Assessing the activity of a large landslide in southern Italy by ground-monitoring and SAR interferometric techniques

Landslides are recognized as one of the most damaging natural hazards in Italy. Campania region represents a complex geological setting, where mass movements of different types are widespread, and urban expansion can be increasingly seen by the presence of buildings and infrastructure in landslide-prone areas. In such a context, monitoring of unstable slopes represents a key activity in the process of landslide risk prevention and mitigation, in order to correctly establish a cause–effect correlation and to predict the possible reactivation phases that may result in high costs for the human society. This article focuses on the application of different methods of landslide analysis and monitoring, including those developed more recently and based on data acquired by satellites and processed by synthetic aperture radar (SAR) interferometric techniques. The study area is a small town, Calitri, known worldwide for the large landslide reactivated by the 23 November 1980 earthquake that destroyed a large sector of the historical centre. The site has been investigated by two ground-monitoring campaigns, the analysis of which allowed identification of the evolution of landslide activity over time. Furthermore, differential SAR interferometry (DInSAR), based upon two different approaches, allowed us to produce point-wise and wide area deformation maps after processing data sets of Earth Resource Satellite 1/2 (ERS-1/2) images, respectively acquired in 1992–2001 and 1992–1995. The results obtained from this analysis highlighted the potentiality of remote-sensing tools in landslide hazard assessment and led to development of a research project based on the installation of corner reflectors along unstable slopes and aimed at creating a field–Earth observation monitoring system.     

Two‐scale surface deformation analysis using the SBAS‐DInSAR technique: a case study of the city of Rome,Italy

We have exploited the capability of the differential synthetic aperture radar (SAR) interferometry (DInSAR) technique, referred to as Small BAseline Subset (SBAS) approach, to analyse surface deformation at two distinct spatial scales: a low resolution, large scale, and a fine resolution, local scale. At the large scale, the technique investigates DInSAR data with a ground resolution of the order of 100 m×100 m and leads to generate mean deformation velocity maps and associated time series for areas extending to some thousands of square kilometres. At the local scale, the technique exploits the SAR images at full spatial resolution (typically of the order of 5 m×20 m), detecting and analysing localized deformation phenomena. The study is focused on the city of Rome, Italy, and we used the ERS‐1/2 satellite radar data relevant to the 1995–2000 time period. The presented results demonstrate the capability of the SBAS approach to retrieve, from the low‐resolution DInSAR data, large‐scale deformation information leading to identify several sites affected by significant displacements. Our analysis permitted us to conclude that a major contribution to the detected displacements is due to the consolidation of the alluvial soils present in the area, mostly enforced by the buildings' overload. Furthermore, in a selected area, a detailed analysis was carried out by exploiting the full resolution DInSAR data. In this case we investigated deformation phenomena at the scale of single buildings. As key result we showed that differential displacements of few mm a^?1, affecting single man‐made structures or building complexes, could be detected, thus allowing to identify sites that may potentially be involved in critical situations.     

A comparison of atmospheric phase delay estimated by ASAR and MERIS over the Campania area

Propagation delay through the atmosphere is a key problem in coherent processing of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data. Modern multitemporal interferometric techniques compensate the atmospheric phase delay contribution by analysing a stack of data. However, assessment of the achieved accuracy of the retrieved atmospheric component is still an open issue. In this work we report the results of an experiment carried out over a wide area aimed at comparing the zenith delay (ZD) estimated by radar and multispectral sensors. In particular, we refer to the instruments onboard the Envisat satellite and specifically to the Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) and Multispectral Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) sensors that simultaneously acquire data along the same orbit. The study is preliminary to the possible exploitation of the MERIS water vapour product for compensating the atmospheric phase delay signals in a long series of acquisitions used in the multipass differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar (DInSAR) techniques to achieve higher accuracy and/or to extend the applicability of the technique to emergency situations, as well as to the possible use of SAR interferometry in meteorological applications.     

Using C/X-band SAR interferometry and GNSS measurements for the Assisi landslide analysis

This work presents an analysis of the applicability of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) interferometry to landslide monitoring. This analysis was carried out by using different interferometric approaches, different spaceborne SAR data (both in the C-band and in the X-band), and in situ global navigation satellite system (GNSS) measurements. In particular, we investigated both the reliability of displacement monitoring and the issues of the cross-comparison and validation of the interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) results. The work was focused on the slow-moving landslide that affects a relevant part of the urban area of the historical town of Assisi (Italy).

