on Insar Data

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xinshuang; Liu, Lingling; Shi, Xiaoliang; Huang, Xitao; Geng, Wei

2018-04-01

In the 13th Five-Year Plan for Geoinformatics Business, it is proposed that the new InSAR technology should be applied to surveying and mapping production, which will become the innovation driving force of geoinformatics industry. This paper will study closely around the new outline of surveying and mapping and then achieve the TerraSAR/TanDEM data of Bin County in Shaanxi Province in X band. The studying steps are as follows; Firstly, the baseline is estimated from the orbital data; Secondly, the interferometric pairs of SAR image are accurately registered; Thirdly, the interferogram is generated; Fourth, the interferometric correlation information is estimated and the flat-earth phase is removed. In order to solve the phase noise and the discontinuity phase existing in the interferometric image of phase, a GAMMA adaptive filtering method is adopted. Aiming at the "hole" problem of missing data in low coherent area, the interpolation method of low coherent area mask is used to assist the phase unwrapping. Then, the accuracy of the interferometric baseline is estimated from the ground control points. Finally, 1 : 50000 DEM is generated, and the existing DEM data is used to verify the accuracy through statistical analysis. The research results show that the improved InSAR data processing method in this paper can obtain the high-precision DEM of the study area, exactly the same with the topography of reference DEM. The R2 can reach to 0.9648, showing a strong positive correlation.

Model Accuracy Comparison for High Resolution Insar Coherence Statistics Over Urban Areas

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yue; Fu, Kun; Sun, Xian; Xu, Guangluan; Wang, Hongqi

2016-06-01

The interferometric coherence map derived from the cross-correlation of two complex registered synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images is the reflection of imaged targets. In many applications, it can act as an independent information source, or give additional information complementary to the intensity image. Specially, the statistical properties of the coherence are of great importance in land cover classification, segmentation and change detection. However, compared to the amount of work on the statistical characters of SAR intensity, there are quite fewer researches on interferometric SAR (InSAR) coherence statistics. And to our knowledge, all of the existing work that focuses on InSAR coherence statistics, models the coherence with Gaussian distribution with no discrimination on data resolutions or scene types. But the properties of coherence may be different for different data resolutions and scene types. In this paper, we investigate on the coherence statistics for high resolution data over urban areas, by making a comparison of the accuracy of several typical statistical models. Four typical land classes including buildings, trees, shadow and roads are selected as the representatives of urban areas. Firstly, several regions are selected from the coherence map manually and labelled with their corresponding classes respectively. Then we try to model the statistics of the pixel coherence for each type of region, with different models including Gaussian, Rayleigh, Weibull, Beta and Nakagami. Finally, we evaluate the model accuracy for each type of region. The experiments on TanDEM-X data show that the Beta model has a better performance than other distributions.

MODEL ACCURACY COMPARISON FOR HIGH RESOLUTION INSAR COHERENCE STATISTICS OVER URBAN AREAS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Y. Zhang

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The interferometric coherence map derived from the cross-correlation of two complex registered synthetic aperture radar (SAR images is the reflection of imaged targets. In many applications, it can act as an independent information source, or give additional information complementary to the intensity image. Specially, the statistical properties of the coherence are of great importance in land cover classification, segmentation and change detection. However, compared to the amount of work on the statistical characters of SAR intensity, there are quite fewer researches on interferometric SAR (InSAR coherence statistics. And to our knowledge, all of the existing work that focuses on InSAR coherence statistics, models the coherence with Gaussian distribution with no discrimination on data resolutions or scene types. But the properties of coherence may be different for different data resolutions and scene types. In this paper, we investigate on the coherence statistics for high resolution data over urban areas, by making a comparison of the accuracy of several typical statistical models. Four typical land classes including buildings, trees, shadow and roads are selected as the representatives of urban areas. Firstly, several regions are selected from the coherence map manually and labelled with their corresponding classes respectively. Then we try to model the statistics of the pixel coherence for each type of region, with different models including Gaussian, Rayleigh, Weibull, Beta and Nakagami. Finally, we evaluate the model accuracy for each type of region. The experiments on TanDEM-X data show that the Beta model has a better performance than other distributions.

Polarimetric SAR Interferometry based modeling for tree height and aboveground biomass retrieval in a tropical deciduous forest

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, Shashi; Khati, Unmesh G.; Chandola, Shreya; Agrawal, Shefali; Kushwaha, Satya P. S.

2017-08-01

The regulation of the carbon cycle is a critical ecosystem service provided by forests globally. It is, therefore, necessary to have robust techniques for speedy assessment of forest biophysical parameters at the landscape level. It is arduous and time taking to monitor the status of vast forest landscapes using traditional field methods. Remote sensing and GIS techniques are efficient tools that can monitor the health of forests regularly. Biomass estimation is a key parameter in the assessment of forest health. Polarimetric SAR (PolSAR) remote sensing has already shown its potential for forest biophysical parameter retrieval. The current research work focuses on the retrieval of forest biophysical parameters of tropical deciduous forest, using fully polarimetric spaceborne C-band data with Polarimetric SAR Interferometry (PolInSAR) techniques. PolSAR based Interferometric Water Cloud Model (IWCM) has been used to estimate aboveground biomass (AGB). Input parameters to the IWCM have been extracted from the decomposition modeling of SAR data as well as PolInSAR coherence estimation. The technique of forest tree height retrieval utilized PolInSAR coherence based modeling approach. Two techniques - Coherence Amplitude Inversion (CAI) and Three Stage Inversion (TSI) - for forest height estimation are discussed, compared and validated. These techniques allow estimation of forest stand height and true ground topography. The accuracy of the forest height estimated is assessed using ground-based measurements. PolInSAR based forest height models showed enervation in the identification of forest vegetation and as a result height values were obtained in river channels and plain areas. Overestimation in forest height was also noticed at several patches of the forest. To overcome this problem, coherence and backscatter based threshold technique is introduced for forest area identification and accurate height estimation in non-forested regions. IWCM based modeling for forest

InSAR and GPS derived coseismic deformation and fault model of the 2017 Ms7.0 Jiuzhaigou earthquake in the Northeast Bayanhar block

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Dezheng; Qu, Chunyan; Shan, Xinjian; Gong, Wenyu; Zhang, Yingfeng; Zhang, Guohong

2018-02-01

On 8 August 2017, a Ms7.0 earthquake stroke the city of Jiuzhaigou, Sichuan, China. The Jiuzhaigou earthquake occurred on a buried fault in the vicinity of three well-known active faults and this event offers a unique opportunity to study tectonic structures in the epicentral region and stress transferring. Here we present coseismic displacement field maps for this earthquake using descending and ascending Sentinel-1A Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) data. Deformation covered an area of approximately 50 × 50 km, with a maximum line-of-sight (LOS) displacement of 22 cm in ascending and 14 cm in descending observations on the west side of the source fault. Based on InSAR and Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements, both separately and jointly, we constructed a one-segment model to invert the coseismic slip distribution and dip angle of this event. Our final fault slip model suggests that slip was concentrated at an upper depth of 15 km; there was a maximum slip of 1.3 m and the rupture was dominated by a left-lateral strike-slip motion. The inverted geodetic moment was approximately 6.75 × 1018 Nm, corresponding to a moment magnitude of Mw6.5, consistent with seismological results. The calculated static Coulomb stress changes indicate that most aftershocks occurred in stress increasing zones caused by the mainshock rupture; the Jiuzhaigou earthquake has brought the western part of the Tazang fault 0.1-0.4 MPa closer to failure, indicating an increasing seismic hazard in this region. The Coulomb stress changes caused by the 2008 Mw7.8 Wenchuan earthquake suggest that stress loading from this event acted as a trigger for the Jiuzhaigou earthquake.

Kinematic Rupture Process of the 2015 Gorkha (Nepal) Earthquake Sequence from Joint Inversion of Teleseismic, hr-GPS, Strong-Ground Motion, InSAR interferograms and pixel offsets

Science.gov (United States)

Yue, H.; Simons, M.; Jiang, J.; Fielding, E. J.; Owen, S. E.; Moore, A. W.; Riel, B. V.; Polet, J.; Duputel, Z.; Samsonov, S. V.; Avouac, J. P.

2015-12-01

The April 2015 Gorkha, Nepal (Mw 7.8) earthquake ruptured the front of Himalaya thrust belt, causing more than 9,000 fatalities. 17 days after the main event, a large aftershock (Mw 7.2) ruptured to down-dip and east of the main rupture area. To investigate the kinematic rupture process of this earthquake sequence, we explored linear and non-linear inversion techniques using a variety of datasets including teleseismic, high rate and conventional GPS, InSAR interferograms and pixel-offsets. InSAR interferograms from ALOS-2, RADARSAT-2 and Sentinel-1a satellites are used in the joint inversion. The main event is characterized by unilateral rupture extending along strike approximately 70 km to the southeast and 40 km along dip direction. The rupture velocity is well resolved to be lie between 2.8 and 3.0 km/s, which is consistent with back-projection results. An emergent initial phase is observed in teleseismic body wave records, which is consistent with a narrow area of rupture initiation near the hypocenter. The rupture mode of the main event is pulse like. The aftershock ruptured down-dip to the northeast of the main event rupture area. The aftershock rupture area is compact and contained within 40 km of its hypocenter. In contrast to the main event, teleseismic body wave records of the aftershock suggest an abrupt initial phase, which is consistent with a crack like rupture mode. The locations of most of the aftershocks (small and large) surround the rupture area of the main shock with little, if any, spatial overlap.

Constraints on timescales and mechanics of magmatic underplating from InSAR observations of large active magma sills in the Earth's crust.

Science.gov (United States)

Fialko, Y.

2002-12-01

Theoretical models of the granitoid magma generation due to magmatic underplating predict that anatectic melts are produced on quite short timescales of the order of the crystallization time of typical mafic underplates (e.g., 102-10^3 years for sill intrusions that are a few tens to a few hundred meters thick). If so, the intrusion of mafic underplates, the volume changes associated with in situ melting, and the subsequent evacuation of the resulting granitoid magmas can each generate geodetically observable deformation. Geodetic measurements in areas of contemporaneous large active magma bodies may therefore provide critical constraints on the timescales and dynamics of crustal anatexis. We use Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) observations in regions of the ongoing crustal magmatism to constrain typical rates of the large-scale melt generation and/or migration, and to test the proposed models of the granitic melt production. Our primary targets include large mid-crustal magma bodies imaged by seismic studies, in particular, the Socorro (New Mexico, USA), the Altiplano-Puna (south America), and the south Tibet (Asia) magma bodies. All these magma bodies are located at depth of 19-20 km, suggesting a strong rheological or buoyancy control on the transition from a vertical to a horizontal magma flow. Stacked interferometric data from the Socorro magma body indicate a quasi-steady uplift with a maximum rate of 3-4 mm/yr over the last 10 years covered by the InSAR observations. The uplift morphology can be well described by an elastic inflation of the Socorro sill. We show that deformation models that allow for the viscous-like rheology of the mid-to-lower crust cannot be easily reconciled with the geodetic data. However, thermodynamic modeling, in conjunction with inferences of the nearly constant uplift rates, suggest that the deformations associated with the intrusion emplacement must involve a significant inelastic component. Such inelastic

GBIS (Geodetic Bayesian Inversion Software): Rapid Inversion of InSAR and GNSS Data to Estimate Surface Deformation Source Parameters and Uncertainties

Science.gov (United States)

Bagnardi, M.; Hooper, A. J.

2017-12-01

Inversions of geodetic observational data, such as Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) measurements, are often performed to obtain information about the source of surface displacements. Inverse problem theory has been applied to study magmatic processes, the earthquake cycle, and other phenomena that cause deformation of the Earth's interior and of its surface. Together with increasing improvements in data resolution, both spatial and temporal, new satellite missions (e.g., European Commission's Sentinel-1 satellites) are providing the unprecedented opportunity to access space-geodetic data within hours from their acquisition. To truly take advantage of these opportunities we must become able to interpret geodetic data in a rapid and robust manner. Here we present the open-source Geodetic Bayesian Inversion Software (GBIS; available for download at http://comet.nerc.ac.uk/gbis). GBIS is written in Matlab and offers a series of user-friendly and interactive pre- and post-processing tools. For example, an interactive function has been developed to estimate the characteristics of noise in InSAR data by calculating the experimental semi-variogram. The inversion software uses a Markov-chain Monte Carlo algorithm, incorporating the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm with adaptive step size, to efficiently sample the posterior probability distribution of the different source parameters. The probabilistic Bayesian approach allows the user to retrieve estimates of the optimal (best-fitting) deformation source parameters together with the associated uncertainties produced by errors in the data (and by scaling, errors in the model). The current version of GBIS (V1.0) includes fast analytical forward models for magmatic sources of different geometry (e.g., point source, finite spherical source, prolate spheroid source, penny-shaped sill-like source, and dipping-dike with uniform opening) and for dipping faults with uniform

The May 2005 eruption of Fernandina volcano, Galápagos: The first circumferential dike intrusion observed by GPS and InSAR

Science.gov (United States)

Chadwick, W.W.; Jonsson, Sigurjon; Geist, Dennis J.; Poland, M.; Johnson, Daniel J.; Batt, S.; Harpp, Karen S.; Ruiz, A.

2011-01-01

The May 2005 eruption of Fernandina volcano, Galápagos, occurred along circumferential fissures parallel to the caldera rim and fed lava flows down the steep southwestern slope of the volcano for several weeks. This was the first circumferential dike intrusion ever observed by both InSAR and GPS measurements and thus provides an opportunity to determine the subsurface geometry of these enigmatic structures that are common on Galápagos volcanoes but are rare elsewhere. Pre- and post- eruption ground deformation between 2002 and 2006 can be modeled by the inflation of two separate magma reservoirs beneath the caldera: a shallow sill at ~1 km depth and a deeper point-source at ~5 km depth, and we infer that this system also existed at the time of the 2005 eruption. The co-eruption deformation is dominated by uplift near the 2005 eruptive fissures, superimposed on a broad subsidence centered on the caldera. Modeling of the co-eruption deformation was performed by including various combinations of planar dislocations to simulate the 2005 circumferential dike intrusion. We found that a single planar dike could not match both the InSAR and GPS data. Our best-fit model includes three planar dikes connected along hinge lines to simulate a curved concave shell that is steeply dipping (~45–60°) toward the caldera at the surface and more gently dipping (~12–14°) at depth where it connects to the horizontal sub-caldera sill. The shallow sill is underlain by the deep point source. The geometry of this modeled magmatic system is consistent with the petrology of Fernandina lavas, which suggest that circumferential eruptions tap the shallowest parts of the system, whereas radial eruptions are fed from deeper levels. The recent history of eruptions at Fernandina is also consistent with the idea that circumferential and radial intrusions are sometimes in a stress-feedback relationship and alternate in time with one another.

The May 2005 eruption of Fernandina volcano, Galápagos: The first circumferential dike intrusion observed by GPS and InSAR

KAUST Repository

Chadwick, William W Jr; Jonsson, Sigurjon; Geist, Dennis J.; Poland, Michael P.; Johnson, Daniel J.; Batt, Spencer; Harpp, Karen S.; Ruiz, André s Gorki

2010-01-01

The May 2005 eruption of Fernandina volcano, Galápagos, occurred along circumferential fissures parallel to the caldera rim and fed lava flows down the steep southwestern slope of the volcano for several weeks. This was the first circumferential dike intrusion ever observed by both InSAR and GPS measurements and thus provides an opportunity to determine the subsurface geometry of these enigmatic structures that are common on Galápagos volcanoes but are rare elsewhere. Pre- and post- eruption ground deformation between 2002 and 2006 can be modeled by the inflation of two separate magma reservoirs beneath the caldera: a shallow sill at ~1 km depth and a deeper point-source at ~5 km depth, and we infer that this system also existed at the time of the 2005 eruption. The co-eruption deformation is dominated by uplift near the 2005 eruptive fissures, superimposed on a broad subsidence centered on the caldera. Modeling of the co-eruption deformation was performed by including various combinations of planar dislocations to simulate the 2005 circumferential dike intrusion. We found that a single planar dike could not match both the InSAR and GPS data. Our best-fit model includes three planar dikes connected along hinge lines to simulate a curved concave shell that is steeply dipping (~45-60°) toward the caldera at the surface and more gently dipping (~12-14°) at depth where it connects to the horizontal sub-caldera sill. The shallow sill is underlain by the deep point source. The geometry of this modeled magmatic system is consistent with the petrology of Fernandina lavas, which suggest that circumferential eruptions tap the shallowest parts of the system, whereas radial eruptions are fed from deeper levels. The recent history of eruptions at Fernandina is also consistent with the idea that circumferential and radial intrusions are sometimes in a stress-feedback relationship and alternate in time with one another. © 2010 Springer-Verlag.

The May 2005 eruption of Fernandina volcano, Galápagos: The first circumferential dike intrusion observed by GPS and InSAR

KAUST Repository

Chadwick, William W Jr

2010-12-15

The May 2005 eruption of Fernandina volcano, Galápagos, occurred along circumferential fissures parallel to the caldera rim and fed lava flows down the steep southwestern slope of the volcano for several weeks. This was the first circumferential dike intrusion ever observed by both InSAR and GPS measurements and thus provides an opportunity to determine the subsurface geometry of these enigmatic structures that are common on Galápagos volcanoes but are rare elsewhere. Pre- and post- eruption ground deformation between 2002 and 2006 can be modeled by the inflation of two separate magma reservoirs beneath the caldera: a shallow sill at ~1 km depth and a deeper point-source at ~5 km depth, and we infer that this system also existed at the time of the 2005 eruption. The co-eruption deformation is dominated by uplift near the 2005 eruptive fissures, superimposed on a broad subsidence centered on the caldera. Modeling of the co-eruption deformation was performed by including various combinations of planar dislocations to simulate the 2005 circumferential dike intrusion. We found that a single planar dike could not match both the InSAR and GPS data. Our best-fit model includes three planar dikes connected along hinge lines to simulate a curved concave shell that is steeply dipping (~45-60°) toward the caldera at the surface and more gently dipping (~12-14°) at depth where it connects to the horizontal sub-caldera sill. The shallow sill is underlain by the deep point source. The geometry of this modeled magmatic system is consistent with the petrology of Fernandina lavas, which suggest that circumferential eruptions tap the shallowest parts of the system, whereas radial eruptions are fed from deeper levels. The recent history of eruptions at Fernandina is also consistent with the idea that circumferential and radial intrusions are sometimes in a stress-feedback relationship and alternate in time with one another. © 2010 Springer-Verlag.

EMISAR: A Dual-frequency, Polarimetric Airborne SAR

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dall, Jørgen; Christensen, Erik Lintz

2002-01-01

EMISAR is a fully polarimetric, dual frequency (L- and C-band) SAR system designed for remote sensing applications. The data are usually processed to 2×2 m resolution. The system has the capability of C-band cross-track single-pass interferometry and fully polarimetric repeat-pass interferometry....

An Improved InSAR Image Co-Registration Method for Pairs with Relatively Big Distortions or Large Incoherent Areas

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhenwei Chen

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Co-registration is one of the most important steps in interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR data processing. The standard offset-measurement method based on cross-correlating uniformly distributed patches takes no account of specific geometric transformation between images or characteristics of ground scatterers. Hence, it is inefficient and difficult to obtain satisfying co-registration results for image pairs with relatively big distortion or large incoherent areas. Given this, an improved co-registration strategy is proposed in this paper which takes both the geometric features and image content into consideration. Firstly, some geometric transformations including scale, flip, rotation, and shear between images were eliminated based on the geometrical information, and the initial co-registration polynomial was obtained. Then the registration points were automatically detected by integrating the signal-to-clutter-ratio (SCR thresholds and the amplitude information, and a further co-registration process was performed to refine the polynomial. Several comparison experiments were carried out using 2 TerraSAR-X data from the Hong Kong airport and 21 PALSAR data from the Donghai Bridge. Experiment results demonstrate that the proposed method brings accuracy and efficiency improvements for co-registration and processing abilities in the cases of big distortion between images or large incoherent areas in the images. For most co-registrations, the proposed method can enhance the reliability and applicability of co-registration and thus promote the automation to a higher level.

An Improved InSAR Image Co-Registration Method for Pairs with Relatively Big Distortions or Large Incoherent Areas.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Zhenwei; Zhang, Lei; Zhang, Guo

2016-09-17

Co-registration is one of the most important steps in interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) data processing. The standard offset-measurement method based on cross-correlating uniformly distributed patches takes no account of specific geometric transformation between images or characteristics of ground scatterers. Hence, it is inefficient and difficult to obtain satisfying co-registration results for image pairs with relatively big distortion or large incoherent areas. Given this, an improved co-registration strategy is proposed in this paper which takes both the geometric features and image content into consideration. Firstly, some geometric transformations including scale, flip, rotation, and shear between images were eliminated based on the geometrical information, and the initial co-registration polynomial was obtained. Then the registration points were automatically detected by integrating the signal-to-clutter-ratio (SCR) thresholds and the amplitude information, and a further co-registration process was performed to refine the polynomial. Several comparison experiments were carried out using 2 TerraSAR-X data from the Hong Kong airport and 21 PALSAR data from the Donghai Bridge. Experiment results demonstrate that the proposed method brings accuracy and efficiency improvements for co-registration and processing abilities in the cases of big distortion between images or large incoherent areas in the images. For most co-registrations, the proposed method can enhance the reliability and applicability of co-registration and thus promote the automation to a higher level.

SAR-revealed slip partitioning on a bending fault plane for the 2014 Northern Nagano earthquake at the northern Itoigawa-Shizuoka tectonic line

Science.gov (United States)

Kobayashi, Tomokazu; Morishita, Yu; Yarai, Hiroshi

2018-05-01

By applying conventional cross-track synthetic aperture radar interferometry (InSAR) and multiple aperture InSAR techniques to ALOS-2 data acquired before and after the 2014 Northern Nagano, central Japan, earthquake, a three-dimensional ground displacement field has been successfully mapped. Crustal deformation is concentrated in and around the northern part of the Kamishiro Fault, which is the northernmost section of the Itoigawa-Shizuoka tectonic line. The full picture of the displacement field shows contraction in the northwest-southeast direction, but northeastward movement along the fault strike direction is prevalent in the northeast portion of the fault, which suggests that a strike-slip component is a significant part of the activity of this fault, in addition to a reverse faulting. Clear displacement discontinuities are recognized in the southern part of the source region, which falls just on the previously known Kamishiro Fault trace. We inverted the SAR and GNSS data to construct a slip distribution model; the preferred model of distributed slip on a two-plane fault surface shows a combination of reverse and left-lateral fault motions on a bending east-dipping fault surface with a dip of 30° in the shallow part and 50° in the deeper part. The hypocenter falls just on the estimated deeper fault plane where a left-lateral slip is inferred, whereas in the shallow part, a reverse slip is predominant, which causes surface ruptures on the ground. The slip partitioning may be accounted for by shear stress resulting from a reverse fault slip with left-lateral component at depth, for which a left-lateral slip is suppressed in the shallow part where the reverse slip is inferred. The slip distribution model with a bending fault surface, instead of a single fault plane, produces moment tensor solution with a non-double couple component, which is consistent with the seismically estimated mechanism.

COSMO-SkyMed Spotlight interometry over rural areas: the Slumgullion landslide in Colorado, USA

Science.gov (United States)

Milillo, Pietro; Fielding, Eric J.; Schulz, William H.; Delbridge, Brent; Burgmann, Roland

2014-01-01

In the last 7 years, spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data with resolution of better than a meter acquired by satellites in spotlight mode offered an unprecedented improvement in SAR interferometry (InSAR). Most attention has been focused on monitoring urban areas and man-made infrastructure exploiting geometric accuracy, stability, and phase fidelity of the spotlight mode. In this paper, we explore the potential application of the COSMO-SkyMed® Spotlight mode to rural areas where decorrelation is substantial and rapidly increases with time. We focus on the rapid repeat times of as short as one day possible with the COSMO-SkyMed® constellation. We further present a qualitative analysis of spotlight interferometry over the Slumgullion landslide in southwest Colorado, which moves at rates of more than 1 cm/day.

InSAR coherence study of unusual rain events in the Atacama Desert

Science.gov (United States)

Jordan, T. E.; Scott, C. P.; Lohman, R.

2017-12-01

The Atacama Desert (AD) occupies much of Chile at latitudes 18-27°S. The surficial materials vary, dependent on proximity to the ocean, slope, position within a surface water drainage system, mean annual rainfall, human land disturbance, and the local history of climate changes. Three major divisions of soil composition include: near coastal zone of silicate mineral soils, mostly devoid of plants; central hyperarid zone dominated by gypsum, devoid of plants; eastern zone of silicate-based soils, very sparse plants. The AD in March 2015 experienced the largest rain event of modern history, and again in June 2017 almost as much rain fell within the study area (24.2-25.7°S, coast to Andes Mountains). Those natural experiments set the stage for InSAR remote sensing of surface changes in a 24,000 square kilometer area. We used interferometric coherence of radar to measure the similarity in the reflective ground properties at the time of two SAR acquisitions, and a time series of European Space Agency's Sentinel-1A data sets acquired between January 2015 and August 2017. Date pairs lacking an intervening rain event reveal extensive regions of high coherence, and in those areas we focus on the temporal evolution of coherence across dates of, and following dates of, the major rains. Permanent change of the surface is most extensive in the eastern and western sectors, yet the degree of permanent change was small except in valley bottoms. In the sector with gypsum soil small degrees of permanent change occurred over 30% of the surface including in narrow (1-3 km) elongate (10-60 km) stripes that cross-cut topography, likely revealing rain bands. The spatial pattern of transient change in coherence differs. Over half the gypsum-dominated zone displays a transient change signal, whose spatial pattern corresponds to geomorphological forms; older landforms display greater transient coherence changes. In the silicate-dominated eastern region the transient signals are smaller

TerraSAR-X time-series interferometry detects human-induce subsidence in the Historical Centre of Hanoi, Vietnam

Science.gov (United States)

Le, Tuan; Chang, Chung-Pai; Nguyen, Xuan

2016-04-01

Hanoi was the capital of 12 Vietnamese dynasties, where the most historical relics, archaeological ruins and ancient monuments are located over Vietnam. However, those heritage assets are threatened by the land subsidence process occurred in recent decades, which mainly triggered by massive groundwater exploitation and construction activities. In this work, we use a set of high resolution TerraSAR-X images to map small-scale land subsidence patterns in the Historical Centre of Hanoi from April 2012 to November 2013. Images oversampling is integrated into the Small Baseline InSAR processing chain in order to enlarge the monitoring coverage by increasing the point-wise measurements, maintaining the monitoring scale of single building and monument. We analyzed over 2.4 million radar targets on 13.9 km2 area of interest based on 2 main sites: The Citadel, the Old Quarter and French Quarter. The highest subsidence rate recorded is -14.2 mm/year. Most of the heritage assets are considered as stable except the Roman Catholic Archdiocese and the Ceramic Mosaic Mural with the subsidence rates are -14.2 and -13.7 mm/year, respectively. Eventually, optical image and soil properties map are used to determine the causes of subsidence patterns. The result shows the strong relationships between the existing construction sites, the component of sediments and land subsidence processes that occurred in the study site.

