scholarly journals Comments on ``Study of Systematic Bias in Measuring Surface Deformation With SAR Interferometry''

Author(s):  
Claudio De Luca ◽  
Francesco Casu ◽  
Michele Manunta ◽  
Giovanni Onorato ◽  
Riccardo Lanari
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Homa Ansari ◽  
Francesco De Zan ◽  
Alessandro Parizzi

<div>This paper investigates the presence of a new interferometric signal in multilooked Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) interferograms which cannot be attributed to atmospheric or earth surface topography changes. The observed signal is short-lived and decays with temporal baseline; however, it is distinct from the stochastic noise usually attributed to temporal decorrelation. The presence of such fading signal introduces a systematic phase component, particularly in short temporal baseline interferograms. If unattended, it biases the estimation of Earth surface deformation from SAR time series. <br></div><div>The contribution of the mentioned phase component is quantitatively assessed. For short temporal baseline interferograms, we quantify the phase contribution to be in the regime of 5 rad at C-band. The biasing impact on deformation signal retrieval is further evaluated. As an example, exploiting a subset of short temporal baseline interferograms which connects each acquisition with the successive 5 in the time series, a significant bias of -6.5 mm/yr is observed in the estimation of deformation velocity from a four-year Sentinel-1 data stack. A practical solution for mitigation of this physical fading signal is further discussed; special attention is paid to the efficient processing of Big Data from modern SAR missions such as Sentinel-1 and NISAR. Adopting the proposed solution, the deformation bias is shown to decrease to -0.24 mm/yr for the Sentinel-1 time series.</div>Based on these analyses, we put forward our recommendations for efficient and accurate deformation signal retrieval from large stacks of multilooked interferograms.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudio De Luca ◽  
Francesco Casu ◽  
Michele Manunta ◽  
Giovanni Onorato ◽  
Riccardo Lanari

<p>In a recent publication Ansari et al. (2021) [1] claim (see, in particular, the Discussion and Recommendation Section in their article) that the advanced differential SAR interferometry (InSAR) algorithms for surface deformation retrieval, based on the small baseline approach, are affected by systematic biases in the generated InSAR products. Therefore, to avoid such biases, they recommend a strategy primarily focused on excluding “the short temporal baseline interferograms and using long baselines to decrease the overall phase errors”. In particular, among various techniques, Ansari et al. (2021) [1] identify the solution presented by Manunta et al. (2019) [2] as a small baseline advanced InSAR processing approach where the presence of the above-mentioned biases (referred to as a fading signal) compromises the accuracy of the retrieved InSAR deformation products. We show that the claim of Ansari et al. (2021) [1] is not correct (at least) for what concerns the mentioned approach discussed by Manunta et al. (2019) [2]. In particular, by processing the Sentinel-1 dataset relevant to the same area in Sicily (southern Italy) investigated by Ansari et al. (2021) [1], we demonstrate that the generated InSAR products do not show any significant bias.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudio De Luca ◽  
Francesco Casu ◽  
Michele Manunta ◽  
Giovanni Onorato ◽  
Riccardo Lanari

<p>In a recent publication Ansari et al. (2021) [1] claim (see, in particular, the Discussion and Recommendation Section in their article) that the advanced differential SAR interferometry (InSAR) algorithms for surface deformation retrieval, based on the small baseline approach, are affected by systematic biases in the generated InSAR products. Therefore, to avoid such biases, they recommend a strategy primarily focused on excluding “the short temporal baseline interferograms and using long baselines to decrease the overall phase errors”. In particular, among various techniques, Ansari et al. (2021) [1] identify the solution presented by Manunta et al. (2019) [2] as a small baseline advanced InSAR processing approach where the presence of the above-mentioned biases (referred to as a fading signal) compromises the accuracy of the retrieved InSAR deformation products. We show that the claim of Ansari et al. (2021) [1] is not correct (at least) for what concerns the mentioned approach discussed by Manunta et al. (2019) [2]. In particular, by processing the Sentinel-1 dataset relevant to the same area in Sicily (southern Italy) investigated by Ansari et al. (2021) [1], we demonstrate that the generated InSAR products do not show any significant bias.</p>