A C-band ENVISAT advanced synthetic aperture radar (ENVISAT ASAR) dataset acquired between 2003 and 2010 was processed by using two different interferometric techniques, to allow cross-comparison of the obtained displacement maps. Good correspondence between the results was found, and a deeper analysis of the movement field was possible. Results were further compared to a set of GNSS measurements with a 7 year overlap with SAR data. A comparison was made for each GNSS marker with the surrounding SAR scatterers, trying to take into account local topological effects, when possible.

Further, the high-resolution X-band acquired on both ascending and descending tracks by the COSMO-SkyMed (CSK) constellation was processed. The resultant displacement fields show good agreement with C-band and GNSS measurements and a sensible increase in the density of measurements.     

Deformation mapping in three dimensions for underground mining using InSAR – Southern highland coalfield in New South Wales,Australia

This article presents 3D surface deformation mapping results derived from satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data acquired over underground coal mines. Both ENVISAT Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) and Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) data were used in this study. The quality of the 3D deformation mapping results due to underground mining is mainly limited by two factors. (1) Differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar (DInSAR) is less sensitive to displacement along the north–south direction in the case of the current SAR satellite configurations. (2) The mining-induced displacement is continuous and nonlinear; and the accuracy of the 3D DInSAR measurement is severely affected by the similar but non-identical temporal overlaps of the InSAR pairs. The simulation and real data analyzes have shown that it would be more practical to use DInSAR pairs with the assumption of negligible northing displacement to derive the displacements in the easting and vertical directions. The northing displacement could then be estimated from the residuals. This limitation could be overcome in the future with the launch of more radar satellites, which would provide better viewing geometry.     

Potential of diffuse scatterer interferometry for monitoring CO2 storage sites in European contexts (land cover types)

This article proposes to test the feasibility of long-term surface deformation monitoring based on synthetic aperture radar (SAR) interferometry on carbon dioxide (CO₂) storage sites with land cover representative of potential European injection sites (agricultural or forests with minimum built-up land cover). Because no operational injection site is currently active in Europe, a SAR data set (based on EnviSAT–ASAR spaceborne data) is simulated by combining SAR scenes acquired over a potential future European injection site with deformation measurements from SAR analysis carried out on the In-Salah (Algeria) CO₂ injection demonstrator site. The study shows that under such conditions, both persistent scatterer interferometry (PSI) and diffuse scatterer (DS) interferometry appear insufficient to provide a sufficiently dense measurement network to characterize surface deformation correctly. Alternative solutions, to be investigated in further studies, include the use of data archives with shorter acquisition time spans (e.g. Sentinel-1 data when available) or installation of corner reflectors. The cost of the latter mixed space/ground solution must be evaluated with respect to conventional ground-based measurement methods in the proposed context.     

Monitoring of slow ground deformation by ERS radar interferometry on the Vauvert salt mine (France): Comparison with ground-based measurement

The differential SAR Interferometry (DInSAR) technique has been applied to a test site near Vauvert (France) to detect and monitor ground deformation. This site corresponds to the location of an industrial exploitation of underground salt using the solution mining technique. An area of subsidence has been observed using in situ measurements. Despite conditions unfavorable for InSAR because of the vegetal cover, we show that radar remote sensing observations provide valuable information which substantially improves our knowledge of the phenomenon. An adaptive phase filtering process has been used to improve the coherence level. In particular, our study shows that the geometry of the subsidence bowl is different to that previously assumed using ground-based techniques only. The size of the subsidence bowl (8 km) is larger than expected. This information will be useful for further modeling of the deformation and to improve the coverage of the in situ measurement networks. It also shows that radar interferometry can be used for the long-term monitoring of such sites and to predict potential environmental issues.     

多模式雷达在矿区沉降监测中的应用研究

合成孔径雷达差分干涉测量(DInSAR)技术在地表形变监测方面已得到广泛应用。介绍了将差分InSAR技术运用于矿区地表沉降监测,获得了河北峰峰煤矿地表Envisat/ASAR和ALOS/PALSAR的雷达形变干涉相位图,并对Envisat C波段和ALOS L波段的形变干涉相位图进行了相干特性和相位特性的分析。通过综合考虑C波段和L波段的优势与不足,将两者联合使用,实验表明利用多模式雷达数据对矿区地表沉降进行检测的可行性。同时,通过对雷达干涉相位图的分析,能够及时提供正在进行地下开采活动的矿区地理位置。     

Long-term ERS/ENVISAT deformation time-series generation at full spatial resolution via the extended SBAS technique