Significant strain accumulation between the deformation front and landward out-of-sequence thrusts in accretionary wedge of SW Taiwan revealed by cGPS and SAR interferometry

Science.gov (United States)

Tsai, M. C.

2017-12-01

High strain accumulation across the fold-and-thrust belt in Southwestern Taiwan are revealed by the Continuous GPS (cGPS) and SAR interferometry. This high strain is generally accommodated by the major active structures in fold-and-thrust belt of western Foothills in SW Taiwan connected to the accretionary wedge in the incipient are-continent collision zone. The active structures across the high strain accumulation include the deformation front around the Tainan Tableland, the Hochiali, Hsiaokangshan, Fangshan and Chishan faults. Among these active structures, the deformation pattern revealed from cGPS and SAR interferometry suggest that the Fangshan transfer fault may be a left-lateral fault zone with thrust component accommodating the westward differential motion of thrust sheets on both side of the fault. In addition, the Chishan fault connected to the splay fault bordering the lower-slope and upper-slope of the accretionary wedge which could be the major seismogenic fault and an out-of-sequence thrust fault in SW Taiwan. The big earthquakes resulted from the reactivation of out-of-sequence thrusts have been observed along the Nankai accretionary wedge, thus the assessment of the major seismogenic structures by strain accumulation between the frontal décollement and out-of-sequence thrusts is a crucial topic. According to the background seismicity, the low seismicity and mid-crust to mantle events are observed inland and the lower- and upper- slope domain offshore SW Taiwan, which rheologically implies the upper crust of the accretionary wedge is more or less aseimic. This result may suggest that the excess fluid pressure from the accretionary wedge not only has significantly weakened the prism materials as well as major fault zone, but also makes the accretionary wedge landward extension, which is why the low seismicity is observed in SW Taiwan area. Key words: Continuous GPS, SAR interferometry, strain rate, out-of-sequence thrust.

EVALUATION OF AIRBORNE L- BAND MULTI-BASELINE POL-INSAR FOR DEM EXTRACTION BENEATH FOREST CANOPY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

W. M. Li

2018-04-01

Full Text Available DEM beneath forest canopy is difficult to extract with optical stereo pairs, InSAR and Pol-InSAR techniques. Tomographic SAR (TomoSAR based on different penetration and view angles could reflect vertical structure and ground structure. This paper aims at evaluating the possibility of TomoSAR for underlying DEM extraction. Airborne L-band repeat-pass Pol-InSAR collected in BioSAR 2008 campaign was applied to reconstruct the 3D structure of forest. And sum of kronecker product and algebraic synthesis algorithm were used to extract ground structure, and phase linking algorithm was applied to estimate ground phase. Then Goldstein cut-branch approach was used to unwrap the phases and then estimated underlying DEM. The average difference between the extracted underlying DEM and Lidar DEM is about 3.39 m in our test site. And the result indicates that it is possible for underlying DEM estimation with airborne L-band repeat-pass TomoSAR technique.

Evaluation of Airborne l- Band Multi-Baseline Pol-Insar for dem Extraction Beneath Forest Canopy

Science.gov (United States)

Li, W. M.; Chen, E. X.; Li, Z. Y.; Jiang, C.; Jia, Y.

2018-04-01

DEM beneath forest canopy is difficult to extract with optical stereo pairs, InSAR and Pol-InSAR techniques. Tomographic SAR (TomoSAR) based on different penetration and view angles could reflect vertical structure and ground structure. This paper aims at evaluating the possibility of TomoSAR for underlying DEM extraction. Airborne L-band repeat-pass Pol-InSAR collected in BioSAR 2008 campaign was applied to reconstruct the 3D structure of forest. And sum of kronecker product and algebraic synthesis algorithm were used to extract ground structure, and phase linking algorithm was applied to estimate ground phase. Then Goldstein cut-branch approach was used to unwrap the phases and then estimated underlying DEM. The average difference between the extracted underlying DEM and Lidar DEM is about 3.39 m in our test site. And the result indicates that it is possible for underlying DEM estimation with airborne L-band repeat-pass TomoSAR technique.

Three-dimensional (3D) coseismic deformation map produced by the 2014 South Napa Earthquake estimated and modeled by SAR and GPS data integration

Science.gov (United States)

Polcari, Marco; Albano, Matteo; Fernández, José; Palano, Mimmo; Samsonov, Sergey; Stramondo, Salvatore; Zerbini, Susanna

2016-04-01

In this work we present a 3D map of coseismic displacements due to the 2014 Mw 6.0 South Napa earthquake, California, obtained by integrating displacement information data from SAR Interferometry (InSAR), Multiple Aperture Interferometry (MAI), Pixel Offset Tracking (POT) and GPS data acquired by both permanent stations and campaigns sites. This seismic event produced significant surface deformation along the 3D components causing several damages to vineyards, roads and houses. The remote sensing results, i.e. InSAR, MAI and POT, were obtained from the pair of SAR images provided by the Sentinel-1 satellite, launched on April 3rd, 2014. They were acquired on August 7th and 31st along descending orbits with an incidence angle of about 23°. The GPS dataset includes measurements from 32 stations belonging to the Bay Area Regional Deformation Network (BARDN), 301 continuous stations available from the UNAVCO and the CDDIS archives, and 13 additional campaign sites from Barnhart et al, 2014 [1]. These data constrain the horizontal and vertical displacement components proving to be helpful for the adopted integration method. We exploit the Bayes theory to search for the 3D coseismic displacement components. In particular, for each point, we construct an energy function and solve the problem to find a global minimum. Experimental results are consistent with a strike-slip fault mechanism with an approximately NW-SE fault plane. Indeed, the 3D displacement map shows a strong North-South (NS) component, peaking at about 15 cm, a few kilometers far from the epicenter. The East-West (EW) displacement component reaches its maximum (~10 cm) south of the city of Napa, whereas the vertical one (UP) is smaller, although a subsidence in the order of 8 cm on the east side of the fault can be observed. A source modelling was performed by inverting the estimated displacement components. The best fitting model is given by a ~N330° E-oriented and ~70° dipping fault with a prevailing

Potential of TCPInSAR in Monitoring Linear Infrastructure with a Small Dataset of SAR Images: Application of the Donghai Bridge, China

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Lei Zhang

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Reliably monitoring deformation associated with linear infrastructures, such as long-span bridges, is vitally important to assess their structural health. In this paper, we attempt to employ satellite interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR to map the deformation of Donghai Bridge over a half of an annual cycle. The bridge, as the fourth longest cross-sea bridge in the world, located in the north of Hangzhou Bay, East China Sea where the featureless sea surface largely occupied the radar image raises challenges to accurately co-register the coherent points along the bridge. To tackle the issues due to co-registration and the limited number of synthetic aperture radar (SAR images, we adopt the termed temporarily-coherent point (TCP InSAR (TCPInSAR technique to process the radar images. TCPs that are not necessarily coherent during the whole observation period can be identified within every two SAR acquisitions during the co-registration procedure based on the statistics of azimuth and range offsets. In the process, co-registration is performed only using the offsets of these TCPs, leading to improved interferometric phases and the local Delaunay triangulation is used to construct point pairs to reduce the atmospheric artifacts along the bridge. With the TCPInSAR method the deformation rate along the bridge is estimated with no need of phase unwrapping. The achieved result reveals that the Donghai Bridge suffered a line-of-sight (LOS deformation rate up to −2.3 cm/year from January 2009 to July 2009 at the cable-stayed part, which is likely due to the thermal expansion of cables.

Interferometric SAR and land deformation. Analysis using the dislocation model; Interferometric SAR to chikaku hendo. Dislocation model wo mochiita kaiseki

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Matsushima, J; Otaki, T; Tanaka, A; Miyazaki, Y [Geological Survey of Japan, Tsukuba (Japan)

1996-05-01

The diastrophism by the earthquake-induced dislocation is investigated by interferometry (INSAR) which represents the diastrophism by the interference fringes of equiphase difference lines. A joint research group at Geographical Survey Institute and National Space Development Agency showed the diastrophism in the vicinity of the ground surfaces before and after the Hyogoken Nanbu Earthquake by the INSAR interference images in 1995. This paper discusses the effects of observation in the vision line direction from the satellite and dislocation parameters on the interference images. The dislocation model uses a slanted rectangular model in a semi-infinite medium, to calculate static displacements and strain distributions at the ground surface, when dislocation changes. It is found that the INSAR interference images, detecting displacements in the vision line direction from the satellite, significantly change as the vision line direction changes, and that the actual displacement cannot be given by the images alone. This paper also shows sensitivity of the interference images to the dislocation parameters. 3 refs., 9 figs., 1 tab.

Detection of sinkhole precursors along the Dead Sea, Israel by SAR interferometry

Science.gov (United States)

Nof, Ran; Baer, Gidon; Ziv, Alon; Eyal, Yehuda; Raz, Eli; Atzori, Simone; Salvi, Stefano

2013-04-01

The water level of the Dead Sea (Israel and Jordan) has been dropping at an increasing rate since the 1960s, exceeding a meter per year during the last decade. This water-level drop has triggered the formation of sinkholes and widespread land subsidence along the Dead Sea shorelines, resulting in severe economic loss and infrastructural damage. In this study, sinkhole-related precursory subsidence and the effects of human activities on sinkhole development are examined through Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) measurements and field surveys conducted in Israel during the year 2012. Interferograms were generated using the COSMO-SkyMed satellite images and a high-resolution (0.5 m/pixel) elevation model that was obtained from airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR). Thanks to this unique integration of high-resolution datasets, mm-scale subsidence may be resolved in both undisturbed and human-disturbed environments. A few months long precursory subsidence occurred in all three sinkhole sites reported in this study. The centers of the subsiding areas and successive sinkholes in a specific site show lateral migration, possibly due to progressive dissolution and widening of the underlying cavities. Certain human activities, such as filling of newly formed sinkholes by gravel, or mud injections into nearby drill holes, seem to enhance land subsidence, widen existing sinkholes or even generate new sinkholes.

The ground subsidence anomaly investigation around Ambala, India by InSAR and spatial analyses: Why and how the Ambala city behaves as the most significant subsidence region in the Northwest India?

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, J.; Lin, S. Y.; Tsai, Y.; Singh, S.; Singh, T.

2017-12-01

A large ground deformation which may be caused by a significant groundwater depletion of the Northwest India Aquifer has been successfully observed throughout space geodesy techniques (Tsai et al, 2016). Employing advanced time-series ScanSAR InSAR analysis and Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites data, it revealed 400-km wide huge ground deformation in and around Haryana. It was further notified that the Ambala city located in northern Haryana district shown the most significant ground subsidence with maximum cumulative deformation up to 0.2 meters within 3 years in contrast to the nearby cities such as Patiala and Chandigarh that did not present similar subsidence. In this study, we investigated the details of "Ambala Anomaly" employing advanced time-series InSAR and spatial analyses together with local geology and anthropogenic contexts and tried to identify the factors causing such a highly unique ground deformation pattern. To explore the pattern and trend of Ambala' subsidence, we integrated the time-series deformation results of both ascending L-band PALSAR-1 (Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar) from 2007/1 to 2011/1 and descending C-band ASAR (Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar) from 2008/9 to 2010/8 to process the 3D decomposition, expecting to reveal the asymmetric movement of the surface. In addition. The spatial analyses incorporating detected ground deformations and local economical/social factors were then applied for the interpretation of "Ambala Anomaly". The detailed interrelationship of driving factors of the "Ambala Anomaly" and the spatial pattern of corresponding ground subsidence will be further demonstrated. After all, we determined the uniqueness of Ambala subsidence possibly be driven by both anthropogenic behaviors including the rapid growth rate of population and constructing of industrial centers as well as the natural geological characteristics and sediment deposition.

A Comparison of Seasonal Patterns Observed in ERS 1 / 2 Differential InSAR, Groundwater Level Data, and Groundwater Production Data in Reno, Nevada, USA.

Science.gov (United States)

Oppliger, G. L.; Goudy, C.; Widmer, M.

2005-12-01

We report on a comparison of repeating seasonal patterns observed in ERS 1 / 2 differential InSAR, (D-InSAR) groundwater level (GWL) data, and water production volume data in Reno, Nevada, USA. Over the 1992-2002 study period we found municipal groundwater utilization in the Reno study area was associated with centimeter and sub-centimeter surface elevation changes which are distributed over aquifer related zones several kilometers in width. In the central Reno area observations define two active anomaly areas which show cyclical surface deflation and inflation with elevation changes of 10 to 30 millimeters over one to nine years. Seasonal groundwater level change associated with these D-InSAR features ranged between 0.3 and 3 meters. Some D-InSAR pattern perimeters are localized by geologic structure while others are more mobile. Most surface deflation appears to be periodically restored by natural and managed aquifer recharge. The area's of active surface inflation-deflation nominally correspond with the area's most significantly utilized groundwater aquifers. To evaluate evidence for the direct relation between D-InSAR and groundwater production in the study area, comparisons between 1992-2002 groundwater levels, production rates and D-InSAR surface inflation-deflation features were developed. Groundwater level change maps showed good direct correlations with D-InSAR observations only in areas where the GWL changes were relatively large (~10 meters), spatially uniform and sustained over several years. Several factors probably contribute to the weak correlation of many GWL's and D-InSAR features including: incomplete GWL coverages, GWL monitoring data representing different aquifer horizons, proximity to production wells, delayed development of aquifer volume change when water levels are altered, and lateral change in aquifer composition. Consistency of the D-InSAR features suggests atmospheric artifacts were not the source of the discrepancies. Some of the

Polarimetric SAR interferometry-based decomposition modelling for reliable scattering retrieval

Science.gov (United States)

Agrawal, Neeraj; Kumar, Shashi; Tolpekin, Valentyn

2016-05-01

Fully Polarimetric SAR (PolSAR) data is used for scattering information retrieval from single SAR resolution cell. Single SAR resolution cell may contain contribution from more than one scattering objects. Hence, single or dual polarized data does not provide all the possible scattering information. So, to overcome this problem fully Polarimetric data is used. It was observed in previous study that fully Polarimetric data of different dates provide different scattering values for same object and coefficient of determination obtained from linear regression between volume scattering and aboveground biomass (AGB) shows different values for the SAR dataset of different dates. Scattering values are important input elements for modelling of forest aboveground biomass. In this research work an approach is proposed to get reliable scattering from interferometric pair of fully Polarimetric RADARSAT-2 data. The field survey for data collection was carried out for Barkot forest during November 10th to December 5th, 2014. Stratified random sampling was used to collect field data for circumference at breast height (CBH) and tree height measurement. Field-measured AGB was compared with the volume scattering elements obtained from decomposition modelling of individual PolSAR images and PolInSAR coherency matrix. Yamaguchi 4-component decomposition was implemented to retrieve scattering elements from SAR data. PolInSAR based decomposition was the great challenge in this work and it was implemented with certain assumptions to create Hermitian coherency matrix with co-registered polarimetric interferometric pair of SAR data. Regression analysis between field-measured AGB and volume scattering element obtained from PolInSAR data showed highest (0.589) coefficient of determination. The same regression with volume scattering elements of individual SAR images showed 0.49 and 0.50 coefficients of determination for master and slave images respectively. This study recommends use of

Radar Interferometry Studies of the Mass Balance of Polar Ice Sheets

Science.gov (United States)

Rignot, Eric (Editor)

1999-01-01

The objectives of this work are to determine the current state of mass balance of the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets. Our approach combines different techniques, which include satellite synthetic-aperture radar interferometry (InSAR), radar and laser altimetry, radar ice sounding, and finite-element modeling. In Greenland, we found that 3.5 times more ice flows out of the northern part of the Greenland Ice Sheet than previously accounted for. The discrepancy between current and past estimates is explained by extensive basal melting of the glacier floating sections in the proximity of the grounding line where the glacier detaches from its bed and becomes afloat in the ocean. The inferred basal melt rates are very large, which means that the glaciers are very sensitive to changes in ocean conditions. Currently, it appears that the northern Greenland glaciers discharge more ice than is being accumulated in the deep interior, and hence are thinning. Studies of temporal changes in grounding line position using InSAR confirm the state of retreat of northern glaciers and suggest that thinning is concentrated at the lower elevations. Ongoing work along the coast of East Greenland reveals an even larger mass deficit for eastern Greenland glaciers, with thinning affecting the deep interior of the ice sheet. In Antarctica, we found that glaciers flowing into a large ice shelf system, such as the Ronne Ice Shelf in the Weddell Sea, exhibit an ice discharge in remarkable agreement with mass accumulation in the interior, and the glacier grounding line positions do not migrate with time. Glaciers flowing rapidly into the Amudsen Sea, unrestrained by a major ice shelf, are in contrast discharging more ice than required to maintain a state of mass balance and are thinning quite rapidly near the coast. The grounding line of Pine Island glacier (see diagram) retreated 5 km in 4 years, which corresponds to a glacier thinning rate of 3.5 m/yr. Mass imbalance is even more negative

Differential InSAR Monitoring of the Lampur Sidoarjo Mud Volcano (Java, Indonesia) Using ALOS PALSAR Imagery

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas, Adam; Holley, Rachel; Burren, Richard; Meikle, Chris; Shilston, David

2010-03-01

The Lampur Sidoarjo mud volcano (Java, Indonesia), colloquially called LUSI, first appeared in May 2006. Its cause, whether the result of natural or anthropogenic activities (or a combination of both), is still being debated within the academic, engineering and political communities.The mud volcano expels up to 150,000 m3 of mud per day; and over time, this large volume of mud has had a major environmental and economic impact on the region. The mud flow from LUSI has now covered 6 km2 to depths some tens of metres, displacing approximately 30,000 residents; and continues to threaten local communities, businesses and industry. With such a large volume of mud being expelled each day it is inevitable (as with onshore oil and gas production fields) that there will be some ground surface movement and instability issues at the mud source (the main vent), and in the vicinity of the mud volcano footprint.Due to the dynamic ground surface conditions, engineers and academics alike have found it difficult to reliably monitor ground surface movements within the effected region using conventional surveying techniques. Consequently, engineers responsible for the risk assessment of ground surface instabilities within the proximity of LUSI have called upon the use of satellite interferometry to continually monitor the hazard.The Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS), launched on 24th January 2006, carries onboard an L- band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) instrument called PALSAR (Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar). In contrast to established C-band (5.6cm wavelength) SAR instruments onboard ERS-1 & -2, Envisat, Radarsat-1, and the recently launched Radarsat-2 satellite, PALSAR's (L-band/23.8cm wavelength) instrument presents a number of advantages, including the ability to map larger-scale ground motions, over relatively short timeframes, in tropical environments, without suffering as significantly from signal decorrelation associated with C-band imagery

New insights into the 2012 Emilia (Italy) seismic sequence through advanced numerical modeling of ground deformation InSAR measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Tizzani, P.; Castaldo, R.; Solaro, G.; Pepe, S.; Bonano, M.; Casu, F.; Manunta, M.; Manzo, M.; Pepe, A.; Samsonov, S.; Lanari, R.; Sansosti, E.

2013-05-01

We provide new insights into the two main seismic events that occurred in 2012 in the Emilia region, Italy. We extend the results from previous studies based on analytical inversion modeling of GPS and RADARSAT-1 InSAR measurements by exploiting RADARSAT-2 data. Moreover, we benefit from the available large amount of geological and geophysical information through finite element method (FEM) modeling implemented in a structural-mechanical context to investigate the impact of known buried structures on the modulation of the ground deformation field. We find that the displacement pattern associated with the 20 May event is consistent with the activation of a single fault segment of the inner Ferrara thrust, in good agreement with the analytical solution. In contrast, the interpretation of the 29 May episode requires the activation of three different fault segments and a block roto-translation of the Mirandola anticline. The proposed FEM-based methodology is applicable to other seismic areas where the complexity of buried structures is known and plays a fundamental role in the modulation of the associated surface deformation pattern.

New constraints on slip rates and locking depths of the San Andreas Fault System from Sentinel-1A InSAR and GAGE GPS observations

Science.gov (United States)

Ward, L. A.; Smith-Konter, B. R.; Higa, J. T.; Xu, X.; Tong, X.; Sandwell, D. T.

2017-12-01

After over a decade of operation, the EarthScope (GAGE) Facility has now accumulated a wealth of GPS and InSAR data, that when successfully integrated, make it possible to image the entire San Andreas Fault System (SAFS) with unprecedented spatial coverage and resolution. Resulting surface velocity and deformation time series products provide critical boundary conditions needed for improving our understanding of how faults are loaded across a broad range of temporal and spatial scales. Moreover, our understanding of how earthquake cycle deformation is influenced by fault zone strength and crust/mantle rheology is still developing. To further study these processes, we construct a new 4D earthquake cycle model of the SAFS representing the time-dependent 3D velocity field associated with interseismic strain accumulation, co-seismic slip, and postseismic viscoelastic relaxation. This high-resolution California statewide model, spanning the Cerro Prieto fault to the south to the Maacama fault to the north, is constructed on a 500 m spaced grid and comprises variable slip and locking depths along 42 major fault segments. Secular deep slip is prescribed from the base of the locked zone to the base of the elastic plate while episodic shallow slip is prescribed from the historical earthquake record and geologic recurrence intervals. Locking depths and slip rates for all 42 fault segments are constrained by the newest GAGE Facility geodetic observations; 3169 horizontal GPS velocity measurements, combined with over 53,000 line-of-sight (LOS) InSAR velocity observations from Sentinel-1A, are used in a weighted least-squares inversion. To assess slip rate and locking depth sensitivity of a heterogeneous rheology model, we also implement variations in crustal rigidity throughout the plate boundary, assuming a coarse representation of shear modulus variability ranging from 20-40 GPa throughout the (low rigidity) Salton Trough and Basin and Range and the (high rigidity) Central

Decadal strain along creeping faults in the Needles District, Paradox Basin Utah determined with InSAR Time Series Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Kravitz, K.; Furuya, M.; Mueller, K. J.

2013-12-01

The Needles District, in Canyonlands National Park in Utah exposes an array of actively creeping normal faults that accommodate gravity-driven extension above a plastically deforming substrate of evaporite deposits. Previous interferogram stacking and InSAR analysis of faults in the Needles District using 35 ERS satellite scenes from 1992 to 2002 showed line-of-sight deformation rates of ~1-2 mm/yr along active normal faults, with a wide strain gradient along the eastern margin of the deforming region. More rapid subsidence of ~2-2.5 mm/yr was also evident south of the main fault array across a broad platform bounded by the Colorado River and a single fault scarp to the south. In this study, time series analysis was performed on SAR scenes from Envisat, PALSAR, and ERS satellites ranging from 1992 to 2010 to expand upon previous results. Both persistent scatterer and small baseline methods were implemented using StaMPS. Preliminary results from Envisat data indicate equally distributed slip rates along the length of faults within the Needles District and very little subsidence in the broad region further southwest identified in previous work. A phase ramp that appears to be present within the initial interferograms creates uncertainty in the current analysis and future work is aimed at removing this artifact. Our new results suggest, however that a clear deformation signal is present along a number of large grabens in the northern part of the region at higher rates of up to 3-4 mm/yr. Little to no creep is evident along the single fault zone that bounds the southern Needles, in spite of the presence of a large and apparently active fault. This includes a segment of this fault that is instrumented by a creepmeter that yields slip rates on the order of ~1mm/yr. Further work using time series analysis and a larger sampling of SAR scenes will be used in an effort to determine why differences exist between previous and current work and to test mechanics-based modeling

Latest Rate, Extent, and Temporal Evolution of Growth Faulting over Greater Houston Region Revealed by Multi- Band InSAR Time-Series Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Qu, F.; Lu, Z.; Kim, J. W.

2017-12-01

Growth faults are common and continue to evolve throughout the unconsolidated sediments of Greater Houston (GH) region in Texas. Presence of faults can induce localized surface displacements, aggravate localized subsidence, and discontinue the integrity of ground water flow. Property damages due to fault creep have become more evident during the past few years over the GH area, portraying the necessity of further study of these faults. Interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) has been proven to be effective in mapping creep along and/or across faults. However, extracting a short wavelength, as well as small amplitude of the creep signal (about 10-20 mm/year) from long time span interferograms is extremely difficult, especially in agricultural or vegetated areas. This paper aims to map and monitor the latest rate, extent, and temporal evolution of faulting at a highest spatial density over GH region using an improved Multi-temporal InSAR (MTI) technique. The method, with maximized usable signal and correlation, has the ability to identify and monitor the active faults to provide an accurate and elaborate image of the faults. In this study, two neighboring ALOS tracks and Sentinel-1A datasets are used. Many zones of steep phase gradients and/or discontinuities have been recognized from the long term velocity maps by both ALOS (2007-2011) and Sentinei-1A (2015-2017) imagery. Not only those previously known faults position but also the new fault traces that have not been mapped by other techniques are imaged by our MTI technique. Fault damage and visible cracking of ground were evident at most locations through our field survey. The discovery of new fault activation, or faults moved from earlier locations is a part of the Big Barn Fault and Conroe fault system, trending from southwest to northeast between Hockley and Conroe. The location of area of subsidence over GH is also shrinking and migrating toward the northeast (Montgomery County) after 2000. The

Measurement of Subsidence in the Yangbajain Geothermal Fields from TerraSAR-X

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Yongsheng; Zhang, Jingfa; Li, Zhenhong

2016-08-01

Yangbajain contains the largest geothermal energy power station in China. Geothermal explorations in Yangbajain first started in 1976, and two plants were subsequently built in 1981 and 1986. A large amount of geothermal fluids have been extracted since then, leading to considerable surface subsidence around the geothermal fields. In this paper, InSAR time series analysis is applied to map the subsidence of the Yangbajain geothermal fields during the period from December 2011 to November 2012 using 16 senses of TerraSAR-X stripmap SAR images. Due to its high resolution and short repeat cycle, TerraSAR-X provides detailed surface deformation information at the Yangbajain geothermal fields.

InSAR Remote Sensing of Localized Surface Layer Subsidence in New Orleans, LA

Science.gov (United States)

An, K.; Jones, C. E.; Blom, R. G.; Kent, J. D.; Ivins, E. R.

2015-12-01

More than half of Louisiana's drinking water is dependent on groundwater, and extraction of these resources along with high oil and gas production has contributed to localized subsidence in many parts of New Orleans. This increases the vulnerability of levee failure during intense storms such as Hurricane Katrina in 2005, before which rapid subsidence had already been identified and contributed to the failing levees and catastrophic flooding. An interferogram containing airborne radar data from NASA's UAVSAR was combined with local geographic information systems (GIS) data for 2009-12 to help identify the sources of subsidence and mask out unrelated features such as surface water. We have observed the highest vertical velocity rates at the NASA Michoud Assembly Facility (high water use) and Norco (high oil/gas production). Many other notable features such as the: Bonnet-Carre Spillway, MRGO canal, levee lines along the Lower 9th Ward and power plants, are also showing concerning rates of subsidence. Even new housing loads, soil type differences, and buried beach sands seem to have modest correlations with patterns seen in UAVSAR. Current hurricane protection and coastal restoration efforts still have not incorporated late 20th century water level and geodetic data into their projections. Using SAR interferometry and local GIS datasets, areas of subsidence can be identified in a more efficient and economical manner, especially for emergency response.

