Car-borne Mobile Mapping of Ground Motion by Means of Repeat-Pass SAR Interferometry: Case Studies and Application Development Based on L-Band and Ku-band SAR Data Acquisitions

Abstract

Ground-motion-related geohazards are omnipresent in alpine areas. Time series of spaceborne SAR data are routinely used to assess surface displacement with large coverage. However, there are also many cases and expositions for which terrestrial radar systems are more suitable to obtain measurements of ground motion. Observing a mountain slope from a moving car or a UAV and thereby spanning a much longer synthetic aperture allows using also lower frequencies, such as L-band, with good spatial resolution. In addition, if aperture synthesis using a mobile mapping SAR system is employed at higher frequencies, the azimuth resolution can also be further improved compared to the azimuth resolution of (quasi-) stationary radar system at larger range distances of several kilometers. In this contribution,we report case studies that we are conducting to further develop and consolidate ground motion mapping by means of our carborne DInSAR system as an operational application.