We extend the small baseline subset (SBAS) differential synthetic aperture radar (SAR) interferometry (DInSAR) approach to allow the generation of deformation time-series by processing, at the full spatial resolution scale, long sequences of European Remote Sensing (ERS-1 and ERS-2) and Environmental Satellite (ENVISAT) SAR data acquired with the same illumination geometry. In particular, we avoid the generation of ERS/ENVISAT cross-interferograms, which are severely affected by noise phenomena due to the carrier frequency separation of the two SAR systems, and we focus on single-platform interferograms only (i.e. ERS/ERS and ENVISAT/ENVISAT interferograms) that are properly combined by applying the singular value decomposition (SVD)-based SBAS approach. Moreover, we exploit the Doppler centroid variations of the post-2000 acquisitions of the ERS-2 sensor and the carrier frequency difference between the ERS-1/2 and the ENVISAT systems, in order to maximize the number of investigated SAR pixels and to improve their geocoding. The presented results, achieved on two data sets relevant to the Napoli Bay area and to the Murge region, both located in southern Italy, confirm the effectiveness of the extended SBAS technique and demonstrate the relevance of deformation analysis carried out at the scale of single buildings or human-made structures with more than 15 years of ERS and ENVISAT acquisitions.     

新型多基线DInSAR地表形变监测技术研究动态

合成孔径雷达干涉测量（InSAR）是一项广泛采用的雷达遥感测量技术,可以获取大区域、长时间、毫米级的地表形变监测,是SAR图像应用研究的热点。从InSAR技术监测地表形变时面临的问题出发,分析了近年来多基线DInSAR方法的新进展,论述了相干目标算法\,分布目标算法及SAR层析成像技术等在监测地表运动时的原理及技术应用,详细讨论了DInSAR地表形变监测由二维参数研究发展至三维、四维空间,由城区发展至广阔非城区地表监测的发展趋势。     

A robust regression-based linear model adjustment method for SAR interferogram stacking techniques

Differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar (DInSAR) is recognized as an effective remote-sensing technique for a variety of ground deformation mapping applications. Centimetre-level measurement accuracy can be achieved with the DInSAR technique. However, two key limitations – temporal decorrelation and phase delay due to atmospheric inhomogeneities – might decrease the accuracy of deformation measurements. To overcome such problems, interferogram stacking techniques, which extend the DInSAR technique, have been developed in recent years. In most implementations of such techniques, a so-called ‘linear model adjustment’ step is required to obtain the relative linear deformation rate and digital elevation model error from the double-differenced phase observations along the stack. In this step, since a non-linear system has to be resolved, the traditional least squares method cannot be directly applied. In order to overcome this problem, several methods have been developed in recent years. In this article, a new method has been developed to deal with the problem of linear model adjustment. This method repeatedly uses robust regression to resolve the non-linear system and is much easier to implement compared with other methods. This method is applied to both simulated and real data, and the results demonstrate that it can be efficiently used for linear model adjustment.     

The present status of subsiding land vulnerable to roof collapse in the Jharia Coalfield,India, as obtained from shorter temporal baseline C-band DInSAR by smaller spatial subset unwrapped phase profiling

In this paper, we identified recently subsiding areas in Jharia Coalfield, Jharkhand, India from the shorter temporal baseline Radarsat-2 C-band interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) data pairs of 2012. Although shorter wavelength C-band differential InSAR (DInSAR) is more sensitive to slow deformation and better suited for higher precision land subsidence measurement, the dynamic and adverse land cover in mining areas and resulting temporal decorrelation problem poses a serious problem for DInSAR observation in mining areas. We used smaller temporal baseline data pairs and adopted InSAR coherence-guided incremental filtering with smaller moving windows to highlight the deformation fringes over temporal decorrelation noise. We identified the deformation fringes and validated them based on ground information to prepare the land subsidence map of the coalfield in 2012. Several new, previously unreported subsidence areas were detected in the present study with a total subsiding area of 6.9 km². The recent incidence of roof collapse on 15 November 2014 at Angar Patra village in Katras region of the coalfield where 45 houses collapsed and 10 people were injured is situated in a highly subsiding vulnerable area as obtained from the present study. Due to spatial discontinuities of InSAR coherence, DInSAR phase unwrapping for the entire study area in one go did not appear feasible. To avoid this problem, we performed DInSAR processing in smaller spatial subsets and unwrapping of the subset interferograms by a ‘minimum cost flow’ algorithm. Subsequently, we plotted unwrapped phase profiles across the deformation fringes and retrieved the maximum deformation phase with respect to background phase and translated them into radar line of sight (LOS) displacement rates. For obtaining the average subsidence rates, we adopted InSAR coherence-weighted LOS displacement rates taking into account the contribution of each data pair as a function of DInSAR phase quality of the fringe areas. Ground-based subsidence measurements by precision levelling were conducted in four test sites that had been undergoing active underground mining during the observation period. We compared space-borne DInSAR-based subsidence rates obtained by the adopted technique with precision levelling measurements. Overall, the results are found to agree well. In the four test sites with gentle to flat topography, land subsidence occurs at slow to moderate rates due to compression of in-filled material (resulting from sand stowing in underground mining), without any evidence of roof collapse. In such cases, the horizontal displacement component is less significant, and overall surface displacement occurs essentially in the vertical direction. However, we assessed the nature of subtle horizontal strain to infer relative shrinkage or dilation of the land surface which could be additive or subtractive to vertical displacement in DInSAR-based LOS displacement.     