A three-step maximum a posteriori probability method for InSAR data inversion of coseismic rupture with application to the 14 April 2010 Mw 6.9 Yushu, China, earthquake

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Jianbao; Shen, Zheng-Kang; Bürgmann, Roland; Wang, Min; Chen, Lichun; Xu, Xiwei

2013-08-01

develop a three-step maximum a posteriori probability method for coseismic rupture inversion, which aims at maximizing the a posterior probability density function (PDF) of elastic deformation solutions of earthquake rupture. The method originates from the fully Bayesian inversion and mixed linear-nonlinear Bayesian inversion methods and shares the same posterior PDF with them, while overcoming difficulties with convergence when large numbers of low-quality data are used and greatly improving the convergence rate using optimization procedures. A highly efficient global optimization algorithm, adaptive simulated annealing, is used to search for the maximum of a posterior PDF ("mode" in statistics) in the first step. The second step inversion approaches the "true" solution further using the Monte Carlo inversion technique with positivity constraints, with all parameters obtained from the first step as the initial solution. Then slip artifacts are eliminated from slip models in the third step using the same procedure of the second step, with fixed fault geometry parameters. We first design a fault model with 45° dip angle and oblique slip, and produce corresponding synthetic interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) data sets to validate the reliability and efficiency of the new method. We then apply this method to InSAR data inversion for the coseismic slip distribution of the 14 April 2010 Mw 6.9 Yushu, China earthquake. Our preferred slip model is composed of three segments with most of the slip occurring within 15 km depth and the maximum slip reaches 1.38 m at the surface. The seismic moment released is estimated to be 2.32e+19 Nm, consistent with the seismic estimate of 2.50e+19 Nm.

Exploring cloud and big data components for SAR archiving and analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Baker, S.; Crosby, C. J.; Meertens, C.; Phillips, D.

2017-12-01

Under the Geodesy Advancing Geoscience and EarthScope (GAGE) NSF Cooperative Agreement, UNAVCO has seen the volume of the SAR Data Archive grow at a substantial rate, from 2 TB in Y1 and 5 TB in Y2 to 41 TB in Y3 primarily due to WInSAR PI proposal management of ALOS-­2/JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) data and to a lesser extent Supersites and other data collections. JAXA provides a fixed number of scenes per year for each PI, and some data files are 50­-60GB each, which accounts for the large volume of data. In total, over 100TB of SAR data are in the WInSAR/UNAVCO archive and a large portion of these are available unrestricted for WInSAR members. In addition to the existing data, newer data streams from the Sentinel-1 and NISAR missions will require efficient processing pipelines and easily scalable infrastructure to handle processed results. With these growing data sizes and space concerns, the SAR archive operations migrated to the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) via an NSF XSEDE proposal in spring 2017. Data are stored on an HPC system while data operations are running on Jetstream virtual machines within the same datacenter. In addition to the production data operations, testing was done in early 2017 with container based InSAR processing analysis using JupyterHub and Docker images deployed on a VM cluster on Jetstream. The JupyterHub environment is well suited for short courses and other training opportunities for the community such as labs for university courses on InSAR. UNAVCO is also exploring new processing methodologies using DC/OS (the datacenter operating system) for batch and stream processing workflows and time series analysis with Big Data open source components like the Spark, Mesos, Akka, Cassandra, Kafka (SMACK) stack. The comparison of the different methodologies will provide insight into the pros and cons for each and help the SAR community with decisions about infrastructure and software requirements to meet their research

A novel multitemporal insar model for joint estimation of deformation rates and orbital errors

KAUST Repository

Zhang, Lei

2014-06-01

Orbital errors, characterized typically as longwavelength artifacts, commonly exist in interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) imagery as a result of inaccurate determination of the sensor state vector. Orbital errors degrade the precision of multitemporal InSAR products (i.e., ground deformation). Although research on orbital error reduction has been ongoing for nearly two decades and several algorithms for reducing the effect of the errors are already in existence, the errors cannot always be corrected efficiently and reliably. We propose a novel model that is able to jointly estimate deformation rates and orbital errors based on the different spatialoral characteristics of the two types of signals. The proposed model is able to isolate a long-wavelength ground motion signal from the orbital error even when the two types of signals exhibit similar spatial patterns. The proposed algorithm is efficient and requires no ground control points. In addition, the method is built upon wrapped phases of interferograms, eliminating the need of phase unwrapping. The performance of the proposed model is validated using both simulated and real data sets. The demo codes of the proposed model are also provided for reference. © 2013 IEEE.

Determining Volcanic Deformation at San Miguel Volcano, El Salvador by Integrating Radar Interferometry and Seismic Analyses

Science.gov (United States)

Schiek, C. G.; Hurtado, J. M.; Velasco, A. A.; Buckley, S. M.; Escobar, D.

2008-12-01

From the early 1900's to the present day, San Miguel volcano has experienced many small eruptions and several periods of heightened seismic activity, making it one of the most active volcanoes in the El Salvadoran volcanic chain. Prior to 1969, the volcano experienced many explosive eruptions with Volcano Explosivity Indices (VEI) of 2. Since then, eruptions have decreased in intensity to an average VEI of 1. Eruptions mostly consist of phreatic explosions and central vent eruptions. Due to the explosive nature of this volcano, it is important to study the origins of the volcanism and its relationship to surface deformation and earthquake activity. We analyze these interactions by integrating interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) results with earthquake source location data from a ten-month (March 2007-January 2008) seismic deployment. The InSAR results show a maximum of 7 cm of volcanic inflation from March 2007 to mid-October 2007. During this time, seismic activity increased to a Real-time Seismic-Amplitude Measurement (RSAM) value of >400. Normal RSAM values for this volcano are earthquakes that occurred between March 2007 and January 2008 suggests a fault zone through the center of the San Miguel volcanic cone. This fault zone is most likely where dyke propagation is occurring. Source mechanisms will be determined for the earthquakes associated with this fault zone, and they will be compared to the InSAR deformation field to determine if the mid-October seismic activity and observed surface deformation are compatible.

Large scale rock slope release planes imaged by differential ground based InSAR at Randa, Switzerland

Science.gov (United States)

Gischig, V.; Loew, S.; Kos, A.; Raetzo, H.

2009-04-01

In April and May of 1991 a steep rock slope above the village of Randa (Valais, Switzerland) failed in two events, releasing a total rock volume of 30 million m3. The rock mass behind the back scarp contains several million cubic meters of unstable gneisses and schists which are moving with a maximum rate of about 2 cm/yr. Different geodetic, geotechnical and geophysical techniques were applied to monitor this new instability and to determine its spatial extent. However, the boundaries of the instability could only be roughly estimated so far. For this reason five ground based differential InSAR surveys (GB-DInSAR) were carried out between 2005 and 2007 from the opposite valley flank at a distance to target of 1.3 to 1.9 km. These surveys provide displacements maps of four different time intervals with a spatial resolution of 2 to 6 m and an accuracy of less than 1 mm. These datasets reveal interesting new insights into the spatial distribution of displacements and significantly contribute to the kinematic interpretation of the ongoing movements. We found that the lower boundary of the instability is a narrow rupture plane which coincides with a primary lithological boundary on the slope. The intersection line between this basal rupture plane and the steep rock cliff extents over at least 200 m meters. It is possible to identify this structure on helicopter-based high resolution images and a LiDAR DTM of the failure surface. The eastern boundary of the instability also presents itself as a sharp line separating stable bedrock from a strongly fractured rock mass moving about 1 cm/yr along the line of sight. This lateral release plane is formed by a steeply east dipping tectonic fault plane, with subhorizontal striations and an exposed surface area of about 10'000 square meters. In the north-east of the instability the lateral boundaries crop out on surfaces that have an acute angle to the line of sight or lie in the shadow of the radar. Here the boundaries of the

Stability and subsidence across Rome (Italy) in 2011-2013 based on COSMO-SkyMed Persistent Scatterer Interferometry

Science.gov (United States)

Francesca, Cigna; Lasaponara, Rosa; Nicola, Masini; Pietro, Milillo; Deodato, Tapete

2015-04-01

Ground stability of the built environment of the city of Rome in central Italy has been extensively investigated in the last years by using Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR), with focus on deformation of both the monuments of the historic centre (e.g., [1-2]) and the southern residential quarters (e.g., [3]). C-band ERS-1/2 and ENVISAT ASAR time series deformation analyses brought evidence of overall stability across the town centre, except for localized deformation concentrated in areas geologically susceptible to instability (e.g. western slope of the Palatine Hill), whereas clear subsidence patterns were detected over the compressible alluvial deposits lying in proximity of the Tiber River. To retrieve an updated picture of stability and subsidence across the city, we analysed a time series of 32 COSMO-SkyMed StripMap HIMAGE, right-looking, ascending mode scenes with an image swath of 40 km, 3-m resolution and HH polarization, acquired between 21 March 2011 and 10 June 2013, with repeat cycle mostly equal to 16 days. Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI) processing was undertaken by using the Stanford Method for Persistent Scatterers (StaMPS) as detailed in [4], and more than 310,000 radar targets (i.e. PS) were identified, with an average target density of over 2,800 PS/km2. The performance of StaMPS to retrieve satisfactory PS coverage over the urban features of interest was assessed against their orientation and visibility to the satellite Line-Of-Sight, as well as their conservation history throughout the biennial investigated (2011-2013). In this work we discuss effects due to local land cover and land use by exploiting the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) European Urban Atlas (IT001L) of Rome at 1:10,000 scale, thereby also evaluating the capability of the X-band to spatially resolve targets coinciding with man-made structures in vegetated areas. Based on this assessment, our PSI results highlight those environmental

AN ASSESSMENT OF SPACEBORNE NEAR-NADIR INTERFEROMETRIC SAR PERFORMANCE OVER INLAND WATERS WITH REAL

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H. Tan

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Elevation measurements of the continental water surface have been poorly collected with in situ measurements or occasionally with conventional altimeters with low accuracy. Techniques using InSAR at near-nadir angles to measure the inland water elevation with large swath and with high accuracy have been proposed, for instance, the WSOA on Jason 2 and the KaRIn on SWOT. However, the WSOA was abandoned unfortunately and the SWOT is planned to be launched in 2021. In this paper, we show real acquisitions of the first spaceborne InSAR of such kind, the Interferometric Imaging Radar Altimeter (InIRA, which has been working on Tiangong II spacecraft since 2016. We used the 90-m SRTM DEM as a reference to estimate the phase offset, and then an empirical calibration model was used to correct the baseline errors.

An Assessment of Spaceborne Near-Nadir Interferometric SAR Performance Over Inland Waters with Real

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, H.; Li, S. Y.; Liu, Z. W.

2018-04-01

Elevation measurements of the continental water surface have been poorly collected with in situ measurements or occasionally with conventional altimeters with low accuracy. Techniques using InSAR at near-nadir angles to measure the inland water elevation with large swath and with high accuracy have been proposed, for instance, the WSOA on Jason 2 and the KaRIn on SWOT. However, the WSOA was abandoned unfortunately and the SWOT is planned to be launched in 2021. In this paper, we show real acquisitions of the first spaceborne InSAR of such kind, the Interferometric Imaging Radar Altimeter (InIRA), which has been working on Tiangong II spacecraft since 2016. We used the 90-m SRTM DEM as a reference to estimate the phase offset, and then an empirical calibration model was used to correct the baseline errors.

Which Fault Segments Ruptured in the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake and Which Did Not? New Evidence from Near‐Fault 3D Surface Displacements Derived from SAR Image Offsets

KAUST Repository

Feng, Guangcai

2017-03-15

The 2008 Mw 7.9 Wenchuan earthquake ruptured a complex thrust‐faulting system at the eastern edge of the Tibetan plateau and west of Sichuan basin. Though the earthquake has been extensively studied, several details about the earthquake, such as which fault segments were activated in the earthquake, are still not clear. This is in part due to difficult field access to the fault zone and in part due to limited near‐fault observations in Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) observations because of decorrelation. In this study, we address this problem by estimating SAR image offsets that provide near‐fault ground displacement information and exhibit clear displacement discontinuities across activated fault segments. We begin by reanalyzing the coseismic InSAR observations of the earthquake and then mostly eliminate the strong ionospheric signals that were plaguing previous studies by using additional postevent images. We also estimate the SAR image offsets and use their results to retrieve the full 3D coseismic surface displacement field. The coseismic deformation from the InSAR and image‐offset measurements are compared with both Global Positioning System and field observations. The results indicate that our observations provide significantly better information than previous InSAR studies that were affected by ionospheric disturbances. We use the results to present details of the surface‐faulting offsets along the Beichuan fault from the southwest to the northeast and find that there is an obvious right‐lateral strike‐slip component (as well as thrust faulting) along the southern Beichuan fault (in Yingxiu County), which was strongly underestimated in earlier studies. Based on the results, we provide new evidence to show that the Qingchuan fault was not ruptured in the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, a topic debated in field observation studies, but show instead that surface faulting occurred on a northward extension of the Beichuan fault during

Which Fault Segments Ruptured in the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake and Which Did Not? New Evidence from Near‐Fault 3D Surface Displacements Derived from SAR Image Offsets

KAUST Repository

Feng, Guangcai; Jonsson, Sigurjon; Klinger, Yann

2017-01-01

The 2008 Mw 7.9 Wenchuan earthquake ruptured a complex thrust‐faulting system at the eastern edge of the Tibetan plateau and west of Sichuan basin. Though the earthquake has been extensively studied, several details about the earthquake, such as which fault segments were activated in the earthquake, are still not clear. This is in part due to difficult field access to the fault zone and in part due to limited near‐fault observations in Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) observations because of decorrelation. In this study, we address this problem by estimating SAR image offsets that provide near‐fault ground displacement information and exhibit clear displacement discontinuities across activated fault segments. We begin by reanalyzing the coseismic InSAR observations of the earthquake and then mostly eliminate the strong ionospheric signals that were plaguing previous studies by using additional postevent images. We also estimate the SAR image offsets and use their results to retrieve the full 3D coseismic surface displacement field. The coseismic deformation from the InSAR and image‐offset measurements are compared with both Global Positioning System and field observations. The results indicate that our observations provide significantly better information than previous InSAR studies that were affected by ionospheric disturbances. We use the results to present details of the surface‐faulting offsets along the Beichuan fault from the southwest to the northeast and find that there is an obvious right‐lateral strike‐slip component (as well as thrust faulting) along the southern Beichuan fault (in Yingxiu County), which was strongly underestimated in earlier studies. Based on the results, we provide new evidence to show that the Qingchuan fault was not ruptured in the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, a topic debated in field observation studies, but show instead that surface faulting occurred on a northward extension of the Beichuan fault during

3D Monitoring of Buildings Using TerraSAR-X InSAR, DInSAR and PolSAR Capacities

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Flora Weissgerber

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The rapid expansion of cities increases the need of urban remote sensing for a large scale monitoring. This paper provides greater understanding of how TerraSAR-X (TSX high-resolution abilities enable to reach the spatial precision required to monitor individual buildings, through the use of a 4 year temporal stack of 100 images over Paris (France. Three different SAR modes are investigated for this purpose. First a method involving a whole time-series is proposed to measure realistic heights of buildings. Then, we show that the small wavelength of TSX makes the interferometric products very sensitive to the ordinary building-deformation, and that daily deformation can be measured over the entire building with a centimetric accuracy, and without any a priori on the deformation evolution, even when neglecting the impact of the atmosphere. Deformations up to 4 cm were estimated for the Eiffel Tower and up to 1 cm for other lower buildings. These deformations were analyzed and validated with weather and in situ local data. Finally, four TSX polarimetric images were used to investigate geometric and dielectric properties of buildings under the deterministic framework. Despite of the resolution loss of this mode, the possibility to estimate the structural elements of a building orientations and their relative complexity in the spatial organization are demonstrated.

Towards monitoring of geohazards with ESA's Sentinel-1 C-band SAR data: nationwide feasibility mapping over Great Britain calibrated using ERS-1/2 and ENVISAT PSI data

Science.gov (United States)

Cigna, Francesca; Bateson, Luke; Dashwood, Claire; Jordan, Colm

2013-04-01

the major limitation over most of Britain, and areas of layover and shadow for each satellite mode do not exceed 1% of the entire landmass. Although the results from the landuse feasibility mapping confirm that landcover has stronger control on the potential of these technologies over Britain, the overall number of monitoring targets that might be identified over the entire landmass for each acquisition mode exceeds 12.8M. Based on the results of the feasibility mapping, we identified three categories of landsliding in Britain, over which we will carry out SAR-based ground motions studies with ERS-1/2 SAR and ENVISAT ASAR data covering the past 20 years, based on combination of change detection, SAR Interferometry (InSAR), PSI and Small Baseline (SBAS) approaches. Selected test sites include South Wales Coalfield, the Cotswold Escarpment, the Pennines, the North York Moors, as well as landsliding affecting transport/infrastructure and coastal sites in eastern and southern England. The results of our study act as milestones for future SAR applications and operational uses for a wide range of geohazards in Britain, including landslides, land subsidence/uplift due to groundwater abstraction/recharge, shrink-swell clays, as well as structural deformation of critical infrastructure, and show the potential of future nationwide monitoring of the entire landmass with the new Earth explorers of the Sentinel-1 constellation. Reference: Cigna F., Bateson L., Jordan C., Dashwood C. (2012), Feasibility of InSAR technologies for nationwide monitoring of geohazards in Great Britain. Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society Annual Conference, RSPSoc 2012, Greenwich (UK), 12-14 September 2012. Available at: http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/19876/

Measurement of long-term land subsidence by combination of InSAR and time series analysis - Application study to Kanto Plains of Japan -

Science.gov (United States)

Deguchi, T.; Rokugawa, S.; Matsushima, J.

2009-04-01

InSAR is an application technique of synthetic aperture radars and is now drawing attention as a methodology capable of measuring subtle surface deformation over a wide area with a high spatial resolution. In this study, the authors applied the method of measuring long-term land subsidence by combining InSAR and time series analysis to Kanto Plains of Japan using 28 images of ENVISAT/ASAR data. In this measuring method, the value of land deformation is set as an unknown parameter and the optimal solution to the land deformation amount is derived by applying a smoothness-constrained inversion algorithm. The vicinity of the Kanto Plain started to subside in the 1910s, and became exposed to extreme land subsidence supposedly in accordance with the reconstruction efforts after the Second World War and the economic development activities. The main causes of the land subsidence include the intake of underground water for the use in industries, agriculture, waterworks, and other fields. In the Kujukuri area, the exploitation of soluble natural gas also counts. The Ministry of Environment reported in its documents created in fiscal 2006 that a total of 214 km2 in Tokyo and the six prefectures around the Plain had undergone a subsidence of 1 cm or more per a year. As a result of long-term land subsidence over approximately five and a half years from 13th January, 2003, to 30th June, 2008, unambiguous land deformation was detected in six areas: (i) Haneda Airport, (ii) Urayasu City, (iii) Kasukabe-Koshigaya, (iv) Southern Kanagawa, (v) Toride-Ryugasaki, and (vi) Kujukuri in Chiba Prefecture. In particular, the results for the Kujukuri area were compared with the leveling data taken around the same area to verify the measuring accuracy. The comparative study revealed that the regression formula between the results obtained by time series analysis and those by the leveling can be expressed as a straight line with a gradient of approximately 1, though including a bias of about

On the absence of InSAR-detected volcano deformation spanning the 1995-1996 and 1999 eruptions of Shishaldin Volcano, Alaska

Science.gov (United States)

Moran, S.C.; Kwoun, O.; Masterlark, Timothy; Lu, Z.

2006-01-01

Shishaldin Volcano, a large, frequently active basaltic-andesite volcano located on Unimak Island in the Aleutian Arc of Alaska, had a minor eruption in 1995–1996 and a VEI 3 sub-Plinian basaltic eruption in 1999. We used 21 synthetic aperture radar images acquired by ERS-1, ERS-2, JERS-1, and RADARSAT-1 satellites to construct 12 coherent interferograms that span most of the 1993–2003 time interval. All interferograms lack coherence within ∼5 km of the summit, primarily due to persistent snow and ice cover on the edifice. Remarkably, in the 5–15 km distance range where interferograms are coherent, the InSAR images show no intrusion- or withdrawal-related deformation at Shishaldin during this entire time period. However, several InSAR images do show deformation associated with a shallow ML 5.2 earthquake located ∼14 km west of Shishaldin that occurred 6 weeks before the 1999 eruption. We use a theoretical model to predict deformation magnitudes due to a volumetric expansion source having a volume equivalent to the 1999 erupted volume, and find that deformation magnitudes for sources shallower than 10 km are within the expected detection capabilities for interferograms generated from C-band ERS 1/2 and RADARSAT-1 synthetic aperture radar images. We also find that InSAR images cannot resolve relatively shallow deformation sources (1–2 km below sea level) due to spatial gaps in the InSAR images caused by lost coherence. The lack of any deformation, particularly for the 1999 eruption, leads us to speculate that magma feeding eruptions at the summit moves rapidly (at least 80m/day) from > 10 km depth, and that the intrusion–eruption cycle at Shishaldin does not produce significant permanent deformation at the surface.

AIRBORNE X-HH INCIDENCE ANGLE IMPACT ON CANOPY HEIGHT RETREIVAL: IMPLICATIONS FOR SPACEBORNE X-HH TANDEM-X GLOBAL CANOPY HEIGHT MODEL

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M. L. Tighe

2012-07-01

Full Text Available To support international climate change mitigation efforts, the United Nations REDD+ initiative (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation seeks to reduce land use induced greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere. It requires independent monitoring of forest cover and forest biomass information in a spatially explicit form. It is widely recognised that remote sensing is required to deliver this information. Synthetic Aperture Radar interferometry (InSAR techniques have gained traction in the last decade as a viable technology from which vegetation canopy height and bare earth elevations can be derived. The viewing geometry of a SAR sensor is side-looking where the radar pulse is transmitted out to one side of the aircraft or satellite, defining an incidence angle (θ range. The incidence angle will change from near-range (NR to far-range (FR across of the track of the SAR platform. InSAR uses image pairs and thus, contain two set of incidence angles. Changes in the InSAR incidence angles can alter the relative contributions from the vegetation canopy and the ground surface and thus, affect the retrieved vegetation canopy height. Incidence angle change is less pronounced in spaceborne data than in airborne data and mitigated somewhat when multiple InSAR-data takes are combined. This study uses NEXTMap® single- and multi-pass X-band HH polarized InSAR to derive vegetation canopy height from the scattering phase centre height (hspc. Comparisons with in situ vegetation canopy height over three test sites (Arizona-1, Minnesota-2; the effect of incidence angle changes across swath on the X-HH InSAR hspc was examined. Results indicate at steep incidence angles (θ = 35º, more exposure of lower vegetation canopy structure (e.g. tree trunks led to greater lower canopy double bounce, increased ground scattering, and decreased volume scattering. This resulted in a lower scattering phase centre height (hspc or a greater underestimation of

The Parallel SBAS-DInSAR algorithm: an effective and scalable tool for Earth's surface displacement retrieval

Science.gov (United States)

Zinno, Ivana; De Luca, Claudio; Elefante, Stefano; Imperatore, Pasquale; Manunta, Michele; Casu, Francesco

2014-05-01

been carried out on real data acquired by ENVISAT and COSMO-SkyMed sensors. Moreover, the P-SBAS performances with respect to the size of the input dataset will also be investigated. This kind of analysis is essential for assessing the goodness of the P-SBAS algorithm and gaining insight into its applicability to different scenarios. Besides, such results will also become crucial to identify and evaluate how to appropriately exploit P-SBAS to process the forthcoming large Sentinel-1 data stream. References [1] Massonnet, D., Briole, P., Arnaud, A., "Deflation of Mount Etna monitored by Spaceborne Radar Interferometry", Nature, vol. 375, pp. 567-570, 1995. [2] Berardino, P., G. Fornaro, R. Lanari, and E. Sansosti, "A new algorithm for surface deformation monitoring based on small baseline differential SAR interferograms", IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens., vol. 40, no. 11, pp. 2375-2383, Nov. 2002. [3] Elefante, S., Imperatore, P. , Zinno, I., M. Manunta, E. Mathot, F. Brito, J. Farres, W. Lengert, R. Lanari, F. Casu, "SBAS-DINSAR Time series generation on cloud computing platforms", IEEE IGARSS 2013, July 2013, Melbourne (AU). [4] Zinno, P. Imperatore, S. Elefante, F. Casu, M. Manunta, E. Mathot, F. Brito, J. Farres, W. Lengert, R. Lanari, "A Novel Parallel Computational Framework for Processing Large INSAR Data Sets", Living Planet Symposium 2013, Sept. 9-13, 2013.

Volcano deformation source parameters estimated from InSAR: Sensitivities to uncertainties in seismic tomography

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Masterlark, Timothy; Donovan, Theodore; Feigl, Kurt L.; Haney, Matt; Thurber, Clifford H.; Tung, Sui

2016-01-01

The eruption cycle of a volcano is controlled in part by the upward migration of magma. The characteristics of the magma flux produce a deformation signature at the Earth's surface. Inverse analyses use geodetic data to estimate strategic controlling parameters that describe the position and pressurization of a magma chamber at depth. The specific distribution of material properties controls how observed surface deformation translates to source parameter estimates. Seismic tomography models describe the spatial distributions of material properties that are necessary for accurate models of volcano deformation. This study investigates how uncertainties in seismic tomography models propagate into variations in the estimates of volcano deformation source parameters inverted from geodetic data. We conduct finite element model-based nonlinear inverse analyses of interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) data for Okmok volcano, Alaska, as an example. We then analyze the estimated parameters and their uncertainties to characterize the magma chamber. Analyses are performed separately for models simulating a pressurized chamber embedded in a homogeneous domain as well as for a domain having a heterogeneous distribution of material properties according to seismic tomography. The estimated depth of the source is sensitive to the distribution of material properties. The estimated depths for the homogeneous and heterogeneous domains are 2666 ± 42 and 3527 ± 56 m below mean sea level, respectively (99% confidence). A Monte Carlo analysis indicates that uncertainties of the seismic tomography cannot account for this discrepancy at the 99% confidence level. Accounting for the spatial distribution of elastic properties according to seismic tomography significantly improves the fit of the deformation model predictions and significantly influences estimates for parameters that describe the location of a pressurized magma chamber.

