Persistent Scatterer-InSAR to Monitor Deformation over Jammu and Kashmir, India
Abstract
Himalayas are often a multi-hazard prone region with natural disasters ranging from avalanches and snowstorms to earthquakes and landslides. With many of such sites inaccessible for ground survey, interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) technique can be used to investigate the surface deformation behaviour. This study deploys the Persistent Scatterer Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (PS-InSAR) technique using C-band Interferometric Wide Swath (IW) Sentinel-1 images to study the deformation behaviour of Jammu and Kashmir region lying in the Lesser Himalayas. The study site comprises of snow, mountain ranges and water bodies, posing difficulty related to geometric and temporal decorrelation for PS-InSAR analysis. Due to its geographical location, the residents of this area have suffered substantial economic and social losses.PS-InSAR method detected 3598529 PS pixels in a series of 10 images, and the obtained displacement estimates indicate the mountains near Chicha Dacchan, Lohrna and Lopara to be susceptible to landslides, showing a movement of 4-4.5 cm/year. The approach could detect PS pixels surrounding to snow areas, but not on snow and glacier, due to heavy glacier motion affected by temporal decorrelation. Further, errors in the estimation of phase unwrapping, atmospheric phase screen and topographic phase may have contributed to the obtained high magnitudes of surface displacement for some regions affected by geometric and temporal decorrelation. Similar studies over the neighbouring region with a greater number of images for time series analysis may help in better understanding of the tectonics and geo-kinematic behaviour of the Himalayan region.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2022
- Bibcode:
- 2022AGUFMEP41B..09K