Monitoring of Terrain Relief Changes Using Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry.

Abstract

The main objective of this PhD thesis is to investigate an applicability of satellite synthetic aperture radar interferometry (InSAR) methods to perform a monitoring of terrain deforma- tions in the region of Ostrava-Karviná district in Czech Republic. Cities in the region are affected by an intensive mining of a black coal for over 200 years. Character of the area, a velocity and spatial scale of the subsidence, are challenging the limits of InSAR. These limits were investigated, several optimizing scenarios were found to increase the performance of differential InSAR and multitemporal InSAR using C-band and L-band data to detect and estimate deformations due to subsidence and landslides in the region. While extents of subsidence troughs are often possible to delimitate, the deformation rates are usually underestimated. This was compared also to existing data from levelling. A strong potential can be seen in monitoring of slow deformations such as decay subsidence after a closure of mines. In Ostrava city, some subsidence of several mm/year was detected even 15 years after the closures in 1990s. For monitoring of a landslide in Doubrava, corner reflectors were designed but probably due to inappropriate installation on site their contribution couldn’t be evaluated. In a conclusion, InSAR techniques were evaluated as appropriate for a systematic monitoring of a subsidence in the region. It can be used as a complementary technique to levelling measurements.