Geohazard monitoring and modelling using Persistent Scatterer Interferometry in the framework of the European project Terrafirma

Science.gov (United States)

Cooksley, Geraint; Arnaud, Alain; Banwell, Marie-Josée

2013-04-01

Increasingly, geohazard risk managers are looking to satellite observations as a promising option for supporting their risk management and mitigation strategies. The Terrafirma project, aimed at supporting civil protection agencies, local authorities in charge of risk assessment and mitigation is a pan-European ground motion information service funded by the European Space Agency's Global Monitoring for Environment and Security initiative. Over 100 services were delivered to organizations over the last ten years. Terrafirma promotes the use of Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (InSAR) and Persistent Scatterer InSAR (PSI) within three thematic areas for terrain motion analysis: Tectonics, Flooding and Hydrogeology (ground water, landslides and inactive mines), as well as the innovative Wide Area mapping service, aimed at measuring land deformation over very large areas. Terrafirma's thematic services are based on advanced satellite interferometry products; however they exploit additional data sources, including non-EO, coupled with expert interpretation specific to each thematic line. Based on the combination of satellite-derived ground-motion information products with expert motion interpretation, a portfolio of services addressing geo-hazard land motion issues was made available to users. Although not a thematic in itself, the Wide Area mapping product constitutes the fourth quarter of the Terrafirma activities. The wide area processing chain is nearly fully automatic and requires only a little operator interaction. The service offers an operational PSI processing for wide-area mapping with mm accuracy of ground-deformation measurement at a scale of 1:250,000 (i.e. one cm in the map corresponds to 2.5 Km on the ground) on a country or continent level. The WAP was demonstrated using stripmap ERS data however it is foreseen to be a standard for the upcoming Sentinel-1 mission that will be operated in Terrain Observation by Progressive Scan (TOPS) mode. Within

Groundwater-related Land Deformation over the Mega Aquifer System in Saudi Arabia: Inferences from InSAR, GRACE, Earthquake records, Field, and Spatial Data Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Othman, A.; Sultan, M.; Becker, R.; Sefry, S.; Alharbi, T.; Alharbi, H.; Gebremichael, E.

2017-12-01

Land deformational features (subsidence, and earth fissures, etc.) are being reported from many locations over the Lower Mega Aquifer System (LMAS) in the central and northern parts of Saudi Arabia. We applied an integrated approach (remote sensing, geodesy, GIS, geology, hydrogeology, and geotechnical) to identify nature, intensity, spatial distribution, and factors controlling the observed deformation. A three-fold approach was adopted to accomplish the following: (1) investigate, identify, and verify the land deformation through fieldwork; (2) assess the spatial and temporal distribution of land deformation and quantify deformation rates using Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) and Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI) methods (period: 2003 to 2012); (3) generate a GIS database to host all relevant data and derived products (remote sensing, geology, geotechnical, GPS, groundwater extraction rates, and water levels, etc.) and to correlate these spatial and temporal datasets in search of causal effects. The following observations are consistent with deformational features being caused by excessive groundwater extraction: (1) distribution of deformational features correlated spatially and temporally with increased agricultural development and groundwater extraction, and with the decline in groundwater levels and storage; (2) earthquake events (1.5 - 5.5 M) increased from one event at the beginning of the agricultural development program in 1980 (average annual extraction [ANE]: 1-2 km³/yr), to 13 events per year between 1995 to 2005, the decade that witnessed the largest expansion in groundwater extraction (ANE: >6.4 km³) and land reclamation using groundwater resources; and (3) earthquake epicenters and the deformation sites are found largely within areas bound by the Kahf fault system suggesting that faults play a key role in the deformation phenomenon. Findings from the PSI investigation revealed high, yet irregularly distributed, subsidence

Satellite SAR interferometric techniques applied to emergency mapping

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Stefanova Vassileva, Magdalena; Riccardi, Paolo; Lecci, Daniele; Giulio Tonolo, Fabio; Boccardo Boccardo, Piero; Chiesa, Giuliana; Angeluccetti, Irene

2017-04-01

This paper aim to investigate the capabilities of the currently available SAR interferometric algorithms in the field of emergency mapping. Several tests have been performed exploiting the Copernicus Sentinel-1 data using the COTS software ENVI/SARscape 5.3. Emergency Mapping can be defined as "creation of maps, geo-information products and spatial analyses dedicated to providing situational awareness emergency management and immediate crisis information for response by means of extraction of reference (pre-event) and crisis (post-event) geographic information/data from satellite or aerial imagery". The conventional differential SAR interferometric technique (DInSAR) and the two currently available multi-temporal SAR interferometric approaches, i.e. Permanent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI) and Small BAseline Subset (SBAS), have been applied to provide crisis information useful for the emergency management activities. Depending on the considered Emergency Management phase, it may be distinguished between rapid mapping, i.e. fast provision of geospatial data regarding the area affected for the immediate emergency response, and monitoring mapping, i.e. detection of phenomena for risk prevention and mitigation activities. In order to evaluate the potential and limitations of the aforementioned SAR interferometric approaches for the specific rapid and monitoring mapping application, five main factors have been taken into account: crisis information extracted, input data required, processing time and expected accuracy. The results highlight that DInSAR has the capacity to delineate areas affected by large and sudden deformations and fulfills most of the immediate response requirements. The main limiting factor of interferometry is the availability of suitable SAR acquisition immediately after the event (e.g. Sentinel-1 mission characterized by 6-day revisiting time may not always satisfy the immediate emergency request). PSI and SBAS techniques are suitable to produce

Source model for the 1997 Zirkuh earthquake (MW= 7.2) in Iran derived from JERS and ERS InSAR observations

KAUST Repository

Sudhaus, Henriette

2011-05-01

We present the first detailed source model of the 1997 M7.2 Zirkuh earthquake that ruptured the entire Abiz fault in East Iran producing a 125 km long, bended and segmented fault trace. Using SAR data from the ERS and JERS-1 satellites we first determined a multisegment fault model for this predominately strike-slip earthquake by estimating fault-segment dip, slip, and rake values using an evolutionary optimization algorithm. We then inverted the InSAR data for variable slip and rake in more detail along the multisegment fault plane. We complement our optimization with importance sampling of the model parameter space to ensure that the derived optimum model has a high likelihood, to detect correlations or trade-offs between model parameters, and to image the model resolution. Our results are in an agreement with field observations showing that this predominantly strike-slip earthquake had a clear change in style of faulting along its rupture. In the north we find that thrust faulting on a westerly dipping fault is accompanied with the strike-slip that changes to thrust faulting on an eastward dipping fault plane in the south. The centre part of the fault is vertical and has almost pure dextral strike-slip. The heterogeneous fault slip distribution shows two regions of low slip near significant fault step-overs of the Abiz fault and therefore these fault complexities appear to reduce the fault slip. Furthermore, shallow fault slip is generally reduced with respect to slip at depth. This shallow slip deficit varies along the Zirkuh fault from a small deficit in the North to a much larger deficit along the central part of the fault, a variation that is possibly related to different interseismic repose times.

Characterization of large instabilities displacements using Ground-Based InSAR

Science.gov (United States)

Rouyet, L.; Kristensen, L.; Derron, M.-H.; Michoud, C.; Blikra, L. H.; Jaboyedoff, M.

2012-04-01

A master thesis in progress at the Lausanne University (IGAR) in cooperation with the Åknes/Tafjord Early Warning Centre in Norway aims to characterize various instabilities displacements using Ground-Based Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar system (GB-InSAR). The main goal is to evaluate the potential of GB-InSAR to determine displacement velocities and mechanical behaviours of several large rock instabilities in Norway. GB-InSAR data are processed and interpreted for three case studies. The first test site is the unstable complex area of Mannen located in the Romsdalen valley (Møre og Romsdal county), threatening infrastructures and potentially able to cause a debacle event downstream. Its total volume is estimated to 15-25 mill m3. Mannen instability is monitored permanently with GB-InSAR since February 2010 and shows displacements towards the radar up to -8 mm per month during the most sensitive period. Børa area located on the southwest side of Mannen instability shows also some signs of activity. It monitored temporarily between August and October 2011 and could help to understand the behaviour of Mannen site. The second, Indre Nordnes rockslide in Lyngenfjord (Troms county), is directly located above an important fjord in North Norway causing a significant risk of tsunami. The volume is estimated to be around 10-15 mill m3. The site was monitored temporarily between June and August 2011. The data show displacements towards the radar up to -12 mm in 2 weeks. The third case concerns rock falls along the road between Oppdølsstranda and Sunndalsøra (Møre og Romsdal county). Even if the volume of rock is less important than the first two cases, rock falls are an important problem for the road 70 underneath. Several campaigns are done between beginning of 2010 and end of 2011. In June 2011 an important rock fall occurs in an area where significant movements were previously detected by GB-InSAR. In order to understand the behaviour of these

InSAR Time Series Analysis of Dextral Strain Partitioning Across the Burma Plate

Science.gov (United States)

Reitman, N. G.; Wang, Y.; Lin, N.; Lindsey, E. O.; Mueller, K. J.

2017-12-01

Oblique convergence between the India and Sunda plates creates partitioning of strike-slip and compressional strain across the Burma plate. GPS data indicate up to 40 mm/yr (Steckler et al 2016) of dextral strain exists between the India and Sunda plates. The Sagaing fault in Myanmar accommodates 20 mm/yr at the eastern boundary of the Burma plate, but the location and magnitude of dextral strain on other faults remains an open question, as does the relative importance of seismic vs aseismic processes. The remaining 20 mm/yr of dextral strain may be accommodated on one or two faults or widely distributed on faults across the Burma plate, scenarios that have a major impact on seismic hazard. However, the dense GPS data necessary for precise determination of which faults accommodate how much strain do not exist yet. Previous studies using GPS data ascribe 10-18 mm/yr dextral strain on the Churachandpur Mao fault in India (Gahaluat et al 2013, Steckler et al 2016) and 18-22 mm/yr on the northern Sagaing fault (Maurin et al 2010, Steckler et al 2016), leaving up to 10 mm/yr unconstrained. Several of the GPS results are suggestive of shallow aseismic slip along parts of these faults, which, if confirmed, would have a significant impact on our understanding of hazard in the area. Here, we use differential InSAR analyzed in time series to investigate dextral strain on the Churachandpur Mao fault and across the Burma plate. Ascending ALOS-1 imagery spanning 2007-2010 were processed in time series for three locations. Offsets in phase and a strong gradient in line-of-sight deformation rate are observed across the Churachandpur Mao fault, and work is ongoing to determine if these are produced by shallow fault movement, topographic effects, or both. The results of this study will provide further constraints for strain rate on the Churachandpur Mao fault, and yield a more complete understanding of strain partitioning across the Burma plate.

Large-baseline InSAR for precise topographic mapping: a framework for TanDEM-X large-baseline data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Pinheiro

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The global Digital Elevation Model (DEM resulting from the TanDEM-X mission provides information about the world topography with outstanding precision. In fact, performance analysis carried out with the already available data have shown that the global product is well within the requirements of 10 m absolute vertical accuracy and 2 m relative vertical accuracy for flat to moderate terrain. The mission's science phase took place from October 2014 to December 2015. During this phase, bistatic acquisitions with across-track separation between the two satellites up to 3.6 km at the equator were commanded. Since the relative vertical accuracy of InSAR derived elevation models is, in principle, inversely proportional to the system baseline, the TanDEM-X science phase opened the doors for the generation of elevation models with improved quality with respect to the standard product. However, the interferometric processing of the large-baseline data is troublesome due to the increased volume decorrelation and very high frequency of the phase variations. Hence, in order to fully profit from the increased baseline, sophisticated algorithms for the interferometric processing, and, in particular, for the phase unwrapping have to be considered. This paper proposes a novel dual-baseline region-growing framework for the phase unwrapping of the large-baseline interferograms. Results from two experiments with data from the TanDEM-X science phase are discussed, corroborating the expected increased level of detail of the large-baseline DEMs.

Coastal city subsidence in Shenzhen (China), monitored using multi-frequency radar interferometry time-series techniques

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Peng; Li, Yongsheng; Singleton, Andrew; Li, Qingquan; Zhang, Jingfa; Li, Zhenhong

2014-05-01

In just 26 years, the coastal city of Shenzhen (Southern China) has been transformed from a small fishing village to a modern city with a population exceeding 8.5 million people. Following its designation as a Special Economic Zone in the 1980s, the city became a test bed for China's economic reforms and currently leads many new practices in urban planning. The rapid economic development was matched by a sharp increase in the demand for usable land and consequently, extensive coastal reclamation has been undertaken by piling rock fragments from nearby hills onto the seabed. However, it has recently been reported that new apartments, offices and transport networks built on the reclaimed land have become unusable due to ground subsidence. The additional threat of coastal inundation from sea-level rise also requires serious consideration. InSAR time-series techniques (such as Persistent Scatterer and Small Baseline InSAR) are capable of detecting sub-centimetre elevation changes of the Earth's surface over large areas and at a density far exceeding the capabilities of a GPS network - particularly for such an urban environment as Shenzhen. This study uses numerous independent tracks of SAR data (two ENVISAT C-band tracks and two ALOS L-band tracks) to determine the surface movements between 2004 and 2013. Quantitative comparative analyses are carried out in the overlapping area between two adjacent tracks, and thus no ground data is required to validate InSAR results. The results show greatest subsidence in coastal areas with the areas of reclaimed land also predominantly undergoing subsidence. The combination of different ascending and descending tracks allows 2D velocity fields to be estimated and it will be important to determine whether the subsidence from the recently reclaimed land is consolidation or part of a longer-term trend. This ability to provide accurate measurements of ground stability for the city of Shenzhen will help focus investigations into areas of

History of surface displacements at the Yellowstone Caldera, Wyoming, from leveling surveys and InSAR observations, 1923-2008

Science.gov (United States)

Dzurisin, Daniel; Wicks, Charles W.; Poland, Michael P.

2012-01-01

Modern geodetic studies of the Yellowstone caldera, Wyoming, and its extraordinary tectonic, magmatic, and hydrothermal systems date from an initial leveling survey done throughout Yellowstone National Park in 1923 by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. A repeat park-wide survey by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the University of Utah during 1975-77 revealed that the central part of the caldera floor had risen more than 700 mm since 1923, at an average rate of 14±1 mm/yr. From 1983 to 2007, the USGS conducted 15 smaller surveys of a single level line that crosses the northeast part of the caldera, including the area where the greatest uplift had occurred from 1923 to 1975-77. The 1983 and 1984 surveys showed that uplift had continued at an average rate of 22±1 mm/yr since 1975-77, but no additional uplift occurred during 1984-85 (-2±5 mm/yr), and during 1985-95 the area subsided at an average rate of 19±1 mm/yr. The change from uplift to subsidence was accompanied by an earthquake swarm, the largest ever recorded in the Yellowstone area (as of March 2012), starting in October 1985 and located near the northwest rim of the caldera. Interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) images showed that the area of greatest subsidence migrated from the northeast part of the caldera (including the Sour Creek resurgent dome) during 1992-93 to the southwest part (including the Mallard Lake resurgent dome) during 1993-95. Thereafter, uplift resumed in the northeast part of the caldera during 1995-96, while subsidence continued in the southwest part. The onset of uplift migrated southwestward, and by mid-1997, uplift was occurring throughout the entire caldera (essentially rim to rim, including both domes). Consistent with these InSAR observations, leveling surveys indicated 24±3 mm of uplift in the northeast part of the caldera during 1995-98. The beginning of uplift was coincident with or followed shortly after an earthquake swarm near the north caldera rim

An empirical InSAR-optical fusion approach to mapping vegetation canopy height

Science.gov (United States)

Wayne S. Walker; Josef M. Kellndorfer; Elizabeth LaPoint; Michael Hoppus; James Westfall

2007-01-01

Exploiting synergies afforded by a host of recently available national-scale data sets derived from interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) and passive optical remote sensing, this paper describes the development of a novel empirical approach for the provision of regional- to continental-scale estimates of vegetation canopy height. Supported by data from the...

Image Registration Methode in Radar Interferometry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Chelbi

2015-08-01

Full Text Available This article presents a methodology for the determination of the registration of an Interferometric Synthetic radar (InSAR pair images with half pixel precision. Using the two superposed radar images Single Look complexes (SLC [1-4], we developed an iterative process to superpose these two images according to their correlation coefficient with a high coherence area. This work concerns the exploitation of ERS Tandem pair of radar images SLC of the Algiers area acquired on 03 January and 04 January 1994. The former is taken as a master image and the latter as a slave image.

High-resolution InSAR constraints on flood-related subsidence and evaporite dissolution along the Dead Sea shores: Interplay between hydrology and rheology

Science.gov (United States)

Shviro, Maayan; Haviv, Itai; Baer, Gidon

2017-09-01

Sinkhole generation and land subsidence are commonly attributed to dissolution of subsurface layers by under-saturated groundwater and formation of cavities. Along the Dead Sea (DS) shorelines, this process also involves seasonal flash floods that are drained into the subsurface by existing and newly formed sinkholes. We quantify the contribution of flash-floods to salt dissolution and land subsidence using high-resolution interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR). Subsidence rates during a 3-year period (2012-2015) were calculated from 57 COSMO SkyMed X-band interferograms bracketing major flood events and intra-flood periods in 21 sinkhole sites. The sites are located within channels and alluvial fans along the western shores of the Dead Sea, Israel. The observed subsidence reaches maximum rates of 2.5 mm/day, accumulating in specific sites to 500 mm/year. In most of the sinkhole sites a gradual increase in the annual subsidence rate is observed during the 3-year study period. Three different modes of response to floods were observed: (1) sites where floodwater is not directly channeled into sinkholes do not respond to floods; (2) sites adjacent to active channels with sinkholes are unaffected by specific floods but their subsidence rates increase gradually from early winter to mid-summer, and decay gradually until the following winter; and (3) sites in active channels with sinkholes are characterized by an abrupt increase in subsidence rates immediately after each flood (by a factor of up to 20) and by a subsequent quasi-exponential subsidence decay over periods of several months. In these latter sites, subsidence rates after each flood are temporally correlated with alternating groundwater levels in adjacent boreholes. The rapid rise in groundwater head following floods increases the hydraulic gradient of the under-saturated groundwater and hence also the groundwater discharge and the dissolution rate of the subsurface salt layer. A subsequent quasi

The Advanced Rapid Imaging and Analysis (ARIA) Project: Providing Standard and On-Demand SAR products for Hazard Science and Hazard Response

Science.gov (United States)

Owen, S. E.; Hua, H.; Rosen, P. A.; Agram, P. S.; Webb, F.; Simons, M.; Yun, S. H.; Sacco, G. F.; Liu, Z.; Fielding, E. J.; Lundgren, P.; Moore, A. W.

2017-12-01

A new era of geodetic imaging arrived with the launch of the ESA Sentinel-1A/B satellites in 2014 and 2016, and with the 2016 confirmation of the NISAR mission, planned for launch in 2021. These missions assure high quality, freely and openly distributed regularly sampled SAR data into the indefinite future. These unprecedented data sets are a watershed for solid earth sciences as we progress towards the goal of ubiquitous InSAR measurements. We now face the challenge of how to best address the massive volumes of data and intensive processing requirements. Should scientists individually process the same data independently themselves? Should a centralized service provider create standard products that all can use? Are there other approaches to accelerate science that are cost effective and efficient? The Advanced Rapid Imaging and Analysis (ARIA) project, a joint venture co-sponsored by California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and by NASA through the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), is focused on rapidly generating higher level geodetic imaging products and placing them in the hands of the solid earth science and local, national, and international natural hazard communities by providing science product generation, exploration, and delivery capabilities at an operational level. However, there are challenges in defining the optimal InSAR data products for the solid earth science community. In this presentation, we will present our experience with InSAR users, our lessons learned the advantages of on demand and standard products, and our proposal for the most effective path forward.

Volcanic and Tectonic Activity in the Red Sea Region (2004-2013): Insights from Satellite Radar Interferometry and Optical Imagery

KAUST Repository

Xu, Wenbin

2015-04-01

Studying recent volcanic and tectonic events in the Red Sea region is important for improving our knowledge of the Red Sea plate boundary and for regional geohazard assessments. However, limited information has been available about the past activity due to insufficient in-situ data and remoteness of some of the activity. In this dissertation, I have used satellite remote sensing to derive new information about several recent volcanic and tectonic events in the Red Sea region. I first report on three volcanic eruptions in the southern Red Sea, the 2007-8 Jebel at Tair eruption and the 2011-12 & 2013 Zubair eruptions, which resulted in formation of two new islands. Series of high- resolution optical images were used to map the extent of lava flows and to observe and analyze the growth and destructive processes of the new islands. I used Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) data to study the evolution of lava flows, to estimate their volumes, as well as to generate ground displacements maps, which were used to model the dikes that fed the eruptions. I then report on my work of the 2009 Harrat Lunayyir dike intrusion and the 2004 Tabuk earthquake sequence in western Saudi Arabia. I used InSAR observations and stress calculations to study the intruding dike at Harrat Lunayyir, while I combined InSAR data and Bayesian estimation to study the Tabuk earthquake activity. The key findings of the thesis are: 1) The recent volcanic eruptions in the southern Red Sea indicate that the area is magmatically more active than previously acknowledged and that a rifting episode has been taken place in the southern Red Sea; 2) Stress interactions between an ascending dike intrusion and normal faulting on graben-bounding faults above the dike can inhibit vertical propagation of magma towards the surface; 3) InSAR observations can improve locations of shallow earthquakes and fault model uncertainties are useful to associate earthquake activity with mapped faults; 4). The

Cross-calibration of interferometric SAR data

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dall, Jørgen

2003-01-01

Generation of digital elevation models from interferometric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data is a well established technique. Achieving a high geometric fidelity calls for a calibration accounting for inaccurate navigation data and system parameters as well as system imperfections. Fully...... automated calibration techniques are preferable, especially for operational mapping. The author presents one such technique, called cross-calibration. Though developed for single-pass interferometry, it may be applicable to multi-pass interferometry, too. Cross-calibration requires stability during mapping...... ground control point is often needed. The paper presents the principles and mathematics of the cross-calibration technique and illustrates its successful application to EMISAR data....

Application of Spaceborne Differential Radar Interferometry to Rockbursts, Mining Subsidence and Shallow Moderate Earthquakes

Science.gov (United States)

Eneva, M.; Baker, E.

2002-12-01

We have processed ERS SAR scenes for several sites of rockbursts and mining subsidence, including South Africa (gold), Colorado (coal), the state of New York (salt), Germany (potash), and Poland (copper). We are also looking at JERS-1 scenes from a potash mine in the Ural mountains (Russia) for which no suitable ERS data exist. Sizeable mining-induced events have occurred at most of these sites: mb5.1 in April 1999, S. Africa; ML3.6 in March 1994, New York; ML4.8 in September 1996, Germany; mb4.9 in April 2000, Poland; and mb4.7 in January 1995, Urals. It is reasonable to expect detectable surface displacements from rockbursts, as they are rather shallow compared with tectonic earthquakes of similar size. Indeed, in the case of the 1999 S. African event differential InSAR detects up to 9-cm displacement away from the satellite, while the 1995 collapse in the Urals has resulted in up to 4.5-m surface subsidence. Some of the study rockbursts have occurred on the background of ongoing mining subsidence (e. g., Poland, Urals, New York), adding a detectable boost to the existing subsidence rate. In other cases, mining subsidence is planned and intermittent, without unexpected collapse (e.g., long-wall coal mining in Colorado). We have applied deformation modeling using a 3D finite-difference code, focusing on the April 1999 event that was associated with a normal slip along the Dagbreek fault. Seismic events in this area (Welkom, S. Africa) are commonly associated with collapse of mined out volumes around west-dipping normal faults, but it is not clear how these faults contribute to the seismic and static displacements. The 1999 event provides an opportunity to address this ambiguity, as our InSAR measurements of surface displacements are complemented by local, regional, and teleseismic waveform records, as well as by measurements of displacements in the mine tunnels intersecting the Dagbreek fault. We are using these data to constrain the source and are investigating

Detection of sinkhole precursors through SAR interferometry: radar and geological considerations

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Theron, Andre

2017-06-01

Full Text Available TerraSAR-X were acquired over a full year. DInSAR results revealed the presence of three previously unknown deformation features, one of which could be confirmed by subsequent field investigations. Furthermore, a water supply pipeline ruptured six months...

Basin Scale Assessment of Landslides Geomorphological Setting by Advanced InSAR Analysis

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Francesca Bozzano

2017-03-01

Full Text Available An extensive investigation of more than 90 landslides affecting a small river basin in Central Italy was performed by combining field surveys and remote sensing techniques. We thus defined the geomorphological setting of slope instability processes. Basic information, such as landslides mapping and landslides type definition, have been acquired thanks to geomorphological field investigations and multi-temporal aerial photos interpretation, while satellite SAR archive data (acquired by ERS and Envisat from 1992 to 2010 have been analyzed by means of A-DInSAR (Advanced Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar techniques to evaluate landslides past displacements patterns. Multi-temporal assessment of landslides state of activity has been performed basing on geomorphological evidence criteria and past ground displacement measurements obtained by A-DInSAR. This step has been performed by means of an activity matrix derived from information achieved thanks to double orbital geometry. Thanks to this approach we also achieved more detailed knowledge about the landslides kinematics in time and space.

Subsidence detection by TerraSAR-X interferometry on a network of natural persistent scatterers and artificial corner reflectors

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Bing; Liu, Guoxiang; Li, Zhilin; Zhang, Rui; Jia, Hongguo; Wang, Xiaowen; Cai, Guolin

2013-08-01

The German satellite TerraSAR-X (TSX) is able to provide high-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images for mapping surface deformation by the persistent scatterer interferometry (PSI) technique. To extend the application of PSI in detecting subsidence in areas with frequent surface changes, this paper presents a method of TSX PSI on a network of natural persistent scatterers (NPSs) and artificial corner reflectors (CRs) deployed on site. We select a suburban area of southwest Tianjin (China) as the testing site where 16 CRs and 10 leveling points (LPs) are deployed, and utilize 13 TSX images collected over this area between 2009 and 2010 to extract subsidence by the method proposed. Two types of CRs are set around the fishponds and crop parcels. 6 CRs are the conventional ones, i.e., fixed CRs (FCRs), while 10 CRs are the newly-designed ones, i.e., so-called portable CRs (PCRs) with capability of repeatable installation. The numerical analysis shows that the PCRs have the higher temporal stability of radar backscattering than the FCRs, and both of them are better than the NPSs in performance of radar reflectivity. The comparison with the leveling data at the CRs and LPs indicates that the subsidence measurements derived by the TSX PSI method can reach up to a millimeter level accuracy. This demonstrates that the TSX PSI method based on a network of NPSs and CRs is useful for detecting land subsidence in cultivated lands.

Land movement monitoring at the Mavropigi lignite mine using spaceborne D-InSAR

Science.gov (United States)

Papadaki, Eirini; Tripolitsiotis, Achilleas; Steiakakis, Chrysanthos; Agioutantis, Zacharias; Mertikas, Stelios; Partsinevelos, Panagiotis; Schilizzi, Pavlos

2013-08-01

This paper examines the capability of remote sensing radar interferometry to monitor land movements, as it varies with time, in areas close to open pit lignite mines. The study area is the "Mavropigi" lignite mine in Ptolemais, Northern Greece; whose continuous operation is of vital importance to the electric power supply of Greece. The mine is presently 100-120m deep while horizontal and vertical movements have been measured in the vicinity of the pit. Within the mine, ground geodetic monitoring has revealed an average rate of movement amounting to 10-20mm/day at the southeast slopes. In this work, differential interferometry (DInSAR), using 19 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images of ALOS satellite, has been applied to monitor progression of land movement caused my mining within the greater area of "Mavropigi" region. The results of this work show that DInSAR can be used effectively to capture ground movement information, well before signs of movements can be observed visually in the form of imminent fissures and tension cracks. The advantage of remote sensing interferometry is that it can be applied even in inaccessible areas where monitoring with ground equipment is either impossible or of high-cost (large areas).

