Atmospheric models, GPS and InSAR measurements of the tropospheric water vapour field over Mount Etna

Abstract

Dynamic models of atmospheric movement over the Mount Etna volcano are used to calculate the path delays affecting radar caused by variable water vapour in the troposphere. We compare these model results with the equivalent differential radar interferogram generated by two ERS-2 SAR images taken 35 days apart and the water vapour delay retrievals from a network of fourteen GPS stations distributed over the volcano. The atmospheric model delay field agrees well with the long-wavelength spatial differences measured by InSAR and those measured by GPS.