Monitoring dewatering induced subsidence and fault reactivation using interferometric synthetic aperture radar

Using multitemporal differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar analysis integrated with pumping and site geologic data we present evidence for hydrologically induced large subsidence in and around an ongoing open‐pit mine with intensive dewatering operations. Analysis of numerous differential synthetic aperture radar interferometry (DInSAR) pairs spanning the period 1993 to 2001 reveals the abrupt appearance of these features to intervals of a few to several months. Along a section through the anomaly, we plotted dewatering associated changes in the groundwater levels at monitoring wells. We also used DInSAR to extract several individual kilometre‐lengths, centimetre amplitude normal fault reactivation events in the alluvial sediments adjacent to the mine dewatering operation. High‐resolution remote sensing analyses provide strong evidence that these features align with faults active in the last several thousand years. We interpret these reactivations as mechanically involving only the upper few hundred metres of the existing fault plane above the alluvial aquifer affected by the mine dewatering.     

Application of the SBAS-DInSAR technique to fault creep: A case study of the Hayward fault, California

We present a quantitative assessment of the capability of the differential SAR interferometry (DInSAR) technique referred to as Small BAseline Subset (SBAS) approach to investigate fault creep phenomena. In particular we have computed, via the SBAS-DInSAR algorithm, time series of the surface displacements relevant to the Hayward fault zone, within the San Francisco Bay Area (California), from the European Space Agency's ERS-1/2 satellite radar data for the 1992 to 2000 time period. Starting from the DInSAR time series we measured the relative displacements across the fault with no need for any atmospheric filtering step. These results have been systematically compared to the measurements available from the alignment arrays that are located along the fault. Our analysis shows that the standard deviation of the differences between the DInSAR and the in situ measurements is on the order of 2 mm. Moreover, the estimated mean deformation rates have an accuracy that is better than 1 mm/year.     

Detecting changes in surface soil moisture content using differential SAR interferometry

The feasibility of measuring changes in surface soil moisture content with differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar (DInSAR) has received little attention in comparison with other active microwave techniques. In this study, multi-polarization C- and L-band DInSAR is explored as a potential tool for the measurement of changes in surface soil moisture in agricultural areas. Using 10 ascending phased array L-band SAR (PALSAR) scenes acquired by the Japanese Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) and 12 descending advanced SAR (ASAR) scenes acquired by the European ENVISAT satellite between July 2007 and November 2009, a series of 27 differential interferograms covering a common study area over southern Ireland were generated to investigate whether small-scale changes in phase are linked to measured soil moisture changes. Comparisons of observed mean surface displacement and in situ mean soil moisture change show that C-band cross-polarization pairs displayed the highest correlation coefficients over both the barley (correlation coefficient, r = 0.51, p = 0.04)- and potato crop (r = 0.81, p = 0.003)-covered fields. Current results support the hypothesis that a soil moisture phase contribution exists within differential interferograms covering agricultural areas.     

Adaptive local kriging to retrieve slant-range surface motion maps of the Wenchuan earthquake

Kriging is a widely used technique for raster data interpolation from point samples, such as in the generation of digital elevation models and geochemical maps. The quality of the result depends on both spatial distribution of the sampled values and nature of the semivariogram model, which fits an empirical global function to the sample data set to predict values at the unknown locations. However, such a semivariogram model may not be suitable for data sets with complex local trends in spatial distribution, such as those observed in differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar (DInSAR) data of the Wenchuan earthquake. Here we propose a modified kriging method, adaptive local kriging (ALK), for the retrieval of data lost through decoherence in Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) phased array L-band synthetic aperture radar (PALSAR) DInSAR data, within the intensely deformed fault zone of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. In ALK, a series of dynamic linear local semivariogram models is used rather than a global semivariogram for the whole data set. The localized adaptive approach ensures accurate interpolation in the areas of good DInSAR data with small decoherence gaps and avoids drastic errors in the extensive decoherence gaps; the overall value prediction is thus significantly improved, as confirmed by comparison with the original DInSAR data and fidelity verification experiments.     