Post-Eruption Deformation Processes Measured Using ALOS-1 and UAVSAR InSAR at Pacaya Volcano, Guatemala

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Lauren N. Schaefer

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Pacaya volcano is a persistently active basaltic cone complex located in the Central American Volcanic Arc in Guatemala. In May of 2010, violent Volcanic Explosivity Index-3 (VEI-3 eruptions caused significant topographic changes to the edifice, including a linear collapse feature 600 m long originating from the summit, the dispersion of ~20 cm of tephra and ash on the cone, the emplacement of a 5.4 km long lava flow, and ~3 m of co-eruptive movement of the southwest flank. For this study, Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR images (interferograms processed from both spaceborne Advanced Land Observing Satellite-1 (ALOS-1 and aerial Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR data acquired between 31 May 2010 and 10 April 2014 were used to measure post-eruptive deformation events. Interferograms suggest three distinct deformation processes after the May 2010 eruptions, including: (1 subsidence of the area involved in the co-eruptive slope movement; (2 localized deformation near the summit; and (3 emplacement and subsequent subsidence of about a 5.4 km lava flow. The detection of several different geophysical signals emphasizes the utility of measuring volcanic deformation using remote sensing techniques with broad spatial coverage. Additionally, the high spatial resolution of UAVSAR has proven to be an excellent compliment to satellite data, particularly for constraining motion components. Measuring the rapid initiation and cessation of flank instability, followed by stabilization and subsequent influence on eruptive features, provides a rare glimpse into volcanic slope stability processes. Observing these and other deformation events contributes both to hazard assessment at Pacaya and to the study of the stability of stratovolcanoes.

Gravity and InSAR remote sensing of groundwater usage in the Sahel and Horn of Africa

Science.gov (United States)

Neely, W.; Borsa, A. A.; Burney, J. A.; Devlin, K.

2016-12-01

Changes in the Earth's climatic systems influence agro-ecological conditions on local, regional, and global scales. With the world's highest population growth rate, sub-Saharan Africa faces particularly acute concerns regarding food security and resource management. Historical sources of surface water for agricultural production may become less reliable and/or limited with increased climate variability, and African countries have already begun to depend on more stable sources of groundwater. Expected increases in groundwater usage pose questions about the sustainability of current agricultural practices, which require new sources of information to answer. Due to the logistics and costs to implement in situ networks to monitor regional water security, current remote sensing missions offer an affordable alternative. The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) has proven to be effective in quantifying changes in terrestrial water storage (TWS) at the regional scale using near-monthly gravity measurements from orbit. Using over a decade of measurements, we estimate TWS anomalies in Niger and Ethiopia. These anomalies offer a proxy for hydrological stressing, indicating potential targets for additional analysis. We use independent, but complementary, estimates of surface displacements from Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) to provide information on local groundwater withdrawal. Using data from ESA's Sentinel 1 mission and JAXA's Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) missions, we characterize the surface deformation over the past decade in regions of active groundwater pumping using the Small Baseline Subset (SBAS) technique. In particular, we investigate ties of ground motion to known agricultural/industrial land usage near Niamey, Niger and Eastern Oromia, Ethiopia to better understand how human activity affects available groundwater resources.

Ionospheric errors compensation for ground deformation estimation with new generation SAR

Science.gov (United States)

Gomba, Giorgio; De Zan, Francesco; Rodriguez Gonzalez, Fernando

2017-04-01

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and interferometric SAR (InSAR) measurements are disturbed by the propagation velocity changes of microwaves that are caused by the high density of free electrons in the ionosphere. Most affected are low-frequency (L- or P-band) radars, as the recently launched ALOS-2 and the future Tandem-L and NISAR, although higher frequency (C- or X-band) systems, as the recently launched Sentinel-1, are not immune. Since the ionosphere is an obstacle to increasing the precision of new generation SAR systems needed to remotely measure the Earth's dynamic processes as for example ground deformation, it is necessary to estimate and compensate ionospheric propagation delays in SAR signals. In this work we discuss about the influence of the ionosphere on interferograms and the possible correction methods with relative accuracies. Consequently, the effect of ionospheric induced errors on ground deformation measurements prior and after ionosphere compensation will be analyzed. Examples will be presented of corrupted measurements of earthquakes and fault motion along with the corrected results using different methods.

Railway infrastructure monitoring with COSMO/SkyMed imagery and multi-temporal SAR interferometry

Science.gov (United States)

Chiaradia, M.; Nutricato, R.; Nitti, D. O.; Bovenga, F.; Guerriero, L.

2012-12-01

For all the European Countries, the rail network represents a key critical infrastructure, deserving protection in view of its continuous structure spread over the whole territory, of the high number of European citizens using it for personal and professional reasons, and of the large volume of freight moving through it. Railway system traverses a wide variety of terrains and encounters a range of geo-technical conditions. The interaction of these factors together with climatic and seismic forcing, may produce ground instabilities that impact on the safety and efficiency of rail operations. In such context, a particular interest is directed to the development of technologies regarding both the prevention of mishaps of infrastructures and the fast recovery of their normal working conditions after the occurrence of accidents (disaster managing). Both these issues are of strategic interest for EU Countries, and in particular for Italy, since, more than other countries, it is characterized by a geo-morphological and hydro-geological structure complexity that increases the risk of natural catastrophes due to landslides, overflowings and floods. The present study has been carried out in the framework of a scientific project aimed at producing a diagnostic system, capable to foresee and monitor landslide events along railway networks by integrating in situ data, detected from on board sophisticated innovative measuring systems, with Earth Observation (EO) techniques. Particular importance is devoted to the use of advanced SAR interferometry, thanks to their all-weather, day-night capability to detect and measure with sub-centimeter accuracy ground surface displacements that, in such context, can occur before a landslide event or after that movements . Special attention is directed to the use of SAR images acquired by COSMO/SkyMed (ASI) constellation capable to achieve very high spatial resolution and very short revisit and response time. In this context, a stack of 57 CSK

Integrated Data Processing Methodology for Airborne Repeat-pass Differential SAR Interferometry

Science.gov (United States)

Dou, C.; Guo, H.; Han, C.; Yue, X.; Zhao, Y.

2014-11-01

Short temporal baseline and multiple ground deformation information can be derived from the airborne differential synthetic aperture radar Interforemetry (D-InSAR). However, affected by the turbulence of the air, the aircraft would deviate from the designed flight path with high frequent vibrations and changes both in the flight trajectory and attitude. Restricted by the accuracy of the position and orientation system (POS), these high frequent deviations can not be accurately reported, which would pose great challenges in motion compensation and interferometric process. Thus, these challenges constrain its wider applications. The objective of this paper is to investigate the accurate estimation and compensation of the residual motion errors in the airborne SAR imagery and time-varying baseline errors between the diffirent data acquirations, furthermore, to explore the integration data processing theory for the airborne D-InSAR system, and thus help to accomplish the correct derivation of the ground deformation by using the airborne D-InSAR measurements.

The influence on the interferometry due to the instability of ground-based synthetic aperture radar work platform

Science.gov (United States)

Tao, Gang; Wei, Guohua; Wang, Xu; Kong, Ming

2018-03-01

There has been increased interest over several decades for applying ground-based synthetic aperture radar (GB-SAR) for monitoring terrain displacement. GB-SAR can achieve multitemporal surface deformation maps of the entire terrain with high spatial resolution and submilimetric accuracy due to the ability of continuous monitoring a certain area day and night regardless of the weather condition. The accuracy of the interferometric measurement result is very important. In this paper, the basic principle of InSAR is expounded, the influence of the platform's instability on the interferometric measurement results are analyzed. The error sources of deformation detection estimation are analyzed using precise geometry of imaging model. Finally, simulation results demonstrates the validity of our analysis.

EVALUATION OF DATA APPLICABILITY FOR D-INSAR IN AREAS COVERED BY ABUNDANT VEGETATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P. Zhang

2018-04-01

Full Text Available In the past few years, the frequent geological disasters have caused enormous casualties and economic losses. Therefore, D-InSAR (differential interferometry synthetic aperture radar has been widely used in early-warning and post disaster assessment. However, large area of decorrelation often occurs in the areas covered with abundant vegetation, which seriously affects the accuracy of surface deformation monitoring. In this paper, we analysed the effect of sensor parameters and external environment parameters on special decorrelation. Then Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR datasets acquired by X-band TerraSAR-X, Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Satellite-2 (ALOS-2, and C-band Sentinel-1 in Guizhou province were collected and analysed to generate the maps of coherence, which were used to evaluating the applicability of datasets of different wavelengths for D-InSAR in forest area. Finally, we found that datasets acquired by ALOS-2 had the best monitoring effect.

Flood extent and water level estimation from SAR using data-model integration

Science.gov (United States)

Ajadi, O. A.; Meyer, F. J.

2017-12-01

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images have long been recognized as a valuable data source for flood mapping. Compared to other sources, SAR's weather and illumination independence and large area coverage at high spatial resolution supports reliable, frequent, and detailed observations of developing flood events. Accordingly, SAR has the potential to greatly aid in the near real-time monitoring of natural hazards, such as flood detection, if combined with automated image processing. This research works towards increasing the reliability and temporal sampling of SAR-derived flood hazard information by integrating information from multiple SAR sensors and SAR modalities (images and Interferometric SAR (InSAR) coherence) and by combining SAR-derived change detection information with hydrologic and hydraulic flood forecast models. First, the combination of multi-temporal SAR intensity images and coherence information for generating flood extent maps is introduced. The application of least-squares estimation integrates flood information from multiple SAR sensors, thus increasing the temporal sampling. SAR-based flood extent information will be combined with a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) to reduce false alarms and to estimate water depth and flood volume. The SAR-based flood extent map is assimilated into the Hydrologic Engineering Center River Analysis System (Hec-RAS) model to aid in hydraulic model calibration. The developed technology is improving the accuracy of flood information by exploiting information from data and models. It also provides enhanced flood information to decision-makers supporting the response to flood extent and improving emergency relief efforts.

Using DInSAR as a tool to detect unstable terrain areas in an Andes region in Ecuador (South America)

Science.gov (United States)

Mayorga Torres, Tannia

2014-05-01

deeper into vegetation cover than C band (Raucoules et al., 2007). The study processed ERS with descending orbit and ALOS with ascending orbit, due to the availability of data. Ferretti et al. (2007) said that ERS looks to the right and a slope mainly oriented to the west could have foreshortening effect in ascending orbit. Wei & Sandwell (2010) mention that ALOS in ascending orbit identifies vertical mass movements along fault systems; however, descending data has better geometry to measure mass movements. The study has fewer scenes in descending orbit. For further work, ALOS 2 will let to have more data in descending orbit. 4. CENTRAL CONCLUSIONS For mass movement having high-resolution radar is the best option; however, this data is not useful on all due to cover vegetation. Characterizing mass movements in Ecuador in necessary to put monitoring systems to avoid economic and human lost. Processing ERS and ALOS data was very useful because penetration band results were clearly identified in coherence masks. The result of Stacking DInSAR did not show clearly fringes, indeed the amount of interferograms were no enough for this technique. Researching other DInSAR techniques is necessary due to the singular characteristics of Ecuador. 5. REFERENCES Ferretti Alessandro, Monti-Guarnieri Andrea, Prati Claudio, Rocca Fabio, Massonnet Didier (2007). InSAR Principles: Guidelines for SAR Interferometry Processing and Interpretation (TM-19, Febrero 2007). K. Fletcher, Agencia Espacial Europea Publicaciones. ESTEC. Postbus 2009. 2200 AG Noordwijk. The Netherlands. Raucoules Daniel, Colesanti Carlo, Carnec Claudie (2007). "Use of SAR interferometry for detecting and assessing ground subsidence." C. R. Geoscience 339(289-302): 14. Sandwell David T., Price Evelyn J. (1998). "Phase gradient approach to stacking interferograms." Journal of Geophysical Research 103(N. B12): 30, 183-30, 204. Wei Meng, Sandwell David T (2010). "Decorrelation of L-Band and C-Band Interferometry Over

VenSAR on EnVision: Taking earth observation radar to Venus

Science.gov (United States)

Ghail, Richard C.; Hall, David; Mason, Philippa J.; Herrick, Robert R.; Carter, Lynn M.; Williams, Ed

2018-02-01

Venus should be the most Earth-like of all our planetary neighbours: its size, bulk composition and distance from the Sun are very similar to those of Earth. How and why did it all go wrong for Venus? What lessons can be learned about the life story of terrestrial planets in general, in this era of discovery of Earth-like exoplanets? Were the radically different evolutionary paths of Earth and Venus driven solely by distance from the Sun, or do internal dynamics, geological activity, volcanic outgassing and weathering also play an important part? EnVision is a proposed ESA Medium class mission designed to take Earth Observation technology to Venus to measure its current rate of geological activity, determine its geological history, and the origin and maintenance of its hostile atmosphere, to understand how Venus and Earth could have evolved so differently. EnVision will carry three instruments: the Venus Emission Mapper (VEM); the Subsurface Radar Sounder (SRS); and VenSAR, a world-leading European phased array synthetic aperture radar that is the subject of this article. VenSAR will obtain images at a range of spatial resolutions from 30 m regional coverage to 1 m images of selected areas; an improvement of two orders of magnitude on Magellan images; measure topography at 15 m resolution vertical and 60 m spatially from stereo and InSAR data; detect cm-scale change through differential InSAR, to characterise volcanic and tectonic activity, and estimate rates of weathering and surface alteration; and characterise of surface mechanical properties and weathering through multi-polar radar data. These data will be directly comparable with Earth Observation radar data, giving geoscientists unique access to an Earth-sized planet that has evolved on a radically different path to our own, offering new insights on the Earth-sized exoplanets across the galaxy.

Long term SAR interferometry monitoring for assessing changing levels of slope instability hazards

Science.gov (United States)

Wasowski, J.; Ferretti, A.

The population growth with increasing impact of man on the environment and urbanisation of areas susceptible to slope failures coupled with the ongoing change in climate patterns will require a shift in the approaches to landslide hazard reduction Indeed there is evidence that landslide activity and related socio-economic loss are increasing in both rich and less developed countries throughout the world Because of this and because the urbanisation of hillside and mountain slopes prone to failure will likely continue in the future the protection of new and pre-existing developed areas via traditional engineering stabilisation works and in situ monitoring is not considered economically feasible Furthermore in most cases the ground control systems are installed post-factum and for short term monitoring and hence their role in preventing disasters is limited Considering the global dimension of the slope instability problem a sustainable road to landslide hazard reduction seems to be via exploitation of EO systems with focus on early detection long term monitoring and early warning Thanks to the wide-area coverage regular schedule and improving resolution of space-borne sensors the EO can foster the auspicious shift from a culture of repair to a culture of awarness and prevention Under this scenario the space-borne synthetic aperture radar differential interferometry DInSAR is attractive because of its capability to provide both wide-area and spatially dense information on surface displacements Since the presence of movements represents a direct evidence of

Evaluation of the subsidence based on dInSAR and GPS measurements near Karviná, Czech Republic

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Kadlečík, Pavel; Kajzar, Vlastimil; Nekvasilová, Z.; Wegmüller, U.; Doležalová, Hana

2015-01-01

Roč. 50, č. 1 (2015), s. 51-61 ISSN 0300-5402 R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) LC506; GA MŠk(CZ) LO1406 Institutional support: RVO:67985891 ; RVO:68145535 Keywords : InSAR * subsidence * Karviná region * undermining Subject RIV: DE - Earth Magnetism, Geodesy, Geography

InSAR data analysis at Kamchatka during 2016

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Larionov Igor

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Geophysical monitoring in seismically active areas depends on geodeformation processes in the earth's crust. Observations of earth's crust strain-stress using gps-measurements, laser interferometers give only an opportunity to analyze the dynamics in time without the possibility of extrapolation to adjacent areas. In this regard, it is useful to apply a radar interferometry technology to measure the displacements of the earth's surface. The report includes the results of processing the radar data of the Sentinel-1A satellite. Several qualitative interferometric pairs were obtained during the period from June to October 2016. A high coherence coefficient is observed in open areas in the vicinity of volcanic structures and adjacent territories, as well as on the west coast of Kamchatka, where there is no high vegetation. The main factor that significantly reduces the coherence of images is the forest cover. Possibility of estimating the surface displacement at regions with a high coherence coefficient is discussed.

Resolving the velocity and strain fields in the Upper Rhine Graben Area from a Combination of Levelling, GNSS and InSAR

Science.gov (United States)

Westerhaus, Malte; Fuhrmann, Thomas; Mayer, Michael; Zippelt, Karl; Heck, Bernhard

2016-04-01

The Upper Rhine Graben (URG), located in the tri-national region between Germany, France and Switzerland is the most prominent segment of the European Cenozoic rift system. In recent times, the URG area is characterised by small tectonic movements (less than 1 mm/a) and moderate seismicity up to M=5. Historically, earthquake magnitudes exceeding M=6 have been reported showing that the seismic hazard is quite high. The contemporary tectonic surface deformations are superimposed by displacements caused by anthropogenic activities in various locations in the area, such as coal and potash mining, groundwater usage, oil extraction, geothermal energy and CO2 storage. We use data sets from levelling campaigns, InSAR and permanent GNSS sites to raise an inventory of the current 3D surface displacements and strain rates in the URG with high precision and high spatial resolution. Precise levellings carried out by the surveying authorities of Germany, France and Switzerland since the end of the 19th century have been combined to form a network of levelling lines. A kinematic network adjustment is applied on the levelling data, providing an accurate solution for vertical displacement rates at the levelling benchmarks. InSAR is used to fill gaps in the interior of the levelling loops and to significantly increase the number of points. All the available ERS-1/2 and Envisat scenes from two acquisition geometries covering a period from 1992 to 2000 and 2002 to 2010, resp., are processed according to the Persistent-Scatterer approach. In addition, coordinate time series of 76 permanent sites of the GNSS URG Network are used to support the derivation of the horizontal velocity field of the region. Daily GPS-solutions obtained in differential mode are available since 2004. In a first step, estimates of the surface displacement rates are derived from each technique starting from the raw data. Subsequently, the single-technique deformation estimates are mathematically combined to a 3D

Detecting Dewatering of Peatland Pastures Using Sentinel-1 Satellite Radar Interferometry.

Science.gov (United States)

Heuff, F.; Samiei-Esfahany, S.; van Leijen, F. J.; Hanssen, R. F.

2017-12-01

The Netherlands are famous for their polders and the draining of soils to be used as pastures. Around 30% of the pastures are situated on peat soils, mostly in the western part of the Netherlands. Peat is composed of organic materials that oxidize and emit greenhouse gases when exposed to air. Oxidation of peat soils results in volume reduction and subsequent subsidence. As a result, the groundwater level rises relative to the surface. Consequently, the soil needs to be dewatered to keep it sufficiently dry for farming, resulting in more oxidation, and therefore more subsidence. This process is bound to continue until the peat soils have disappeared completely. The societal cost of land subsidence due to peat soils are estimated to be 5200 million euro for urban areas and 200 million euro for peatland pastures, for a period until 2050. Measuring the subsidence is not straightforward, if not impossible, with conventional geodetic means as soft soils make it impossible to install fixed benchmarks for repeated surveying. Also, due to the very fast temporal decorrelation over pastures, conventional InSAR approaches cannot measure a signal due to loss of coherence. Here we deploy a complete set of available SAR data from Sentinel-1, Radarsat-2 and TerraSAR-X to estimate the spatio-temporally varying subsidence signal due to the dewatering of peatland pastures over the western part of the Netherlands. We compute the InSAR coherence matrix for all possible interferometric combination, and compute an equivalent single-master stack to estimate the subsidence. Using terrain and land-use defined coherence estimation areas we optimize the phase estimation over areas severely affected by temporal decorrelation. This leads to a first estimate of deformation signals correlated with ancient shallow soil structures due to fluviatile structures. We use the methodology to investigate the effect of advanced local drainage schemes to slow down the subsidence phenomena.

Characterize the hydrogeological properties and probe the stress field in Salt Lake Valley, Utah using SAR imagery

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, X.; Lu, Z.; Barbot, S.; Wang, T.

2017-12-01

Aquifer skeletons deform actively in response to the groundwater redistribution and hydraulic head changes with varied time scales of delay and sensitivity, that can also, in some instances, trigger earthquakes. However, determining the key hydrogeological properties and understanding the interactions between aquifer and seismicity generally requires the analysis of dense water level data combined with expensive drilling data (borehole breakouts). Here we investigate the spatiotemporal correlation among ground motions, hydrological changes, earthquakes, and faults in Salt Lake Valley, Utah, based on InSAR observations from ENVISAT ASAR (2004-2010) and Sentinel-1A (2015-2016). InSAR results show a clear seasonal and long-term correlation between surface uplift/subsidence and groundwater recharge/discharge, with evidence for an average net uplift of 15 mm/yr for a period of 7 years. The long-term uplift, remarkably bounded by faults, reflects a net increase in pore pressure associated with prolonged water recharge probably decades ago. InSAR-derived ground deformation and its correlation with head variations allow us to quantify hydrogeological properties - decay coefficient, storage coefficient, and bulk compressibility. We also model the long-term deformation using a shallow vertical shearing reservoir to constrain its thickness and strain rate. InSAR-derived deformation help reveal the coupled hydrological and tectonic processes in Salt Lake Valley: the embedded faults disrupt the groundwater flow and partition the hydrological units, and the pore pressure changes rearrange the aquifer skeleton and modulate the stress field, which may affect the basin-wide seismicity.

Mapping small elevation changes over large areas - Differential radar interferometry

Science.gov (United States)

Gabriel, Andrew K.; Goldstein, Richard M.; Zebker, Howard A.

1989-01-01

A technique is described, based on synthetic aperture radar (SAR) interferometry, which uses SAR images for measuring very small (1 cm or less) surface motions with good resolution (10 m) over swaths of up to 50 km. The method was applied to a Seasat data set of an imaging site in Imperial Valley, California, where motion effects were observed that were identified with movements due to the expansion of water-absorbing clays. The technique can be used for accurate measurements of many geophysical phenomena, including swelling and buckling in fault zones, residual displacements from seismic events, and prevolcanic swelling.

SAR interferometry monitoring of subsidence in a detritic basin related to water depletion in the underlying confined carbonate aquifer (Torremolinos, southern Spain).

Science.gov (United States)

Ruiz-Constán, A; Ruiz-Armenteros, A M; Martos-Rosillo, S; Galindo-Zaldívar, J; Lazecky, M; García, M; Sousa, J J; Sanz de Galdeano, C; Delgado-Blasco, J M; Jiménez-Gavilán, P; Caro-Cuenca, M; Luque-Espinar, J A

2018-04-30

This research underlines the need to improve water management policies for areas linked to confined karstic aquifers subjected to intensive exploitation, and to develop additional efforts towards monitoring their subsidence evolution. We analyze subsidence related to intensive use of groundwater in a confined karstic aquifer, through the use of the InSAR technique, by the southern coast of Spain (Costa del Sol). Carbonates are overlain by an unconfined detritic aquifer with interlayered high transmissivity rocks, in connection with the Mediterranean Sea, where the water level is rather stable. Despite this, an accumulated deformation in the line-of-sight (LOS) direction greater than -100 mm was observed by means of the ERS-1/2 (1992-2000) and Envisat (2003-2009) satellite SAR sensors. During this period, the Costa del Sol experienced a major population increase due to the expansion of the tourism industry, with the consequent increase in groundwater exploitation. The maximum LOS displacement rates recorded during both time spans are respectively -6 mm/yr and -11 mm/yr, respectively. During the entire period, there was an accumulated descent of the confined water level of 140 m, and several fluctuations of more than 80 m correlating with the subsidence trend observed for the whole area. Main sedimentary depocenters (up to 800 m), revealed by gravity prospecting, partly coincide with areas of subsidence maxima; yet ground deformation is also influenced by other factors, the main ones being the fine-grained facies distribution and rapid urbanization due to high touristic pressure. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Slow, fast, and post-collapse displacements of the Mud Creek landslide in California from UAVSAR and satellite SAR analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Fielding, E. J.; Handwerger, A. L.; Burgmann, R.; Liu, Z.

2017-12-01

Landslides display a wide variety of behaviors ranging from slow steady or seasonal motion to runaway acceleration and catastrophic failure. In some cases, a single landslide moves slowly for a period of weeks to years before it rapidly accelerates into a catastrophic failure. Measurement of the spatio-temporal patterns of landslide motion in response to changes in environmental parameters such as rainfall, snowmelt, and nearby earthquakes will help us to constrain the mechanisms that control these landslide behaviors. Here, we use synthetic aperture radar interferometry (InSAR) from satellite and airborne platforms to measure the kinematics of several landslides along the coast of Central California, including the large Mud Creek landslide near Big Sur that catastrophically collapsed in May 2017 and led to the destruction of a major highway and millions of dollars in damages. We use InSAR and pixel offset data from NASA/JPL UAVSAR, JAXA ALOS1/2, and Copernicus Sentinel 1A/B to quantify the displacement time series and 3D motion. Our data show that the Mud Creek landslide has been active for at least 2.5 years and displayed persistent motion (average rate of 10 cm/yr in LOS) with seasonal variations in velocity driven by rainfall-induced changes in pore pressure. We find that each year the landslide accelerated approximately 60-90 days after the onset of seasonal precipitation, which provides constraints on the hillslope hydrology. Before its ultimate collapse, the landslide displayed a large increase in velocity due to the above average rainfall during the 2017 water year. It appears a series of major storms in January and February 2017, some fed by atmospheric rivers, triggered a sufficient increase in pore-water pressure that led to the runaway failure. We model this behavior using a rate-and-state friction model developed to capture this range of landslide behaviors. This model will allow us to explore how different landslide properties (e.g., material

Measuring the Impact of Wildfire on Active Layer Thickness in a Discontinuous Permafrost region using Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR)

Science.gov (United States)

Michaelides, R. J.; Schaefer, K. M.; Zebker, H. A.; Liu, L.; Chen, J.; Parsekian, A.

