Kahrood monitoring using small baseline subset Synthetic Apreture Radar (SAR) interferometry

Abstract

The area of Kahrood is a small village located in the north-east of Damavand in the center of the Alborz range, north of Iran. Kahrood is located in Haraz valley exactly below the land slide area. To monitor the temporal evolution of the landslide, the conventional small baseline subset (SBAS), a radar differential Synthetic Aperture Radar interferometry (DInSAR) algorithm is used for time-series analysis. 19 Interferograms characterized by small spatial and temporal baselines are generated using 14 images. In order to remove the topographic effects, a digital elevation model from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), with a spatial resolution of 90 m, is used. In the time-series analysis the first image was selected as the temporal reference. In the least squares solution, in order to increase the number of observational equation as well as decrease the temporal fluctuations due to atmospheric and unwrapping errors, a smoothing constraint is incorporated into the inversion problem. We divide the deformation time-series into two main parts. The maximum deformation rate estimated from the first part of the time-series is estimated as 3.3 cm within the landslide area. According to the time series results the land surface is moving away from the satellite. The second part of the deformation time-series showed a small landslide rate up to 0.7 cm. According to the time series results the land surface is moving toward the satellite. The deformation is estimated along the Mean line of sight (LOS). Considering the whole time series, the maximum LOS deformation rate is estimated as 14 cm.