Staring Spotlight TerraSAR-X SAR Interferometry
for Identification and Monitoring of Small-Scale
Landslide Deformation

Hosseini, Farnoush; Pichierri, Manuele; Eppler, Jayson; Rabus, Bernhard

doi:10.3390/rs10060844

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 27 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Two of these points are located on the same slope as Fels slide, but to the east and west of the landslide, whereas a third point is located on the opposite slope across Fels valley. The static tropospheric water vapor component was modelled as proportional to the reference DEM (Hosseini et al, 2018).…”

Section: Insar Data Processingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Response of a large deep-seated gravitational slope deformation to meteorological, seismic, and deglaciation drivers as measured by InSAR

et al. 2022

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We analyze the sensitivity of a large (area extent ∼3 km2), deep-seated gravitational slope deformation (Fels slide, Alaska Range) to three specific drivers: (i) liquid surface water input from ERA-5 reanalysis snow melt and rainfall; (ii) locally projected seismic activity of Alaskan earthquakes; and (iii) lowering of Fels Glacier at the slide toe estimated from topographic data. A surface displacement map-series is derived from 1991 to 2016 spaceborne multi-sensor InSAR data (ERS, RADARSAT-1/2, ALOS, TerraSAR-X) using adaptive demodulation to unwrap interferograms of variable spatial resolution and quality. On this series we use independent component analysis (ICA) to uncover five displacement patterns that map to independently moving domains of the slide and then correlate the corresponding temporal pattern intensities with the suspected drivers. We find significant sub-annual correlation between displacement pattern intensities and seasonal water input variations. The correlation can be optimized, for each ICA pattern, by choosing appropriate values of temporal smoothing and lag to create depth-propagated versions of the water input driver. Lag time results ranging from one to 3 weeks relate to shallower and deeper propagations of water input, driving the different deformation patterns. For two of the deformation patterns, seasonal sensitivity to water input was strongly amplified by the 2002 Mw7.9 Denali earthquake. Sensitivity of these patterns remained high for 4 years until abruptly dropping to below pre-earthquake values, which suggests a highly non-linear modulation by the seismic driver. Other deformation patterns show a steady intensity increase that appears linked to the deglaciation driver. Despite these observations, the inter-annual variations in ICA pattern intensities show no clear predictability by individual drivers or driver combinations. This suggests that the mechanical and hydraulic evolution of the slide, especially after damaging events such as earthquakes or heavy rainfall, is a crucial factor not adequately modeled in our approach. Despite this limitation, our analysis provides the first direct evidence that the Fels slide comprises several independently moving domains that respond differently to the suspected drivers as is suggestive of a complex slope deformation.

show abstract

Section: Insar Data Processingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Response of a large deep-seated gravitational slope deformation to meteorological, seismic, and deglaciation drivers as measured by InSAR

et al. 2022

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…These results have important implications for developing an early warning system for the Aniangzhai landslide and highlight that InSAR techniques can be used as an operational monitoring system in Aniangzhai to track progressive deformation and potential release areas in near real time in order to mitigate hazards associated with landslide failure (Hu et al 2018;Carlà et al 2018Carlà et al , 2019Ao et al 2020). Future works should focus on comparing the performance of moderate resolution S1 images with higher-resolution SAR images from missions like TerrasAR-X or CosmoSky-Med to better investigate the potential and existing limitations in Sentinel-1 data for landslide analysis Bovenga et al (2012);Milillo et al (2014);Hosseini et al (2018); Liu et al (2020).…”

Section: Landslidesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The June 2020 Aniangzhai landslide in Sichuan Province, Southwest China: slope instability analysis from radar and optical satellite remote sensing data

Xia

Motagh

et al. 2021

Landslides

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A large, deep-seated ancient landslide was partially reactivated on 17 June 2020 close to the Aniangzhai village of Danba County in Sichuan Province of Southwest China. It was initiated by undercutting of the toe of this landslide resulting from increased discharge of the Xiaojinchuan River caused by the failure of a landslide dam, which had been created by the debris flow originating from the Meilong valley. As a result, 12 townships in the downstream area were endangered leading to the evacuation of more than 20000 people. This study investigated the Aniangzhai landslide area by optical and radar satellite remote sensing techniques. A horizontal displacement map produced using cross-correlation of high-resolution optical images from Planet shows a maximum horizontal motion of approximately 15 meters for the slope failure between the two acquisitions. The undercutting effects on the toe of the landslide are clearly revealed by exploiting optical data and field surveys, indicating the direct influence of the overflow from the landslide dam and water release from a nearby hydropower station on the toe erosion. Pre-disaster instability analysis using a stack of SAR data from Sentinel-1 between 2014 and 2020 suggests that the Aniangzhai landslide has long been active before the failure, with the largest annual LOS deformation rate more than 50 mm/yr. The 3-year wet period that followed a relative drought year in 2016 resulted in a 14% higher average velocity in 2018–2020, in comparison to the rate in 2014–2017. A detailed analysis of slope surface kinematics in different parts of the landslide indicates that temporal changes in precipitation are mainly correlated with kinematics of motion at the head part of the failure body, where an accelerated creep is observed since spring 2020 before the large failure. Overall, this study provides an example of how full exploitation of optical and radar satellite remote sensing data can be used for a comprehensive analysis of destabilization and reactivation of an ancient landslide in response to a complex cascading event chain in the transition zone between the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and the Sichuan Basin.

show abstract

“…The 20 papers of this special issue cover six major disciplines. Five papers [1][2][3][4][5] deal with interferometric applications for land surface deformation mapping. A key success factor here is the high resolution, which enables the mapping of smaller landslides, of single buildings and of infrastructure.…”

Section: Contents Of This Special Issuementioning

confidence: 99%

Ten Years of TerraSAR-X—Scientific Results

2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Staring Spotlight TerraSAR-X SAR Interferometry for Identification and Monitoring of Small-Scale Landslide Deformation

Cited by 8 publications

References 27 publications

Response of a large deep-seated gravitational slope deformation to meteorological, seismic, and deglaciation drivers as measured by InSAR

Response of a large deep-seated gravitational slope deformation to meteorological, seismic, and deglaciation drivers as measured by InSAR

The June 2020 Aniangzhai landslide in Sichuan Province, Southwest China: slope instability analysis from radar and optical satellite remote sensing data

Ten Years of TerraSAR-X—Scientific Results

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About