2017-12-01

In permafrost regions, the active layer is defined as the uppermost portion of the permafrost table that is subject to annual freeze/thaw cycles. The active layer plays a crucial role in surface processes, surface hydrology, and vegetation succession; furthermore, trapped methane, carbon dioxide, and other greenhouse gases in permafrost are released into the atmosphere as permafrost thaws. A detailed understanding of active layer dynamics is therefore critical towards understanding the interactions between permafrost surface processes, freeze/thaw cycles, and climate-especially in regions across the Arctic subject to long-term permafrost degradation. The Yukon-Kuskokwim (YK) delta in southwestern Alaska is a region of discontinuous permafrost characterized by surface lakes, wetlands, and thermokarst depressions. Furthermore, extensive wildfires have burned across the YK delta in 2006, 2007, and 2015, impacting vegetation cover, surface soil moisture, and the active layer. Using data from the ALOS PALSAR, ALOS-2 PALSAR-2, and Sentinel-1A/B space borne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) systems, we generate a series of interferograms over a study site in the YK delta spanning 2007-2011, and 2014-present. Using the ReSALT (Remotely-Sensed Active Layer Thickness) technique, we demonstrate that active layer can be characterized over most of the site from the relative interferometric phase difference due to ground subsidence and rebound associated with the seasonal active layer freeze/thaw cycle. Additionally, we show that this technique successfully discriminates between burned and unburned regions, and can resolve increases in active layer thickness in burned regions on the order of 10's of cms. We use the time series of interferograms to discuss permafrost recovery following wildfire burn, and compare our InSAR observations with GPR and active layer probing data from a 2016 summer field campaign to the study site. Finally, we compare the advantages and disadvantages of

Využitelnost satelitní radarové interferometrie pro geomorfologický výzkum na příkladu poddolovaného území Karvinska

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Kadlečík, Pavel

2013-01-01

Roč. 46, Prosinec (2013), s. 305-308 ISSN 0514-8057 Institutional support: RVO:67985891 Keywords : Upper Silesian basin * undermining area * subsidence * InSAR Subject RIV: DB - Geology ; Mineralogy http://www.geology.cz/zpravy/obsah/2012/Zpravy_2012-61.pdf

Applications of interferometrically derived terrain slopes: Normalization of SAR backscatter and the interferometric correlation coefficient

Science.gov (United States)

Werner, Charles L.; Wegmueller, Urs; Small, David L.; Rosen, Paul A.

1994-01-01

Terrain slopes, which can be measured with Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) interferometry either from a height map or from the interferometric phase gradient, were used to calculate the local incidence angle and the correct pixel area. Both are required for correct thematic interpretation of SAR data. The interferometric correlation depends on the pixel area projected on a plane perpendicular to the look vector and requires correction for slope effects. Methods for normalization of the backscatter and interferometric correlation for ERS-1 SAR are presented.

Analysis of vertical movements detected by radar interferometry in urban areas

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Kadlečík, Pavel; Schenk, Vladimír; Seidlová, Zuzana; Schenková, Zdeňka

2010-01-01

Roč. 7, č. 3 (2010), s. 371-380 ISSN 1214-9705. [Czech-Polish Workshop on Recent Geodynamics of the Sudety Mts. and Adjacent Areas /10./. Szklarska Poreba, 05.11.2009-07.11.2009] R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) LC506; GA AV ČR 1QS300460551 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z30460519 Keywords : InSAR * PSI * subsidence Subject RIV: DE - Earth Magnetism, Geodesy, Geography Impact factor: 0.452, year: 2010 www.irsm.cas.cz/abstracts/AGG/03_10/15_Kadlecik.pdf

SAR Product Improvements and Enhancements - SARprises

Science.gov (United States)

2013-09-30

paper on current fields at Orkney, Scotland, was accepted for publication in IEEE - TGARS and is currently in press (available on IEEE Xplore as Early...Sea surface velocity vector retrieval using dual-beam interferometry: First demonstration, IEEE TGARS, 43, 2494- 2502, 2005. [2] Chapron, B., F...Bight by airborne along-track interferometric SAR, Proc. IGARSS 2002, 1822-1824, IEEE , 2002. [4] Bjerklie, D.M., S.L. Dingman, C.J. Vorosmarty, C.H

Spatiotemporal characteristics of the Huangtupo landslide in the Three Gorges region (China) constrained by radar interferometry

Science.gov (United States)

Tomás, R.; Li, Z.; Liu, P.; Singleton, A.; Hoey, T.; Cheng, X.

2014-04-01

The Huangtupo landslide is one of the largest in the Three Gorges region, China. The county-seat town of Badong, located on the south shore between the Xiling and Wu gorges of the Yangtze River, was moved to this unstable slope prior to the construction of the Three Gorges Project, since the new Three Gorges reservoir completely submerged the location of the old city. The instability of the slope is affecting the new town by causing residential safety problems. The Huangtupo landslide provides scientists an opportunity to understand landslide response to fluctuating river water level and heavy rainfall episodes, which is essential to decide upon appropriate remediation measures. Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) techniques provide a very useful tool for the study of superficial and spatially variable displacement phenomena. In this paper, three sets of radar data have been processed to investigate the Huangtupo landslide. Results show that maximum displacements are affecting the northwest zone of the slope corresponding to Riverside slumping mass I#. The other main landslide bodies (i.e. Riverside slumping mass II#, Substation landslide and Garden Spot landslide) exhibit a stable behaviour in agreement with in situ data, although some active areas have been recognized in the foot of the Substation landslide and Garden Spot landslide. InSAR has allowed us to study the kinematic behaviour of the landslide and to identify its active boundaries. Furthermore, the analysis of the InSAR displacement time-series has helped recognize the different displacement patterns on the slope and their relationships with various triggering factors. For those persistent scatterers, which exhibit long-term displacements, they can be decomposed into a creep model (controlled by geological conditions) and a superimposed recoverable term (dependent on external factors), which appears closely correlated with reservoir water level changes close to the river's edge. These

Building Deformation Assessment by Means of Persistent Scatterer Interferometry Analysis on a Landslide-Affected Area: The Volterra (Italy Case Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Silvia Bianchini

2015-04-01

Full Text Available In recent years, space-borne InSAR (interferometric synthetic aperture radar techniques have shown their capabilities to provide precise measurements of Earth surface displacements for monitoring natural processes. Landslides threaten human lives and structures, especially in urbanized areas, where the density of elements at risk sensitive to ground movements is high. The methodology described in this paper aims at detecting terrain motions and building deformations at the local scale, by means of satellite radar data combined with in situ validation campaigns. The proposed approach consists of deriving maximum settlement directions of the investigated buildings from displacement data revealed by radar measurements and then in the cross-comparison of these values with background geological data, constructive features and on-field evidence. This validation permits better understanding whether or not the detected movements correspond to visible and effective damages to buildings. The method has been applied to the southwestern sector of Volterra (Tuscany region, Italy, which is a landslide-affected and partially urbanized area, through the use of COSMO-SkyMed satellite images as input data. Moreover, we discuss issues and possible misinterpretations when dealing with PSI (Persistent Scatterer Interferometry data referring to single manufactures and the consequent difficulty of attributing the motion rate to ground displacements, rather than to structural failures.

Absolute water storages in the Congo River floodplains from integration of InSAR and satellite radar altimetry

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, H.; Yuan, T.; Jung, H. C.; Aierken, A.; Beighley, E.; Alsdorf, D. E.; Tshimanga, R.; Kim, D.

2017-12-01

Floodplains delay the transport of water, dissolved matter and sediments by storing water during flood peak seasons. Estimation of water storage over the floodplains is essential to understand the water balances in the fluvial systems and the role of floodplains in nutrient and sediment transport. However, spatio-temporal variations of water storages over floodplains are not well known due to their remoteness, vastness, and high temporal variability. In this study, we propose a new method to estimate absolute water storages over the floodplains by establishing relations between water depths (d) and water volumes (V) using 2-D water depth maps from the integration of Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) and altimetry measurements. We applied this method over the Congo River floodplains and modeled the d-V relation using a power function (note that d-V indicates relation between d and V, not d minus V), which revealed the cross-section geometry of the floodplains as a convex curve. Then, we combined this relation and Envisat altimetry measurements to construct time series of floodplain's absolute water storages from 2002 to 2011. Its mean annual amplitude over the floodplains ( 7,777 km2) is 3.860.59 km3 with peaks in December, which lags behind total water storage (TWS) changes from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and precipitation changes from Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) by about one month. The results also exhibit inter-annual variability, with maximum water volume to be 5.9 +- 0.72 km3 in the wet year of 2002 and minimum volume to be 2.01 +- 0.63 km3 in the dry year of 2005. The inter-annual variation of water storages can be explained by the changes of precipitation from TRMM.

Digital elevation model generation from satellite interferometric synthetic aperture radar: Chapter 5

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Zhong; Dzurisin, Daniel; Jung, Hyung-Sup; Zhang, Lei; Lee, Wonjin; Lee, Chang-Wook

2012-01-01

An accurate digital elevation model (DEM) is a critical data set for characterizing the natural landscape, monitoring natural hazards, and georeferencing satellite imagery. The ideal interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) configuration for DEM production is a single-pass two-antenna system. Repeat-pass single-antenna satellite InSAR imagery, however, also can be used to produce useful DEMs. DEM generation from InSAR is advantageous in remote areas where the photogrammetric approach to DEM generation is hindered by inclement weather conditions. There are many sources of errors in DEM generation from repeat-pass InSAR imagery, for example, inaccurate determination of the InSAR baseline, atmospheric delay anomalies, and possible surface deformation because of tectonic, volcanic, or other sources during the time interval spanned by the images. This chapter presents practical solutions to identify and remove various artifacts in repeat-pass satellite InSAR images to generate a high-quality DEM.

Tectonic setting of the Wooded Island earthquake swarm, eastern Washington

Science.gov (United States)

Blakely, Richard J.; Sherrod, Brian L.; Weaver, Craig S.; Rohay, Alan C.; Wells, Ray E.

2012-01-01

Magnetic anomalies provide insights into the tectonic implications of a swarm of ~1500 shallow (~1 km deep) earthquakes that occurred in 2009 on the Hanford site,Washington. Epicenters were concentrated in a 2 km2 area nearWooded Island in the Columbia River. The largest earthquake (M 3.0) had first motions consistent with slip on a northwest-striking reverse fault. The swarm was accompanied by 35 mm of vertical surface deformation, seen in satellite interferometry (InSAR), interpreted to be caused by ~50 mm of slip on a northwest-striking reverse fault and associated bedding-plane fault in the underlying Columbia River Basalt Group (CRBG). A magnetic anomaly over exposed CRBG at Yakima Ridge 40 km northwest of Wooded Island extends southeastward beyond the ridge to the Columbia River, suggesting that the Yakima Ridge anticline and its associated thrust fault extend southeastward in the subsurface. In map view, the concealed anticline passes through the earthquake swarm and lies parallel to reverse faults determined from first motions and InSAR data. A forward model of the magnetic anomaly near Wooded Island is consistent with uplift of concealed CRBG, with the top surface swarm and the thrust and bedding-plane faults modeled from interferometry all fall within the northeastern limb of the faulted anticline. Although fluids may be responsible for triggering the Wooded Island earthquake swarm, the seismic and aseismic deformation are consistent with regional-scale tectonic compression across the concealed Yakima Ridge anticline.

Rapid uplift in Laguna del Maule volcanic field of the Andean Southern Volcanic Zone (Chile) measured by satellite radar interferometry

Science.gov (United States)

Feigl, K.; Ali, T.; Singer, B. S.; Pesicek, J. D.; Thurber, C. H.; Jicha, B. R.; Lara, L. E.; Hildreth, E. W.; Fierstein, J.; Williams-Jones, G.; Unsworth, M. J.; Keranen, K. M.

2011-12-01

The Laguna del Maule (LdM) volcanic field of the Andean Southern Volcanic Zone extends over 500 square kilometers and comprises more than 130 individual vents. As described by Hildreth et al. (2010), the history has been defined from sixty-eight Ar/Ar and K-Ar dates. Silicic eruptions have occurred throughout the past 3.7 Ma, including welded ignimbrite associated with caldera formation at 950 ka, small rhyolitic eruptions between 336 and 38 ka, and a culminating ring of 36 post-glacial rhyodacite and rhyolite coulees and domes that encircle the lake. Dating of five post-glacial flows implies that these silicic eruptions occurred within the last 25 kyr. Field relations indicate that initial eruptions comprised modest volumes of mafic rhyodacite magma that were followed by larger volumes of high silica rhyolite. The post-glacial flare-up of silicic magmatism from vents distributed around the lake, is unprecedented in the history of this volcanic field. Using satellite radar interferometry (InSAR), Fournier et al. (2010) measured uplift at a rate of more than 180 mm/year between 2007 and 2008 in a round pattern centered on the west side of LdM. More recent InSAR observations suggest that rapid uplift has continued from 2008 through early 2011. In contrast, Fournier et al. found no measurable deformation in an interferogram spanning 2003 through 2004. In this study, we model the deformation field using the General Inversion of Phase Technique (GIPhT), as described by Feigl and Thurber (2009). Two different models fit the data. The first model assumes a sill at ~5 km depth has been inflating at a rate of more than 20 million cubic meters per year since 2007. The second model assumes that the water level in the lake dropped at a rate of 20 m/yr from January 2007 through February 2010, thus reducing the load on an elastic simulation of the crust. The rate of intrusion inferred from InSAR is an order of magnitude higher than the average rate derived from well-dated arc

Beyond PSInSAR: the SQUEESAR Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Ferretti, A.; Novali, F.; Fumagalli, A.; Prati, C.; Rocca, F.; Rucci, A.

2009-12-01

After a decade since the first results on ERS data, Permanent Scatterer (PS) InSAR has become an operational technology for detecting and monitoring slow surface deformation phenomena such as subsidence and uplift, landslides, seismic fault creeping, volcanic inflation, etc. Processing procedures have been continuously updated, but the core of the algorithm has not been changed significantly. As well known, in PSInSAR, the main target is the identification of individual pixels that exhibit a “PS behavior”, i.e. they are only slightly affected by both temporal and geometrical decorrelation. Typically, these scatterers correspond to man-made objects, but PS have been identified also in non-urban areas, where exposed rocks or outcrops can indeed create good radar benchmarks and enable high-quality displacement measurements. Contrary to interferogram stacking techniques, PS analyses are carried out on a pixel-by-pixel basis, with no filtering of the interferograms, in order to preserve phase values from possible incoherent clutter surrounding good radar targets. In fact, any filtering process implies a spatial smoothing of the data that could compromise - rather than improve - phase coherence, at least for isolated PS. Although the PS approach usually allows one to retrieve high quality deformation measurements on a sparse grid of good radar targets, in some datasets it is quite evident how the number of pixels where some information can be extracted could be significantly increased by relaxing the hypothesis on target coherence and searching for pixels where the coherence level is high enough at least in some interferograms of the data-stack, not necessarily all. The idea of computing a “coherence matrix” for each pixel of the area of interest have been already proposed in previous papers, together with a statistical estimation of some physical parameters of interest (e.g. the average displacement rate) based on the covariance matrix. In past publications

Multi-static MIMO along track interferometry (ATI)

Science.gov (United States)

Knight, Chad; Deming, Ross; Gunther, Jake

2016-05-01

Along-track interferometry (ATI) has the ability to generate high-quality synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images and concurrently detect and estimate the positions of ground moving target indicators (GMTI) with moderate processing requirements. This paper focuses on several different ATI system configurations, with an emphasis on low-cost configurations employing no active electronic scanned array (AESA). The objective system has two transmit phase centers and four receive phase centers and supports agile adaptive radar behavior. The advantages of multistatic, multiple input multiple output (MIMO) ATI system configurations are explored. The two transmit phase centers can employ a ping-pong configuration to provide the multistatic behavior. For example, they can toggle between an up and down linear frequency modulated (LFM) waveform every other pulse. The four receive apertures are considered in simple linear spatial configurations. Simulated examples are examined to understand the trade space and verify the expected results. Finally, actual results are collected with the Space Dynamics Laboratorys (SDL) FlexSAR system in diverse configurations. The theory, as well as the simulated and actual SAR results, are presented and discussed.

An improved data integration algorithm to constrain the 3D displacement field induced by fast deformation phenomena tested on the Napa Valley earthquake

Science.gov (United States)

Polcari, Marco; Fernández, José; Albano, Matteo; Bignami, Christian; Palano, Mimmo; Stramondo, Salvatore

2017-12-01

In this work, we propose an improved algorithm to constrain the 3D ground displacement field induced by fast surface deformations due to earthquakes or landslides. Based on the integration of different data, we estimate the three displacement components by solving a function minimization problem from the Bayes theory. We exploit the outcomes from SAR Interferometry (InSAR), Global Positioning System (GNSS) and Multiple Aperture Interferometry (MAI) to retrieve the 3D surface displacement field. Any other source of information can be added to the processing chain in a simple way, being the algorithm computationally efficient. Furthermore, we use the intensity Pixel Offset Tracking (POT) to locate the discontinuity produced on the surface by a sudden deformation phenomenon and then improve the GNSS data interpolation. This approach allows to be independent from other information such as in-situ investigations, tectonic studies or knowledge of the data covariance matrix. We applied such a method to investigate the ground deformation field related to the 2014 Mw 6.0 Napa Valley earthquake, occurred few kilometers from the San Andreas fault system.

Estimation of small surface displacements in the Upper Rhine Graben area from a combined analysis of PS-InSAR, levelling and GNSS data

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Fuhrmann, T.; Caro Cuenca, M.; Knöpfler, A.; Leijen, F.J. van; Mayer, M.; Westerhaus, M.; Hanssen, R.F.; Heck, B.

2015-01-01

The intra-plate deformation of the Upper Rhine Graben (URG) located in Central Europe is investigated using geodetic measurement techniques. We present a new approach to calculate a combined velocity field from InSAR, levelling and GNSS measurements. As the expected tectonic movements in the URG

Unravelling InSAR observed Antarctic ice-shelf flexure using 2-D elastic and viscoelastic modelling

Science.gov (United States)

Wild, Christian T.; Marsh, Oliver J.; Rack, Wolfgang

2018-04-01

Ice-shelf grounding zones link the Antarctic ice-sheets to the ocean. Differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar (DInSAR) is commonly used to monitor grounding-line locations, but also contains information on grounding-zone ice thickness, ice properties and tidal conditions beneath the ice shelf. Here, we combine in-situ data with numerical modelling of ice-shelf flexure to investigate 2-D controls on the tidal bending pattern on the Southern McMurdo Ice Shelf. We validate our results with 9 double-differential TerraSAR-X interferograms. It is necessary to make adjustments to the tidal forcing to directly compare observations with model output and we find that when these adjustments are small (tide models are required to allow for the full exploitation of DInSAR in grounding-zone glaciology.

Applying persistent scatterer interferometry for surface displacement mapping in the Azul open pit manganese mine (Amazon region) with TerraSAR-X StripMap data

Science.gov (United States)

Athayde Pinto, Carolina de; Paradella, Waldir Renato; Mura, José Claudio; Gama, Fabio Furlan; Ribeiro dos Santos, Athos; Silva, Guilherme Gregório; Hartwig, Marcos Eduardo

2015-01-01

The Azul mining complex, located in the Carajás Mineral Province, Amazon region, encompasses the most important manganese mine in Brazil. Vale S.A. company operates three simultaneous open pit excavations (mines 1, 2, and 3) in the area, which are conducted on rock alteration products of low geomechanical quality related to sandstones, siltstones, and a lateritic cover. In order to monitor ground deformation, 33 TerraSAR-X (TSX-1) StripMap images covering the period of March 2012-April 2013 were used in the investigation. An advanced differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar (A-DInSAR) approach based on persistent scatterer interferometry (PSI) using an interferometric point target analysis algorithm was applied, and the results showed that most of the area was considered stable during the time span of the synthetic aperture radar acquisitions. However, persistent scatterers (PS) with high deformation rates were mapped over a waste pile, probably related to settlements, and also along the north flank of mine 1, indicative of cut slope movements toward the center of the pit. A spatial relationship of geological structures with PS was observed for this sector of the mine, given by PS showing deformation rates concentrated along a structural corridor with faults, fractures, and folds related to the Carajás fault system. Though only ground-based radar measurements for wall benches of mine 1 were available for a short time period of the TSX-1 coverage, the PS movement patterns showed concordance with geotechnical field measurements. The investigation emphasized the important role that satellite-based A-DInSAR can play for deformation monitoring and risk assessment in this kind of mining area.

3D OBJECT COORDINATES EXTRACTION BY RADARGRAMMETRY AND MULTI STEP IMAGE MATCHING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Eftekhari

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Nowadays by high resolution SAR imaging systems as Radarsat-2, TerraSAR-X and COSMO-skyMed, three-dimensional terrain data extraction using SAR images is growing. InSAR and Radargrammetry are two most common approaches for removing 3D object coordinate from SAR images. Research has shown that extraction of terrain elevation data using satellite repeat pass interferometry SAR technique due to atmospheric factors and the lack of coherence between the images in areas with dense vegetation cover is a problematic. So the use of Radargrammetry technique can be effective. Generally height derived method by Radargrammetry consists of two stages: Images matching and space intersection. In this paper we propose a multi-stage algorithm founded on the combination of feature based and area based image matching. Then the RPCs that calculate for each images use for extracting 3D coordinate in matched points. At the end, the coordinates calculating that compare with coordinates extracted from 1 meters DEM. The results show root mean square errors for 360 points are 3.09 meters. We use a pair of spotlight TerraSAR-X images from JAM (IRAN in this article.

Use of SAR data for proliferation monitoring

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lafitte, M.; Robin, J.P.

2013-01-01

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is an active and coherent system. SAR images are complex data which contain both amplitude and phase information. The analysis of single SAR data required a very good experience and a good understanding of SAR geometry regarding layover, shadowing, texture and speckle. Image analyst can depicts and describes most of the facilities related to nuclear proliferation and weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The Amplitude Change Detection (ACD) technique consists of a combination of two or three SAR amplitude data acquired with similar orbit and frequency parameters on different dates. That technique provides a very good overview of the changes and particularly regarding vehicles activity and constructions ongoing within the area of interest over the monitoring period. One of the particularities of the SAR systems is to be coherent. The phase of a single image is not exploitable. Thus when two or more SAR data have been acquired with identical orbit and frequency parameters, the phases shift are indicators of changes such as structural changes, terrain subsidence or motion. The Multi-Temporal Coherence (MTC) product merged the two type of information previously detailed: the ACD and coherence analysis. It consists of the combination of two amplitude images and the corresponding coherence computed image. The MTC image may highlights changes between two states of a target which on the ACD analysis appeared unchanged. EUSC uses the difference interferometry techniques in order to estimate volumes that have changed between two acquisition dates. The paper is followed by the slides of the presentation. (A.C.)

SAR and LIDAR fusion: experiments and applications

Science.gov (United States)

Edwards, Matthew C.; Zaugg, Evan C.; Bradley, Joshua P.; Bowden, Ryan D.

2013-05-01

In recent years ARTEMIS, Inc. has developed a series of compact, versatile Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) systems which have been operated on a variety of small manned and unmanned aircraft. The multi-frequency-band SlimSAR has demonstrated a variety of capabilities including maritime and littoral target detection, ground moving target indication, polarimetry, interferometry, change detection, and foliage penetration. ARTEMIS also continues to build upon the radar's capabilities through fusion with other sensors, such as electro-optical and infrared camera gimbals and light detection and ranging (LIDAR) devices. In this paper we focus on experiments and applications employing SAR and LIDAR fusion. LIDAR is similar to radar in that it transmits a signal which, after being reflected or scattered by a target area, is recorded by the sensor. The differences are that a LIDAR uses a laser as a transmitter and optical sensors as a receiver, and the wavelengths used exhibit a very different scattering phenomenology than the microwaves used in radar, making SAR and LIDAR good complementary technologies. LIDAR is used in many applications including agriculture, archeology, geo-science, and surveying. Some typical data products include digital elevation maps of a target area and features and shapes extracted from the data. A set of experiments conducted to demonstrate the fusion of SAR and LIDAR data include a LIDAR DEM used in accurately processing the SAR data of a high relief area (mountainous, urban). Also, feature extraction is used in improving geolocation accuracy of the SAR and LIDAR data.

Polarimetric Scattering Properties of Landslides in Forested Areas and the Dependence on the Local Incidence Angle

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Takashi Shibayama

2015-11-01

Full Text Available This paper addresses the local incidence angle dependence of several polarimetric indices corresponding to landslides in forested areas. Landslide is deeply related to the loss of human lives and their property. Various kinds of remote sensing techniques, including aerial photography, high-resolution optical satellite imagery, LiDAR and SAR interferometry (InSAR, have been available for landslide investigations. SAR polarimetry is potentially an effective measure to investigate landslides because fully-polarimetric SAR (PolSAR data contain more information compared to conventional single- or dual-polarization SAR data. However, research on landslide recognition utilizing polarimetric SAR (PolSAR is quite limited. Polarimetric properties of landslides have not been examined quantitatively so far. Accordingly, we examined the polarimetric scattering properties of landslides by an assessment of how the decomposed scattering power components and the polarimetric correlation coefficient change with the local incidence angle. In the assessment, PolSAR data acquired from different directions with both spaceborne and airborne SARs were utilized. It was found that the surface scattering power and the polarimetric correlation coefficient of landslides significantly decrease with the local incidence angle, while these indices of surrounding forest do not. This fact leads to establishing a method of effective detection of landslide area by polarimetric information.

A Simple Model to Describe the Relationship among Rainfall, Groundwater and Land Subsidence under a Heterogeneous Aquifer

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Y. Y.; Chen, Y. L.; Lin, H. R.; Huang, S. Y.; Yeh, T. C. J.; Wen, J. C.

2017-12-01

Land subsidence is a very serious problem of Zhuoshui River alluvial fan, Taiwan. The main reason of land subsidence is a compression of soil, but the compression measured in the wide area is very extensive (Maryam et al., 2013; Linlin et al., 2014). Chen et al. [2010] studied the linear relationship between groundwater level and subsurface altitude variations from Global Positioning System (GPS) station in Zhuoshui River alluvial fan. But the subsurface altitude data were only from two GPS stations. Their distributions are spared and small, not enough to express the altitude variations of Zhuoshui River alluvial fan. Hung et al. [2011] used Interferometry Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) to measure the surface subsidence in Zhuoshui River alluvial fan, but haven't compared with groundwater level. The study compares the correlation between rainfall events and groundwater level and compares the correlation between groundwater level and subsurface altitude, these two correlation affected by heterogeneous soil. From these relationships, a numerical model is built to simulate the land subsidence variations and estimate the coefficient of aquifer soil compressibility. Finally, the model can estimate the long-term land subsidence. Keywords: Land Subsidence, InSAR, Groundwater Level, Numerical Model, Correlation Analyses

Non-Cooperative Bistatic SAR Clock Drift Compensation for Tomographic Acquisitions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mario Azcueta

2017-10-01

Full Text Available In the last years, an important amount of research has been headed towards the measurement of above-ground forest biomass with polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR tomography techniques. This has motivated the proposal of future bistatic SAR missions, like the recent non-cooperative SAOCOM-CS and PARSIFAL from CONAE and ESA. It is well known that the quality of SAR tomography is directly related to the phase accuracy of the interferometer that, in the case of non-cooperative systems, can be particularly affected by the relative drift between onboard clocks. In this letter, we provide insight on the impact of the clock drift error on bistatic interferometry, as well as propose a correction algorithm to compensate its effect. The accuracy of the compensation is tested on simulated acquisitions over volumetric targets, estimating the final impact on tomographic profiles.

