Time series analysis of insar data to study land subsidence induced by groundwater level decline in Sirjan Plain

Abstract

Sirjan located in Southwest of Kerman City, Iran, is a city with average annual rainfall of 132mm. Over-exploitation of groundwater used for irrigation of pistachios gardens has caused serious land subsidence in Sirjan Plain. In this research we have used the Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar technique to estimate the subsidence rate in Sirjan plain. 18 Interferograms extracted from 12 ENVISAT ASAR images spanning between April 2004 and September 2010, have been studied. The SBAS algorithm was then applied in order to estimate the mean subsidence velocity map. Maximum subsidence rate is estimated as 28cm/yr. Furthermore, groundwater level fluctuations in the study area has been investigated in the piezometer wells located in the study area. Comparing between the results obtained from the interferometry and groundwater level fluctuation maps, shows a strong correlation between head decline in groundwater and land subsidence.