Detection of ground subsidence in the city of Paris using radar interferometry: Isolation of deformation from atmospheric artifacts using correlation

Abstract

This paper presents a new method for the isolation of displacement from atmospheric fringes. This novel approach is based on complex correlation of interferograms. Compared to other methods, this method has the advantage of requiring only a few interferograms (two at least). Its main limitation is the hypothesis of temporally varying atmospheric conditions between acquisitions (not the same heterogeneities on different interferograms). In the city of Paris, this method reveals 2 subsiding zones. Both have the same location as an important underground working site, which took place from 1995 to 1997. The existence of subsidence in the area was known previously from ground truth data. Their spatial extent can now be mapped by interferometry, and the temporal evolution of the subsidence is also examined here.