Combining TerraSAR-X and Landsat Images for Emergency Response in Urban Environments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shiran Havivi

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Rapid damage mapping following a disaster event, especially in an urban environment, is critical to ensure that the emergency response in the affected area is rapid and efficient. This work presents a new method for mapping damage assessment in urban environments. Based on combining SAR and optical data, the method is applicable as support during initial emergency planning and rescue operations. The study focuses on the urban areas affected by the Tohoku earthquake and subsequent tsunami event in Japan that occurred on 11 March 2011. High-resolution TerraSAR-X (TSX images of before and after the event, and a Landsat 5 image before the event were acquired. The affected areas were analyzed with the SAR data using only one interferometric SAR (InSAR coherence map. To increase the damage mapping accuracy, the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI was applied. The generated map, with a grid size of 50 m, provides a quantitative assessment of the nature and distribution of the damage. The damage mapping shows detailed information about the affected area, with high overall accuracy (89%, and high Kappa coefficient (82% and, as expected, it shows total destruction along the coastline compared to the inland region.

Dynamics of Kilauea's Magmatic System Imaged Using a Joint Analysis of Geodetic and Seismic Data

Science.gov (United States)

Wauthier, C.; Roman, D. C.; Poland, M. P.; Fukushima, Y.; Hooper, A. J.

2012-12-01

Nowadays, Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) is commonly used to study a wide range of active volcanic areas. InSAR provides high-spatial-resolution measurements of surface deformation with centimeter-scale accuracy. At Kilauea Volcano, Hawai'i, InSAR shows complex processes that are not well constrained by GPS data (which have relatively poor spatial resolution). However, GPS data have higher temporal resolution than InSAR data. Both datasets are thus complementary. To overcome some of the limitations of conventional InSAR, which are mainly induced by temporal decorrelation, topographic, orbital and atmospheric delays, a Multi-Temporal InSAR (MT-InSAR) approach can be used. MT-InSAR techniques involve the processing of multiple SAR acquisitions over the same area. Two classes of MT-InSAR algorithms are defined: the persistent scatterers (PS) and small baseline (SBAS) methods. Each method is designed for a specific type of scattering mechanism. A PS pixel is a pixel in which a single scatterer dominates, while the contributions from other scatterers are negligible. A SBAS pixel is a pixel that includes distributed scatterers, which have a phase with little decorrelation over short time periods. Here, we apply the "StaMPS" ("Stanford Method for Permanent Scatterers") technique, which incorporates both a PS and SBAS approach, on ENVISAT and ALOS datasets acquired from 2003 to 2010 at Kilauea. In particular, we focus our InSAR analysis on the time period before the June 2007 "Father's Day" dike intrusion and eruption, and also incorporate seismic and GPS data in our models. Our goal is to identify any precursors to the Father's Day event within Kilauea's summit magma system, east rift zone, and/or southwest rift zone.

Displacement field in Lorca (Murcia, Spain) subsidence area: Observation and modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Fernandez, J.; Camacho, A. G.; Luzon, F.; Prieto, J. F.; Escayo, J.; Rodríguez-Velasco, G.; Tiampo, K. F.; Palano, M.; Velasco, J.; Abajo, T.; Perez, E.; Gomez, I.; Herrero, T.; Bru, G.; Aguirre, J.; Mateos, H.

2017-12-01

The Lorca area, Alto Guadalentín Basin, located in southern Spain, is affected by the highest subsidence rates measured in Europe (about 10 cm/yr) produced by a long-term aquifer exploitation (González and Fernández, 2011). This subsidence has been studied using satellite radar interferometry (InSAR) using images from different satellites (ERS and ENVISAT radar data spanning the 1992 - 2007 period; ALOS PALSAR data for the period 2007-2010; and COSMO-SkyMed data for the period 2011-2012). González et al. (2012) found a relationship between the crust unloading produced by the groundwater overexploitation and the stress change on the regional active tectonic faults in relation with the May 2008 Lorca earthquake. The InSAR results have been compared with measurements acquired by two permanent GNSS stations located in the study area, and with geological and hydrogeological data collected and analyzed in order to assess aquifer system compressibility and groundwater level changes in the past 50 years. All the previous studies of the area were based on satellite radar interferometry using just ascending or descending acquisitions, without any combination among them, to obtain vertical and horizontal (E-W) components. However, it is important to obtain the 3D motion field in order to perform a correct interpretation of the observations, as well as to carry out an advanced numerical model of the aquifer evolution, to be consider for sustainable management plans of groundwater resources and hazard assessments. To solve this problem, we defined a GNSS network, and various surveys have been carried out, from November 2015, showing the regional 3D displacement field associated to the exploitation of the aquifer. GNSS and InSAR results has been compared, obtaining a good agreement. We present the results obtained from both techniques, the comparison between them, and interpretation results using different inversion techniques. REFERENCESGonzález, P.J., Fernández, J., 2011

Analysis on Vertical Scattering Signatures in Forestry with PolInSAR

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Shenglong; Li, Yang; Zhang, Jingjing; Hong, Wen

2014-11-01

We apply accurate topographic phase to the Freeman-Durden decomposition for polarimetric SAR interferometry (PolInSAR) data. The cross correlation matrix obtained from PolInSAR observations can be decomposed into three scattering mechanisms matrices accounting for the odd-bounce, double-bounce and volume scattering. We estimate the phase based on the Random volume over Ground (RVoG) model, and as the initial input parameter of the numerical method which is used to solve the parameters of decomposition. In addition, the modified volume scattering model introduced by Y. Yamaguchi is applied to the PolInSAR target decomposition in forest areas rather than the pure random volume scattering as proposed by Freeman-Durden to make best fit to the actual measured data. This method can accurately retrieve the magnitude associated with each mechanism and their vertical location along the vertical dimension. We test the algorithms with L- and P- band simulated data.

Osservazione dei fenomeni deformativi nel centro di Roma. Dall'applicazione di tecniche avanzate DInSAR, all'analisi qualitativa della natura del rumore dei dati COSMO Sky-Med

OpenAIRE

Massimo Morigi

2015-01-01

This work was created to focus the attention on a particular aspect of theequivocation (aliasing) of the measurements made with Differential SAR interferometry (DInSAR) X-band for the presence of snow. Such equivocationemerge after a careful interpretation of the results obtained through theapplication of techniques Advanced DInSAR (A-DInSAR) for the observation ofthe deformation phenomena of the monumental structures in the center ofRome. The qualitative analysis have enabled the identificat...

Mining Very High Resolution INSAR Data Based On Complex-GMRF Cues And Relevance Feedback

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Jagmal; Popescu, Anca; Soccorsi, Matteo; Datcu, Mihai

2012-01-01

With the increase in number of remote sensing satellites, the number of image-data scenes in our repositories is also increasing and a large quantity of these scenes are never received and used. Thus automatic retrieval of de- sired image-data using query by image content to fully utilize the huge repository volume is becoming of great interest. Generally different users are interested in scenes containing different kind of objects and structures. So its important to analyze all the image information mining (IIM) methods so that its easier for user to select a method depending upon his/her requirement. We concentrate our study only on high-resolution SAR images and we propose to use InSAR observations instead of only one single look complex (SLC) images for mining scenes containing coherent objects such as high-rise buildings. However in case of objects with less coherence like areas with vegetation cover, SLC images exhibits better performance. We demonstrate IIM performance comparison using complex-Gauss Markov Random Fields as texture descriptor for image patches and SVM relevance- feedback.

Recent Advances In Radar Polarimetry And Polarimetric SAR Interferometry

Science.gov (United States)

2007-02-01

progressing from “Classical X- Ray -Shadow-graphy” toward “functional Magnetic Resonant Imaging (fMRI)”. Classical Amplitude-Only Radar & SAR, and “Scalar...Chipman, R. A, and J. W. Morris, eds. 1990, Polarimetry: Radar, Infrared, Visible, Ultraviolet, X- Ray , Proc. SPIE-1317 ( also see SPIE Proc. 891... Oldenburg Verlag, Munich 1999, 88 p. [173] Mott, H. and W-M. Boerner, 1992, editors, “Radar Polarimetry, SPIE’s Annual Mtg., Polarimetry Conference

Rupture process of the 2016 Mw 7.8 Ecuador earthquake from joint inversion of InSAR data and teleseismic P waveforms

Science.gov (United States)

Yi, Lei; Xu, Caijun; Wen, Yangmao; Zhang, Xu; Jiang, Guoyan

2018-01-01

The 2016 Ecuador earthquake ruptured the Ecuador-Colombia subduction interface where several historic megathrust earthquakes had occurred. In order to determine a detailed rupture model, Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) images and teleseismic data sets were objectively weighted by using a modified Akaika's Bayesian Information Criterion (ABIC) method to jointly invert for the rupture process of the earthquake. In modeling the rupture process, a constrained waveform length method, unlike the traditional subjective selected waveform length method, was used since the lengths of inverted waveforms were strictly constrained by the rupture velocity and rise time (the slip duration time). The optimal rupture velocity and rise time of the earthquake were estimated from grid search, which were determined to be 2.0 km/s and 20 s, respectively. The inverted model shows that the event is dominated by thrust movement and the released moment is 5.75 × 1020 Nm (Mw 7.77). The slip distribution extends southward along the Ecuador coast line in an elongated stripe at a depth between 10 and 25 km. The slip model is composed of two asperities and slipped over 4 m. The source time function is approximate 80 s that separated into two segments corresponding to the two asperities. The small magnitude of the slip occurred in the updip section of the fault plane resulted in small tsunami waves that were verified by observations near the coast. We suggest a possible situation that the rupture zone of the 2016 earthquake is likely not overlapped with that of the 1942 earthquake.

Activation of the SIGRIS monitoring system for ground deformation mapping during the Emilia 2012 seismic sequence, using COSMO-SkyMed InSAR data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stefano Salvi

2012-10-01

Full Text Available On May 20, 2012, at 02:03 UTC, a moderate earthquake of local magnitude, Ml 5.9 started a seismic sequence in the central Po Plain of northern Italy The mainshock occurred in an area where seismicity of comparable magnitude has neither been recorded nor reported in the historical record over the last 1,000 years. The aftershock sequence evolved rapidly near the epicenter, with diminishing magnitudes until May 29, 2012, when at 07:00 UTC a large earthquake of Ml 5.8 occurred 12 km WSW of the mainshock, starting a new seismic sequence in the western area; a total of seven earthquakes with Ml >5 occurred in the area between May 20 and June 3, 2012. Immediately after the mainshock, the Italian Department of Civil Protection requested the Italian Space Agency to activate the Constellation of Small Satellites for Mediterranean Basin Observation (COSMO-SkyMed to provide Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR coverage of the area. COSMO-SkyMed consists of four satellites in a 16-day repeat-pass cycle, with each carrying the same SAR payload. In the current orbital configuration, within each 16-day cycle, image pairs with temporal baselines of 1, 3, 4 and 8 days can be formed from the images acquired by the four different sensors. Combined with the availability of a wide range of electronically steered antenna beams with incidence angles ranging from about 16˚ to 50˚ at near-range, this capability allows trade-offs between temporal and spatial coverage to be exploited during acquisition planning. A joint team involving the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV and the Istituto per il Rilevamento Elettromagnetico dell'Ambiente (IREA-CNR was activated to generate InSAR-based scientific products to support the emergency management. In this framework, the ASI and DPC requested that INGV activated the Space-based Monitoring System for Seismic Risk Management (SIGRIS. SIGRIS consists of a hardware/software infrastructure that is

First Image Products from EcoSAR - Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica

Science.gov (United States)

Osmanoglu, Batuhan; Lee, SeungKuk; Rincon, Rafael; Fatuyinbo, Lola; Bollian, Tobias; Ranson, Jon

2016-01-01

Designed especially for forest ecosystem studies, EcoSAR employs state-of-the-art digital beamforming technology to generate wide-swath, high-resolution imagery. EcoSARs dual antenna single-pass imaging capability eliminates temporal decorrelation from polarimetric and interferometric analysis, increasing the signal strength and simplifying models used to invert forest structure parameters. Antennae are physically separated by 25 meters providing single pass interferometry. In this mode the radar is most sensitive to topography. With 32 active transmit and receive channels, EcoSARs digital beamforming is an order of magnitude more versatile than the digital beamforming employed on the upcoming NISAR mission. EcoSARs long wavelength (P-band, 435 MHz, 69 cm) measurements can be used to simulate data products for ESAs future BIOMASS mission, allowing scientists to develop algorithms before the launch of the satellite. EcoSAR can also be deployed to collect much needed data where BIOMASS satellite wont be allowed to collect data (North America, Europe and Arctic), filling in the gaps to keep a watchful eye on the global carbon cycle. EcoSAR can play a vital role in monitoring, reporting and verification schemes of internationals programs such as UN-REDD (United Nations Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) benefiting global society. EcoSAR was developed and flown with support from NASA Earth Sciences Technology Offices Instrument Incubator Program.

GPS Position Time Series @ JPL

Science.gov (United States)

Owen, Susan; Moore, Angelyn; Kedar, Sharon; Liu, Zhen; Webb, Frank; Heflin, Mike; Desai, Shailen

2013-01-01

Different flavors of GPS time series analysis at JPL - Use same GPS Precise Point Positioning Analysis raw time series - Variations in time series analysis/post-processing driven by different users. center dot JPL Global Time Series/Velocities - researchers studying reference frame, combining with VLBI/SLR/DORIS center dot JPL/SOPAC Combined Time Series/Velocities - crustal deformation for tectonic, volcanic, ground water studies center dot ARIA Time Series/Coseismic Data Products - Hazard monitoring and response focused center dot ARIA data system designed to integrate GPS and InSAR - GPS tropospheric delay used for correcting InSAR - Caltech's GIANT time series analysis uses GPS to correct orbital errors in InSAR - Zhen Liu's talking tomorrow on InSAR Time Series analysis

Using PS-InSAR data in landslide hazard management: the case of Veneto Region (NE Italy)

Science.gov (United States)

Floris, Mario; Viganò, Alessandro; Busnardo, Enrico; Arziliero, Luciano; Zanette, Doriano

2013-04-01

The Project Persistent Scatterers Interferometry, performed by the Italian Ministry of Environment and Territory of the Sea (METS) in the framework of the Extraordinary Plan of Environmental Remote Sensing, has made available a high quantity of data useful for local Authorities (Regions, Provinces, and Municipalities) in the management of the main geological hazards, such as landslides, subsidence, and sinkholes. The main output of the Project consists of ground displacements and velocities measured at target points over the entire Italian territory by using PS-InSAR processing technique applied to SAR data acquired by satellites ESA (European Space Agency) ERS-1 and ERS-2 (Earth Resources Satellite) and ENVISAT (Environmental Satellite) in the period 1992-2010. Description and results of the Project are available for public browsing at the geoportal of the METS (http://www.pcn.minambiente.it). On the basis of PS-InSAR data, several studies have been recently performed for the identification and characterization of landslides both at small and large scale. These studies led to a more precise delimitation of instable areas and to a better evaluation of the state of activity of mass movements. But, as now well known, interferometry techniques can't be applied to the whole territory due to geometric distortions in SAR data acquisition and to ground conditions. In this work we analyze the potentiality of PS-InSAR data from the Project Persistent Scatterers Interferometry in landslide hazard management of the Veneto Region, located in the north-eastern part of Italy. A synthetic description on the main features of landslides affecting the Region is reported, then the percentage of instabilities where PS-InSAR data can be used, is calculated. At the scale of the entire Region we suggest to follow the method proposed in the scientific literature to evaluate the state of activity of landslides on the basis of the measured velocities at the ground surface, while at local

Expressway deformation mapping using high-resolution TerraSAR-X images

KAUST Repository

Shi, Xuguo

2014-01-27

Monitoring deformation of linear infrastructures such as expressway and railway caused by natural processes or anthropogenic activities is a vital task to ensure the safety of human lives and properties. Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) has been widely recognized as an effective technology to carry out large-area surface deformation mapping. However, its application in linear infrastructure deformation monitoring has not been intensively studied till now. In this article, a modified Small BAseline Subset (SBAS) method is proposed to retrieve the deformation patterns of the expressway. In our method, only the point-like targets identified on the expressway were kept in our analysis, and two complementary subsets of interferograms were formed to better separate the signals of height error and deformation from inteferometric phase observations. We successfully applied this method with multitemporal high-resolution TerraSAR-X images to retrieve the spatialoral pattern of surface deformation along the Beian-Heihe expressway that is located in island-permafrost areas and threatened by geohazards. © 2014 Taylor & Francis.

Expressway deformation mapping using high-resolution TerraSAR-X images

KAUST Repository

Shi, Xuguo; Liao, Mingsheng; Wang, Teng; Zhang, Lu; Shan, Wei; Wang, Chunjiao

2014-01-01

Monitoring deformation of linear infrastructures such as expressway and railway caused by natural processes or anthropogenic activities is a vital task to ensure the safety of human lives and properties. Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) has been widely recognized as an effective technology to carry out large-area surface deformation mapping. However, its application in linear infrastructure deformation monitoring has not been intensively studied till now. In this article, a modified Small BAseline Subset (SBAS) method is proposed to retrieve the deformation patterns of the expressway. In our method, only the point-like targets identified on the expressway were kept in our analysis, and two complementary subsets of interferograms were formed to better separate the signals of height error and deformation from inteferometric phase observations. We successfully applied this method with multitemporal high-resolution TerraSAR-X images to retrieve the spatialoral pattern of surface deformation along the Beian-Heihe expressway that is located in island-permafrost areas and threatened by geohazards. © 2014 Taylor & Francis.

FEM-based linear inverse modeling using a 3D source array to image magma chambers with free geometry. Application to InSAR data from Rabaul Caldera (PNG).

Science.gov (United States)

Ronchin, Erika; Masterlark, Timothy; Dawson, John; Saunders, Steve; Martí Molist, Joan

2015-04-01

In this study, we present a method to fully integrate a family of finite element models (FEMs) into the regularized linear inversion of InSAR data collected at Rabaul caldera (PNG) between February 2007 and December 2010. During this period the caldera experienced a long-term steady subsidence that characterized surface movement both inside the caldera and outside, on its western side. The inversion is based on an array of FEM sources in the sense that the Green's function matrix is a library of forward numerical displacement solutions generated by the sources of an array common to all FEMs. Each entry of the library is the LOS surface displacement generated by injecting a unity mass of fluid, of known density and bulk modulus, into a different source cavity of the array for each FEM. By using FEMs, we are taking advantage of their capability of including topography and heterogeneous distribution of elastic material properties. All FEMs of the family share the same mesh in which only one source is activated at the time by removing the corresponding elements and applying the unity fluid flux. The domain therefore only needs to be discretized once. This precludes remeshing for each activated source, thus reducing computational requirements, often a downside of FEM-based inversions. Without imposing an a-priori source, the method allows us to identify, from a least-squares standpoint, a complex distribution of fluid flux (or change in pressure) with a 3D free geometry within the source array, as dictated by the data. The results of applying the proposed inversion to Rabaul InSAR data show a shallow magmatic system under the caldera made of two interconnected lobes located at the two opposite sides of the caldera. These lobes could be consistent with feeding reservoirs of the ongoing Tavuvur volcano eruption of andesitic products, on the eastern side, and of the past Vulcan volcano eruptions of more evolved materials, on the western side. The interconnection and

Report on workshop "Study of the Antarctic ice sheet and glacier using ERS-1/JERS-1 SAR data"

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Naohiko Hirasawa

1996-07-01

Full Text Available The main purpose of the workshop is to discuss recent results of Antarctic research using SAR data. It was held on February 6,1996 at the National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR, the number of participants being about 30. The contents of the workshop are demonstration of various SAR images, comparison with pictures from an airplane and visible images, comparison with observational data on ice conditions and demonstration of problems in interferometry.

Subsidence Evaluation of High-Speed Railway in Shenyang Based on Time-Series Insar

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yun; Wei, Lianhuan; Li, Jiayu; Liu, Shanjun; Mao, Yachun; Wu, Lixin

2018-04-01

More and more high-speed railway are under construction in China. The slow settlement along high-speed railway tracks and newly-built stations would lead to inhomogeneous deformation of local area, and the accumulation may be a threat to the safe operation of high-speed rail system. In this paper, surface deformation of the newly-built high-speed railway station as well as the railway lines in Shenyang region will be retrieved by time series InSAR analysis using multi-orbit COSMO-SkyMed images. This paper focuses on the non-uniform subsidence caused by the changing of local environment along the railway. The accuracy of the settlement results can be verified by cross validation of the results obtained from two different orbits during the same period.

Unsupervised SBAS-DInSAR Processing of Space-borne SAR data for Earth Surface Displacement Time Series Generation

Science.gov (United States)

Casu, F.; de Luca, C.; Lanari, R.; Manunta, M.; Zinno, I.

2016-12-01

During the last 25 years, the Differential Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (DInSAR) has played an important role for understanding the Earth's surface deformation and its dynamics. In particular, the large collections of SAR data acquired by a number of space-borne missions (ERS, ENVISAT, ALOS, RADARSAT, TerraSAR-X, COSMO-SkyMed) have pushed toward the development of advanced DInSAR techniques for monitoring the temporal evolution of the ground displacements with an high spatial density. Moreover, the advent of the Copernicus Sentinel-1 (S1) constellation is providing a further increase in the SAR data flow available to the Earth science community, due to its characteristics of global coverage strategy and free and open access data policy. Therefore, managing and storing such a huge amount of data, processing it in an effcient way and maximizing the available archives exploitation are becoming high priority issues. In this work we present some recent advances in the DInSAR field for dealing with the effective exploitation of the present and future SAR data archives. In particular, an efficient parallel SBAS implementation (namely P-SBAS) that takes benefit from high performance computing is proposed. Then, the P-SBAS migration to the emerging Cloud Computing paradigm is shown, together with extensive tests carried out in the Amazon's Elastic Cloud Compute (EC2) infrastructure. Finally, the integration of the P-SBAS processing chain within the ESA Geohazards Exploitation Platform (GEP), for setting up operational on-demand and systematic web tools, open to every user, aimed at automatically processing stacks of SAR data for the generation of SBAS displacement time series, is also illustrated. A number of experimental results obtained by using the ERS, ENVISAT and S1 data in areas characterized by volcanic, seismic and anthropogenic phenomena will be shown. This work is partially supported by: the DPC-CNR agreement, the EPOS-IP project and the ESA GEP project.

An airborne interferometric SAR system for high-performance 3D mapping

Science.gov (United States)

Lange, Martin; Gill, Paul

2009-05-01

With a vertical accuracy better than 1 m and collection rates up to 7000 km2/h, airborne interferometric synthetic aperture radars (InSAR) bridge the gap between space borne radar sensors and airborne optical LIDARs. This paper presents the latest generation of X-band InSAR sensors, developed by Intermap TechnologiesTM, which are operated on our four aircrafts. The sensors collect data for the NEXTMap(R) program - a digital elevation model (DEM) with 1 m vertical accuracy for the contiguous U.S., Hawaii, and most of Western Europe. For a successful operation, challenges like reduction of multipath reflections, very high interferometric phase stability, and a precise system calibration had to be mastered. Recent advances in sensor design, comprehensive system automation and diagnostics have increased the sensor reliability to a level where no radar operator is required onboard. Advanced flight planning significantly improved aircraft utilization and acquisition throughput, while reducing operational costs. Highly efficient data acquisition with straight flight lines up to 1200 km is daily routine meanwhile. The collected data pass though our automated processing cluster and finally are edited to our terrain model products. Extensive and rigorous quality control at every step of the workflow are key to maintain stable vertical accuracies of 1 m and horizontal accuracies of 2 m for our 3D maps. The combination of technical and operational advances presented in this paper enabled Intermap to survey two continents, producing 11 million km2 of uniform and accurate 3D terrain data.

Ground surface deformation patterns, magma supply, and magma storage at Okmok volcano, Alaska, from InSAR analysis: 2. Coeruptive deflation, July-August 2008

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Zhong; Dzurisin, Daniel

2010-01-01

A hydrovolcanic eruption near Cone D on the floor of Okmok caldera, Alaska, began on 12 July 2008 and continued until late August 2008. The eruption was preceded by inflation of a magma reservoir located beneath the center of the caldera and ∼3 km below sea level (bsl), which began immediately after Okmok's previous eruption in 1997. In this paper we use data from several radar satellites and advanced interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) techniques to produce a suite of 2008 coeruption deformation maps. Most of the surface deformation that occurred during the eruption is explained by deflation of a Mogi-type source located beneath the center of the caldera and 2–3 km bsl, i.e., essentially the same source that inflated prior to the eruption. During the eruption the reservoir deflated at a rate that decreased exponentially with time with a 1/e time constant of ∼13 days. We envision a sponge-like network of interconnected fractures and melt bodies that in aggregate constitute a complex magma storage zone beneath Okmok caldera. The rate at which the reservoir deflates during an eruption may be controlled by the diminishing pressure difference between the reservoir and surface. A similar mechanism might explain the tendency for reservoir inflation to slow as an eruption approaches until the pressure difference between a deep magma production zone and the reservoir is great enough to drive an intrusion or eruption along the caldera ring-fracture system.

Detection and Monitoring of Surface Motions in Active Open Pit Iron Mine in the Amazon Region, Using Persistent Scatterer Interferometry with TerraSAR-X Satellite Data

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Marcos E. Hartwig

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Persistent Scatterer interferometry (PSI represents a powerful tool for the detection and monitoring of tiny surface deformations in vast areas, allowing a better understanding of its triggering mechanisms, planning of mitigation measures, as well as to find better solutions for social and environmental issues. However, there is no record hitherto of its use in active open pit mine in tropical rainforest environment. In this paper we evaluate the use of the PSI technique for the detection and monitoring of mine slope deformations in the N4W iron mine and its surroundings, Pará State, Northern Brazil. The PSI processing was performed with 18 ascending SAR scenes of the TerraSAR-X satellite acquired in the dry season of 2012. The results showed a significant number of widely distributed persistent scatterers. It was observed that most of the study area was stable during the time span. Nevertheless, high deformation rates (312 mm/year were mapped over the mine waste piles, but do not offer any hazard, since they are expected displacements of meters in magnitude for these manmade land structures. Additionally, it was mapped tiny deformation rates in both the east and west flanks of pits 1 and 2. The main underlying reasons can be assigned to the accommodation phenomena of very poor rock masses, to the local geometric variations of the slope cuts, to the geological contact between ironstones and the country rocks, to the exploitation activities, as well as to the major geological structures. This study showed the applicability of the PSI technique using TerraSAR-X scenes in active open pit mines in tropical moist environment. However, the PSI technique is not capable in providing real-time warnings, and faces limitations due to SAR viewing geometry. In this sense, we strongly recommend the use of radar scenes acquired in both ascending and descending orbits, which would also provide a more complete understanding of the deformation patterns.

