SURFACE DEFORMATION MONITORING USING TERRASAR-X INTERFEROMETRY

TerraSAR-X is new radar satellite operated at X-band, multi polarization, and multi beam mode. Compared with C-band or L-band SAR, the X-band system inherently suffers from more temporal decorrelation, but is more sensitive to surface deformation monitoring due to short wavelength (3.1 cm) and high spatial resolution (1m-3m). It is generally expected that sensitivity to estimate surface movement using TerraSAR-X will be increased by the factor of 10, compared to current C-band system with low spatial resolution such as ERS-2, Envisat. Many urban areas are experiencing land subsidence due to water, oil and natural gas withdrawal, underground excavation, sediment compaction, and so on. Monitoring of surface deformation is valuable for effectively limiting damage areas. In addition high accuracy and spatially dense subsidence map can be achieved by X-band InSAR observation, promoting identification and separation of various subsidence processes and leading to enhanced understanding via mechanical modeling. In this study we will introduce some initial InSAR results using new TerraSAR-X SAR data for surface deformation monitoring.