An approach for accurately retrieving the vertical deformation component from two-track InSAR measurements

As is well known, both conventional differential synthetic aperture radar interferometry (D-InSAR) and multi-temporal synthetic aperture radar interferometry (MT-InSAR) have a common limitation that they only can measure the deformation component along the radar line of sight (LOS) direction. However, in the majority of disaster investigations, there is more interest in the vertical deformation component than that of the horizontal direction, for example, in measuring ground subsidence in urban areas, or ground subsidence due to underground mining. To estimate the vertical deformation component accurately, it is in theory necessary to create at least three independent equations, and solve the vertical, the North–South, and the East–West deformation components by exploiting at least three-track InSAR LOS measurements or combining at least two-track InSAR LOS measurements with azimuth measurements. However, these methods are greatly limited and sometimes not even practical because there is typically little chance of obtaining a three-track SAR data set covering the same area in the same time span, and the accuracy of the azimuth measurements is far lower than that of InSAR LOS measurements. In this article, we found that it is possible to solve for the vertical deformation component from two-track InSAR LOS measurements in some circumstances. Then, an approach for accurately retrieving the vertical deformation component from two-track InSAR LOS measurements is proposed, and the analytical expression is presented. The approach is illustrated through an investigation of the ground subsidence in an area of Beijing, China. Unlike previous methods, this approach can accurately retrieve the vertical deformation component from two-track InSAR LOS measurements, and provide more reliable results for improving the interpretation of ground subsidence phenomena.     

Deformation monitoring over large areas with multipass differential SAR interferometry: a new approach based on the use of spatial differences

Multipass differential synthetic aperture radar interferometry is becoming increasingly important as a powerful technique for ground deformation retrieval compared with classical geodetic techniques such as levelling and global positioning system (GPS). It proves superior in terms of costs, coverage, data accessibility and availability of historical archives. Application to different areas of risk management such as monitoring of volcanoes and slope instabilities, tectonic movements, urban areas and infrastructure, has already been successfully demonstrated. In this work we discuss a new multipass differential synthetic aperture radar interferometry processing technique that makes extensive use of spatial differences. The results obtained demonstrate that this technique allows the monitoring of ground deformation over wide areas. The processed data were acquired from ERS–1 and ERS–2 sensors over three partially overlapping tracks related to a region, approximately 240 km N–S and 80 km E–W wide, located in the centre‐south of Italy, along the west coast. Comparison of the mean deformation velocity results over the different tracks and of the deformation evolution with levelling measures, available in some areas, shows good agreement and goes to validate the technique.     

Joint approach using satellite techniques for slope instability detection and monitoring

A joint approach using satellite techniques was applied to two different regions (Sellas and Chalkeio villages) of Peloponissos (Greece) in order to detect and monitor slope instability. In the context of the research effort, a GPS campaign network, along with one permanent GPS station and a corner reflector (CR) network, was established at each region. From the two GPS campaigns that were carried out, ground displacements in the north and east components for Sellas region reached a magnitude of 9 and 8 mm, respectively, whereas for Chalkeio they were of the order of 1 cm and 8 mm, respectively. These results, however, are still preliminary and need validation from additional GPS campaigns that are planned to be carried out in future. The temporal resolution provided by the position time series of the permanent GPS stations highlighted the main features of both instability phenomena, that is, sensitivity at both horizontal components of motion for the Sellas region and slow linear trends for the Chalkeio region. The achieved precision of the daily solutions for both permanent GPS stations was found to be 1–3 mm for the horizontal components and 5–8 mm for the vertical components. Regarding the preliminary study of differential synthetic aperture radar (SAR) interferometry (DInSAR) in CR network, each reflector has been identified in SAR imagery, but at present the volume of SAR acquisitions is not adequate for providing safe deformation and error estimations. On the other hand, the permanent scatterers interferometry and small baselines subset (SBAS) techniques revealed a discontinuity in retrospective deformation rate along the observed rupture of Chalkeio village of almost 6 mm year^?1.