Integrating geomorphological mapping, InSAR, GPR and trenching for the identification and investigation of buried sinkholes in the mantled evaporite karst of the Ebro Valley (NE Spain)

Science.gov (United States)

Gutiérrez, Francisco; Galve, Jorge Pedro; Lucha, Pedro; Bonachea, Jaime; Castañeda, Carmen

2010-05-01

bedrock sagging. (2) Around 70% of the sinkholes have been filled by man-made ground. (3) Subsidence has caused severe damage to many human structures, primarily due to the ongoing activity of pre-existing buried sinkholes. Consequently, the identification of sinkholes is the key for preventive planning and the delineation of the main risk areas. A total of eleven sinkholes (S1-S11) covering around 20% of the study area were mapped. Six of the sinkholes were buried and the largest one (S8), which occupies approximately 35,500 m2, partially coincides with the area previously selected for the construction of a housing state. The investigation was developed in three main phases. A preliminary sinkhole map was produced in phase I using: (a) aerial photographs and satellite images from different dates (1927, 1957, 1984, 2003, 2006, 2007), (b) detailed topographical maps from 1969 (1:2000) and 1971-73 (1:1000) with contour intervals of 1 m, (c) thorough field surveys including interviews to local people and inspection to human structures, and (d) radar interferometry. Deformation measurements were obtained from 54 interferograms generated by means of the Stable Point Network technique with 23 ENVISAT images acquired from May 2003 to July 2008. The InSAR analysis provides data on the temporal evolution of the subsidence (magnitude and rate) for coherent 20 m-sized pixels. During phase II, 26 GPR profiles with a total length of 2,290 m were conducted using a 400 MHz antenna. In phase III, 13 backhoe trenches up to 2.8 m deep and totalling 323 m were investigated following the methodology commonly used in paleoseismological studies. Two samples were obtained for radiocarbon dating in a trench dug at the margin of sinkhole S8. The aerial photographs, specially the stereoscopic images taken in 1957, were the most useful tool for the identification of buried sinkholes. They allowed us the detection of 9 sinkholes out of 11. The topographical maps depict 7 of the inventoried sinkholes

Suitability Assessment of X-Band Satellite SAR Data for Geotechnical Monitoring of Site Scale Slow Moving Landslides

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Guadalupe Bru

2018-06-01

Full Text Available This work addresses the suitability of using X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR data for operational geotechnical monitoring of site scale slow moving landslides, affecting urban areas and infrastructures. The scale of these studies requires high resolution data. We propose a procedure for the practical use of SAR data in geotechnical landslides campaigns, that includes an appropriate dataset selection taking into account the scenario characteristics, a visibility analysis, and considerations when comparing advanced differential SAR interferometry (A-DInSAR results with other monitoring techniques. We have determined that Sentinel-2 satellite optical images are suited for performing high resolution land cover classifications, which results in the achievement of qualitative visibility maps. We also concluded that A-DInSAR is a very powerful and versatile tool for detailed scale landslide monitoring, although in combination with other instrumentation techniques.

The use of the DInSAR method in the monitoring of road damage caused by mining activities

Science.gov (United States)

Murdzek, Radosław; Malik, Hubert; Leśniak, Andrzej

2018-04-01

This paper reviews existing remote sensing methods of road damage detection and demonstrates the possibility of using DInSAR (Differential Interferometry SAR) method to identify endangered road sections. In this study two radar images collected by Sentinel-1 satellite have been used. Images were acquired with 24 days interval in 2015. The analysis allowed to estimate the scale of the post-mining deformation that occurred in Upper Silesia and to indicate areas where road infrastructure is particularly vulnerable to damage.

An InSAR survey of the central Andes: Constraints on magma chamber geometry and mass balance in a volcanic arc

Science.gov (United States)

Pritchard, M. E.; Simons, M.

2002-12-01

The central Andes (14-28o S) has a high density of volcanoes, but a sparse human population, such that the activity of most volcanoes is poorly constrained. We use InSAR to conduct the first systematic observations of deformation at nearly 900 volcanoes (about 50 of which are classified ``potentially active'') during the 1992-2002 time interval. We find volcanic deformation in four locations. Subsidence is seen at Robledo (or Cerro Blanco) caldera, Argentina. We observe inflation at the stratovolcano Uturuncu, Bolivia, near stratovolcano Hualca Hualca, Peru, and in a region not associated with any known edifice on the border between Chile and Argentina that we call ``Lazufre'' because it lies between volcanoes Lastarria and Cordon del Azufre. The deformation pattern can be well explained by a uniform point-source source of inflation or deflation, but we compare these model results with those from a tri-axial point-source ellipsoid to test the robustness of estimated source depth and source strength (inferred here to be volume change). We further explore the sensitivity of these parameters to elastic half-space and layered-space models of crustal structure, and the influence of local topography. Because only one satellite look direction is available for most time periods, a variety of models are consistent with our observations. If we assume that inflation is due solely to magmatic intrusion, we can compare the rate of magma intrusion to volcanic extrusion during the decade for which data is available and the longer-term geologic rate. For the last decade, the ratio of volume intruded to extruded is between about 1-10, which agrees with previous geologic estimates in this and other volcanic arcs. The combined rate of intrusion and extrusion is within an order of magnitude of the inferred geologic rate.

Wide-Area Landslide Deformation Mapping with Multi-Path ALOS PALSAR Data Stacks: A Case Study of Three Gorges Area, China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xuguo Shi

2016-02-01

Full Text Available In recent years, satellite synthetic aperture radar interferometry (InSAR has been adopted as a spaceborne geodetic tool to successfully measure surface deformation of a few well-known landslides in the Three Gorges area. In consideration of the fact that most events of slope failure happened at places other than those famous landslides since the reservoir impoundment in 2003, focusing on a limited number of slopes is insufficient to meet the requirements of regional-scale landslide disaster prevention and early warning. As a result, it has become a vital task to evaluate the overall stability of slopes across the vast area of Three Gorges using wide-coverage InSAR datasets. In this study, we explored the approach of carrying out joint analysis of multi-path InSAR data stacks for wide-area landslide deformation mapping. As an example, three ALOS (Advanced Land Observing Satellite PALSAR (Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar data stacks of neighboring ascending paths covering the area along the Yangtze River from Fengjie to Zigui were analyzed. A key problem to be solved is the separation of the tropospheric signal from the interferometric phase, for which we employed a hybrid description model of the atmospheric phase screen (APS to improve APS estimation from time series interferograms. The estimated atmospheric phase was largely correlated with the seasonal rainfall in the temporal dimension. The experimental results show that about 30 slopes covering total areas of 48 km2 were identified to be landslides in active deformation and should be kept under routine surveillance. Analyses of time series displacement measurements revealed that most landslides in the mountainous area far away from Yangtze River suffered from linear deformation, whereas landslides located on the river bank were destabilized predominantly by the influences of reservoir water level fluctuation and rainfall.

Towards Linking 3D SAR and Lidar Models with a Spatially Explicit Individual Based Forest Model

Science.gov (United States)

Osmanoglu, B.; Ranson, J.; Sun, G.; Armstrong, A. H.; Fischer, R.; Huth, A.

2017-12-01

In this study, we present a parameterization of the FORMIND individual-based gap model (IBGM)for old growth Atlantic lowland rainforest in La Selva, Costa Rica for the purpose of informing multisensor remote sensing techniques for above ground biomass techniques. The model was successfully parameterized and calibrated for the study site; results show that the simulated forest reproduces the structural complexity of Costa Rican rainforest based on comparisons with CARBONO inventory plot data. Though the simulated stem numbers (378) slightly underestimated the plot data (418), particularly for canopy dominant intermediate shade tolerant trees and shade tolerant understory trees, overall there was a 9.7% difference. Aboveground biomass (kg/ha) showed a 0.1% difference between the simulated forest and inventory plot dataset. The Costa Rica FORMIND simulation was then used to parameterize a spatially explicit (3D) SAR and lidar backscatter models. The simulated forest stands were used to generate a Look Up Table as a tractable means to estimate aboveground forest biomass for these complex forests. Various combinations of lidar and radar variables were evaluated in the LUT inversion. To test the capability of future data for estimation of forest height and biomass, we considered data of 1) L- (or P-) band polarimetric data (backscattering coefficients of HH, HV and VV); 2) L-band dual-pol repeat-pass InSAR data (HH/HV backscattering coefficients and coherences, height of scattering phase center at HH and HV using DEM or surface height from lidar data as reference); 3) P-band polarimetric InSAR data (canopy height from inversion of PolInSAR data or use the coherences and height of scattering phase center at HH, HV and VV); 4) various height indices from waveform lidar data); and 5) surface and canopy top height from photon-counting lidar data. The methods for parameterizing the remote sensing models with the IBGM and developing Look Up Tables will be discussed. Results

Topography and Penetration of the Greenland Ice Sheet Measured with Airborne SAR Interferometry

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dall, Jørgen; Madsen, Søren Nørvang; Keller, K.

2001-01-01

. The accuracy of the SAR DEM is about 1.5 m. The mean difference between the laser heights and the SAR heights changes from 0 m in the soaked zone to a maximum of 13 m in the percolation zone. This is explained by the fact that the snow in the soaked zone contains liquid water which attenuates the radar signals......, while the transparency of the firn in the percolation zone makes volume scattering dominate at the higher elevations. For the first time, the effective penetration has been measured directly as the difference between the interferometric heights and reference heights obtained with GPS and laser altimetry....

A three-dimensional sorting reliability algorithm for coastline deformation monitoring, using interferometric data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Genderen, J v; Marghany, M

2014-01-01

The paper focusses on three-dimensional (3-D) coastline deformation using interferometric synthetic aperture radar data(InSAR). Conventional InSAR procedures were implemented on three repeat passes of ENVISAT ASAR data. Furthermore, the three-dimensional sorting reliabilities algorithm (3D-SRA) were implemented with the phase unwrapping technique. Subsequently, the 3D-SRA was used to eliminate the phase decorrelation impact from the interferograms. The study showed that the performance of the InSAR method using the 3D-SRA algorithm, is better than the conventional InSAR procedure. In conclusion, the integration of the 3D-SRA, together with phase unwrapping, can produce accurate 3-D coastline deformation information

Methodology for heritage conservation in Belgium based on multi-temporal interferometry

Science.gov (United States)

Bejarano-Urrego, L.; Verstrynge, E.; Shimoni, M.; Lopez, J.; Walstra, J.; Declercq, P.-Y.; Derauw, D.; Hayen, R.; Van Balen, K.

2017-09-01

Soil differential settlements that cause structural damage to heritage buildings are precipitating cultural and economic value losses. Adequate damage assessment as well as protection and preservation of the built patrimony are priorities at national and local levels, so they require advanced integration and analysis of environmental, architectural and historical parameters. The GEPATAR project (GEotechnical and Patrimonial Archives Toolbox for ARchitectural conservation in Belgium) aims to create an online interactive geo-information tool that allows the user to view and to be informed about the Belgian heritage buildings at risk due to differential soil settlements. Multi-temporal interferometry techniques (MTI) have been proven to be a powerful technique for analyzing earth surface deformation patterns through time series of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images. These techniques allow to measure ground movements over wide areas at high precision and relatively low cost. In this project, Persistent Scatterer Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (PS-InSAR) and Multidimensional Small Baseline Subsets (MSBAS) are used to measure and monitor the temporal evolution of surface deformations across Belgium. This information is integrated with the Belgian heritage data by means of an interactive toolbox in a GIS environment in order to identify the level of risk. At country scale, the toolbox includes ground deformation hazard maps, geological information, location of patrimony buildings and land use; while at local scale, it includes settlement rates, photographic and historical surveys as well as architectural and geotechnical information. Some case studies are investigated by means of on-site monitoring techniques and stability analysis to evaluate the applied approaches. This paper presents a description of the methodology being implemented in the project together with the case study of the Saint Vincent's church which is located on a former colliery zone. For

Generation of large-scale forest height and disturbance maps through the fusion of NISAR and GEDI along with TanDEM-X/L

Science.gov (United States)

Lei, Y.; Treuhaft, R. N.; Siqueira, P.; Torbick, N.; Lucas, R.; Keller, M. M.; Schmidt, M.; Ducey, M. J.; Salas, W.

2017-12-01

Large-scale products of forest height and disturbance are essential for understanding the global carbon distribution as well as its changes in response to natural events and human activities. Regarding this scientific need, both NASA's GEDI and NASA-ISRO's NISAR are going to be launched in the 2018-2021 timeframe in parallel with DLR's current TanDEM-X and/or the proposed TanDEM-L, which provides a lot of potential for global ecosystem mapping. A new simple and efficient method of forest height mapping has been developed for combining spaceborne repeat-pass InSAR and lidar missions (e.g. NISAR and GEDI) which estimates temporal decorrelation parameters of repeat-pass InSAR and uses the lidar data as training samples. An open-access Python-based software has been developed for automated processing. As a result, a mosaic of forest height was generated for US states of Maine and New Hampshire (11.6 million ha) using JAXA's ALOS-1 and ALOS-2 HV-pol InSAR data and a small piece of lidar training samples (44,000 ha) with the height estimates validated against airborne lidar and field inventory data over both flat and mountainous areas. In addition, through estimating and correcting for the temporal decorrelation effects in the spaceborne repeat-pass InSAR coherence data and also utilizing the spaceborne single-pass InSAR phase data, forest disturbance such as selective logging is not only detected but also quantified in subtropical forests of Australia using ALOS-1 HH-pol InSAR data (validated against NASA's Landsat), as well as in tropics of Brazil using TanDEM-X and ALOS-2 HH-pol InSAR data (validated against field inventory data). The operational simplicity and efficiency make these methods a potential observing/processing prototype for the fusion of NISAR, GEDI and TanDEM-X/L.

Slope instability mapping around L'Aquila (Abruzzo, Italy) with Persistent Scatterers Interferometry from ERS, ENVISAT and RADARSAT datasets

Science.gov (United States)

Righini, Gaia; Del Conte, Sara; Cigna, Francesca; Casagli, Nicola

2010-05-01

Forum. 16-19 November 2008 Tokyo Japan, 125-128. Colesanti, C., Ferretti, A., Prati, C., Rocca, F. (2003). Monitoring landslides and tectonic motions with the Permanent Scatterers Technique. Engineering Geology, 68, 3 - 14. Colesanti, C., Wasowski, J., (2006). Investigating landslides with satellite Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) interferometry. Engineering Geology, 88 (3 - 4), 173 - 199. Cruden, D.M., Varnes, D.J. (1996). Landslide types and processes. In: Turner AK, Schuster RL (eds) Landslides investigation and mitigation, Special Report 247. Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, Washington, DC, 36 - 75. Farina P., Colombo D., Fumagalli A., Marks F., Moretti S. (2006) - Permanent Scatterers for landslide investigations: outcomes from the ESA-SLAM project. Engineering Geology, v. 88, p.200-217. Farina P., Casagli N., Ferretti A. (2008) - Radar-interpretation of InSAR measurements for landslide investigations in civil protection practices. First North American Landslide Conference, June 3-8, 2007.Vail, Colorado, pp. 272-283. Hilley, G.E, Burgmann, R., Ferretti, A., Novali, F., Rocca, F. (2004). Dynamics of slow-moving landslides from Permanent Scatterer analysis. Science, 304 (5679), 1952 - 1955. Herrera G., Davalillo J.C., Mulas J., Cooksley G., Monserrat O., Pancioli V. (2009) - Mapping and monitoring geomorphological processes in mountainous areas using PSI data: Central Pyrenees case study Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 9, 1587-1598, Meisina C., Zucca F., Fossati D., Ceriani M, Allievi J. (2006) - Ground deformations monitoring by using the Permanent Scatterers Technique: the example of the Oltrepo Pavese (Lombardia, Italy), Engineering Geology, 88, 240-259. Pancioli V., Farina P., (2007) - Analisi dei fenomeni franosi con dati InSAR satellitari: primi risultati del progetto ESA-Terrafirma. Giornale di Geologia Applicata 6-A: 101-102. Righini, G., Del Ventisette, C., Costantini, M., Malvarosa, F., Minati, F. (2008). Space-borne SAR Analysis for

Recent mass balance of the Purogangri Ice Cap, central Tibetan Plateau, by means of differential X-band SAR interferometry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. Neckel

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Due to their remoteness, altitude and harsh climatic conditions, little is known about the glaciological parameters of ice caps on the Tibetan Plateau. This study presents a geodetic mass balance estimate of the Purogangri Ice Cap, Tibet's largest ice field between 2000 and 2012. We utilized data from the actual TerraSAR-X mission and its add-on for digital elevation measurements and compared it with elevation data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. The employed data sets are ideal for this approach as both data sets were acquired at X-band at nearly the same time of the year and are available at a fine grid spacing. In order to derive surface elevation changes we employed two different methods. The first method is based on differential synthetic radar interferometry while the second method uses common DEM differencing. Both approaches revealed a slightly negative mass budget of −44 ± 15 and −38 ± 23 mm w.eq. a−1 (millimeter water equivalent respectively. A slightly negative trend of −0.15 ± 0.01 km2 a−1 in glacier extent was found for the same time period employing a time series of Landsat data. Overall, our results show an almost balanced mass budget for the studied time period. Additionally, we detected one continuously advancing glacier tongue in the eastern part of the ice cap.

GROUND SUBSIDENCE MONITORING WITH MT-InSAR AND MECHANISM INVERSION OVER XI’AN, CHINA

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M. M. Peng

2018-04-01

Full Text Available The ancient Xi’an, China, has been suffering severe land subsidence and ground fissure hazards since the 1960s, which has affected the safety of Subways. Multi-sensor SAR data are conducted to monitor the latest complex ground deformation and its influence on subway line No.3 over Xi’an. Annual deformation rates have been retrieved to reveal the spatiotemporal evolution of ground subsidence in Xi’an city from 2013 to 2017. Meanwhile, the correlation between land subsidence and ground fissures are analyzed by retrieving the deformation differences in both sides of the fissures. Besides, the deformation along subway line No. 3 is analyzed, and the fast deformation section is quantitatively studied. Finally, a flat lying sill model with distributed contractions is implemented to model the InSAR deformation over YHZ subsidence center, which manifests that the ground deformation is mainly caused by groundwater withdrawal.

Monitoring the UPS and Downs of Sumatra and Java with D-Insar Time-Series

Science.gov (United States)

Chaussard, E.; Amelung, F.

2010-12-01

We performed, for the first time, a global D-InSAR survey of the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Java to define locations where deformation is occurring. The goals of this study are 1) to create an inventory of actively deforming volcanic centers and 2) monitor all types of ground motion. This work provides ground deformation data for previously unmonitored areas and can assist the Indonesian authorities to improve hazards assessment. The D-InSAR survey covers an area of about 500 000 km2 and 3000 km long on the islands of Sumatra, Java and Bali. We used ALOS data from 45 tracks and more than 1500 granules obtained from the Alaska Satellite Facility (ASF) through the US Government Research Consortium (USGRC). We completed more than 1000 interferograms spanning a period from the end of 2006 to the beginning of 2009. L-band SAR images enable deformation mapping at global scales even in highly vegetated areas where C-band signal experiences loss of coherence. To identify locations where ground deformations are occurring, we used multiple SAR acquisitions of the same area and performed time series analysis using the Small BAseline Subset (SBAS) method. Interferograms with a maximum spatial baseline of 3000 m were phase-unwrapped and subsequently inverted for the phase with respect to the first acquisition. Temporal coherence of each pixel is computed on the set of interferograms in order to select only pixels with high temporal coherence. The compiled InSAR velocity map reveals the background level of activity of the 84 volcanic centers constituting the Sumatra, Java and Bali volcanic arcs. We identified possible uplift at 6 volcanic centers: Agung (Bali), Lamongan (Java), Lawu (Java), Slamet (Java), Kerinci (Sumatra) and Sinabung (Sumatra). Moreover, we identified subsidence in 5 major cities and 1 coastal area. Subsidence rates range from 6 cm/yr in Medan, the largest city of Sumatra, to more than 15 cm/yr in Jakarta. These major subsidence areas are probably due

Covariance estimation for dInSAR surface deformation measurements in the presence of anisotropic atmospheric noise

KAUST Repository

Knospe, Steffen H G

2010-04-01

We study anisotropic spatial autocorrelation in differential synthetic aperture radar interferometric (dInSAR) measurements and its impact on geophysical parameter estimations. The dInSAR phase acquired by the satellite sensor is a superposition of different contributions, and when studying geophysical processes, we are usually only interested in the surface deformation part of the signal. Therefore, to obtain high-quality results, we would like to characterize and/or remove other phase components. A stochastic model has been found to be appropriate to describe atmospheric phase delay in dInSAR images. However, these phase delays are usually modeled as being isotropic, which is a simplification, because InSAR images often show directional atmospheric anomalies. Here, we analyze anisotropic structures and show validation results using both real and simulated data. We calculate experimental semivariograms of the dInSAR phase in several European Remote Sensing satellite-1/2 tandem interferograms. Based on the theory of random functions (RFs), we then fit anisotropic variogram models in the spatial domain, employing Matérn-and Bessel-family correlation functions in nested models to represent complex dInSAR covariance structures. The presented covariance function types, in the statistical framework of stationary RFs, are consistent with tropospheric delay models. We find that by using anisotropic data covariance information to weight dInSAR measurements, we can significantly improve both the precision and accuracy of geophysical parameter estimations. Furthermore, the improvement is dependent on how similar the deformation pattern is to the dominant structure of the anisotropic atmospheric signals. © 2009 IEEE.

Mapping Arctic Bottomfast Sea Ice Using SAR Interferometry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dyre O. Dammann

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Bottomfast sea ice is an integral part of many near-coastal Arctic ecosystems with implications for subsea permafrost, coastal stability and morphology. Bottomfast sea ice is also of great relevance to over-ice travel by coastal communities, industrial ice roads, and marine habitats. There are currently large uncertainties around where and how much bottomfast ice is present in the Arctic due to the lack of effective approaches for detecting bottomfast sea ice on large spatial scales. Here, we suggest a robust method capable of detecting bottomfast sea ice using spaceborne synthetic aperture radar interferometry. This approach is used to discriminate between slowly deforming floating ice and completely stationary bottomfast ice based on the interferometric phase. We validate the approach over freshwater ice in the Mackenzie Delta, Canada, and over sea ice in the Colville Delta and Elson Lagoon, Alaska. For these areas, bottomfast ice, as interpreted from the interferometric phase, shows high correlation with local bathymetry and in-situ ice auger and ground penetrating radar measurements. The technique is further used to track the seasonal evolution of bottomfast ice in the Kasegaluk Lagoon, Alaska, by identifying freeze-up progression and areas of liquid water throughout winter.

Combined Use of C- and X-Band SAR Data for Subsidence Monitoring in an Urban Area

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lorenzo Solari

2017-04-01

Full Text Available In this study, we present the detection and characterization of ground displacements in the urban area of Pisa (Central Italy using Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR products. Thirty RADARSAT-2 and twenty-nine COSMO-SkyMed images have been analyzed with the Small BAseline Subset (SBAS algorithm, in order to quantify the ground subsidence and its temporal evolution in the three-year time interval from 2011 to 2014. A borehole database was reclassified in stratigraphical and geotechnical homogeneous units, providing the geological background needed for the local scale analysis of the recorded displacements. Moreover, the interferometric outputs were compared with the last 30 years’ urban evolution of selected parts of the city. Two deformation patterns were recorded by the InSAR data: very slow vertical movements within the defined stability threshold (±2.5 mm/yr and areas with subsidence rates down to −5 to −7 mm/yr, associated with high peak velocities (−15 to −20 mm/yr registered by single buildings or small groups of buildings. Some of these structures are used to demonstrate that the high subsidence rates are related to the recent urbanization, which is the trigger for the accelerated consolidation process of highly compressible layers. Finally, this urban area was a valuable test site for demonstrating the different results of the C- and X-band data processing, in terms of the density of points and the quality of the time series of deformation.

Bridge Collapse Revealed By Multi-Temporal SAR Interferometry

Science.gov (United States)

Sousa, Joaquim; Bastos, Luisa

2013-12-01

On the night of March 4, 2001, the Hintze Ribeiro centennial Bridge, made of steel and concrete, collapsed in Entre-os-Rios (Northern Portugal), killing 59 people, including those in a bus and three cars that were attempting to reach the other side of the Douro River. It still remains the most serious road accident in the Portuguese history. In this work we do not intend to corroborate or contradict the official version of the accident causes, but only demonstrate the potential of Multi-Temporal Interferometric (MTI-InSAR) techniques for detection and monitoring of deformations in structures such as bridges, helping to prevent new catastrophic events. Based on the analysis of 57 ERS-1/2 covering the period from December 1992 to the fatality occurrence, we were able to detect significant movements (up to 20 mm/yr) in the section of the bridge that fell in the Douro River, obvious signs of the bridge instability.

Using PS-InSAR to detect surface deformation in geothermal areas of West Java in Indonesia

Science.gov (United States)

Maghsoudi, Yasser; van der Meer, Freek; Hecker, Christoph; Perissin, Daniele; Saepuloh, Asep

2018-02-01

In this paper, the Persistent Scatterer InSAR (PS-InSAR) technique is applied in order to investigate the ground deformation in and around two geothermal areas in West Java, Indonesia. Two time-series of ALOS PALSAR and Sentinel-1A acquisitions, covering the period from 2007 to 2009 and 2015-2016, are analysed. The first case study examines the Wayang Windu geothermal zone where the PS-InSAR analysis provides an overview of the surface deformation around a geothermal reservoir. Uplift is observed around the injection wells in the area. The second example involves the use of the PS-InSAR technique over a more recent geothermal system in Patuha field. Again, a pattern of uplift was observed around the only available injection well in the area. Due to the dense vegetation coverage of the geothermal areas in West Java, the longer wavelength ALOS PALSAR data is provides better results by identifying a larger number of PS points. Additionally, experiments have been carried out to compare the resulting deformation with another example of the fluid migration process i.e. water extraction in Bandung basin. The potential of sentinel-1A and ALOS PALSR data are compared in all the experiments.

A survey of volcano deformation in the central Andes using InSAR: Evidence for deep, slow inflation

Science.gov (United States)

Pritchard, M. E.; Simons, M.

2001-12-01

We use interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) to survey about 50 volcanos of the central Andes (15-27o S) for deformation during the 1992-2000 time interval. Because of the remote location of these volcanos, the activity of most are poorly constrained. Using the ERS-1/2 C-band radars (5.6 cm), we observe good interferometric correlation south of about 21o S, but poor correlation north of that latitude, especially in southern Peru. This variation is presumably related to regional climate variations. Our survey reveals broad (10's of km), roughly axisymmetric deformation at 2 volcanic centers with no previously documented deformation. At Uturuncu volcano, in southwestern Bolivia, the deformation rate can be constrained with radar data from several satellite tracks and is about 1 cm/year between 1992 and 2000. We find a second source of volcanic deformation located between Lastarria and Cordon del Azufre volcanos near the Chile/Argentina border. There is less radar data to constrain the deformation in this area, but the rate is also about 1 cm/yr between 1996 and 2000. While the spatial character of the deformation field appears to be affected by atmosphere at both locations, we do not think that the entire signal is atmospheric, because the signal is observed in several interferograms and nearby edifices do not show similar patterns. The deformation signal appears to be time-variable, although it is difficult to determine whether this is due to real variations in the deformation source or atmospheric effects. We model the deformation with both a uniform point-source source of inflation, and a tri-axial point-source ellipsoid, and compare both elastic half-space and layered-space models. We also explore the effects of local topography upon the deformation field using the method of Williams and Wadge (1998). We invert for source parameters using the global search Neighborhood Algorithm of Sambridge (1998). Preliminary results indicate that the sources at both