Author(s):  
Homa Ansari ◽  
Francesco De Zan ◽  
Alessandro Parizzi

<div>This paper investigates the presence of a new interferometric signal in multilooked Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) interferograms which cannot be attributed to atmospheric or earth surface topography changes. The observed signal is short-lived and decays with temporal baseline; however, it is distinct from the stochastic noise usually attributed to temporal decorrelation. The presence of such fading signal introduces a systematic phase component, particularly in short temporal baseline interferograms. If unattended, it biases the estimation of Earth surface deformation from SAR time series. <br></div><div>The contribution of the mentioned phase component is quantitatively assessed. For short temporal baseline interferograms, we quantify the phase contribution to be in the regime of 5 rad at C-band. The biasing impact on deformation signal retrieval is further evaluated. As an example, exploiting a subset of short temporal baseline interferograms which connects each acquisition with the successive 5 in the time series, a significant bias of -6.5 mm/yr is observed in the estimation of deformation velocity from a four-year Sentinel-1 data stack. A practical solution for mitigation of this physical fading signal is further discussed; special attention is paid to the efficient processing of Big Data from modern SAR missions such as Sentinel-1 and NISAR. Adopting the proposed solution, the deformation bias is shown to decrease to -0.24 mm/yr for the Sentinel-1 time series.</div>Based on these analyses, we put forward our recommendations for efficient and accurate deformation signal retrieval from large stacks of multilooked interferograms.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paloma Saporta ◽  
Giorgio Gomba ◽  
Francesco De Zan

&lt;p&gt;This work investigates a systematic phase bias affecting Synthetic Aperture Radar interferograms, in particular at short-term, causing biases in displacement velocity estimates that can reach several mm per year ([1]).&lt;br&gt;The analysis relies on the processing of a stack of Single Look Complex SAR images; in our case, the stack consists in 184 Sentinel-1 images acquired regularly between 2014 and 2018 and covering the Eastern part of Sicily. A reference phase history is derived using the EMI method (Eigen-decomposition-based Maximum-likelihood estimator of Interferometric phase), which takes advantage of the full sample covariance matrix built out of all the SAR acquisitions at a given pixel. This phase history has been shown to be equivalent to a persistent scatterer&amp;#8217;s phase history over our region of interest. We use it to calibrate the direct multilooked interferograms built out of consecutive acquisitions. The short-term phase bias signal thus obtained is analyzed in time and space, making use in addition of ASCAT soil moisture variations and landcover information from the CORINE dataset.&lt;br&gt;We observe that for certain land classes, the high-frequency part of the signal is correlated with soil moisture variations in both dry and wet seasons. The low-pass trend exhibits strongly seasonal variations, with maxima of comparable value in spring (April-May) of each year. Areas with similar landcover types (forests, vegetated areas, agricultural areas) witness similar phase biases behavior, indicating a physical contribution associated with vegetation effects.&lt;br&gt;By investigating the behavior of the bias, this study contributes towards a future mitigation of this phase error in deformation estimates, or the exploitation of the bias itself as a physically relevant signal.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;[1] H. Ansari, F. De Zan and A. Parizzi, &quot;Study of Systematic Bias in Measuring Surface Deformation With SAR Interferometry,&quot; in IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, doi: 10.1109/TGRS.2020.3003421.&lt;/p&gt;


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 99
Author(s):  
Yufen Niu ◽  
Shuai Wang ◽  
Wu Zhu ◽  
Qin Zhang ◽  
Zhong Lu ◽  
...  

Although the Zhaotong–Ludian fault is a seismically active zone located in the boundary between the Sichuan–Yunnan block and the South China block, it has not experienced a large earthquake greater than Mw 7 since at least 1700. On 3 August, 2014, an Mw 6.1 earthquake (the Ludian earthquake) ruptured the Zhaotong active belt in Ludian County, Yunnan province, China. This earthquake was the largest earthquake recorded in the region since 2000, and it provides us with a unique opportunity to study the active tectonics in the region. The analysis of the aftershocks showed that two conjugate faults could have been involved in the event. We first used Global Positioning System (GPS) data and C-band RADARSAT-2 imagery to map the coseismic surface deformation. We then inverted the derived coseismic deformation for the slip distribution based on the constructed conjugate fault model. Finally, the coulomb failure stress due to the Ludian earthquake was estimated to investigate the potential seismic hazards in this region. Our investigations showed that the Ludian earthquake was mainly a bilateral rupture event. The major slip of the main shock was located at depths of 0–5 km, which is close but does not superpose with the aftershocks that are mostly located at depths of 5–20 km. Interestingly, the seismic moment released by the aftershocks (6.9 × 1018 N∙m) was greater than that of the main shock (2.6 × 1018 N∙m). This evidence suggests that the accumulated elastic strain at depths of 0–20 km could have been fully released by the Ludian earthquake and its subsequent aftershocks. Furthermore, our analysis of the coulomb failure stress changes due to the main shock showed that the aftershocks could be the result of dynamic triggering rather than static triggering.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 424 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu Morishita ◽  
Milan Lazecky ◽  
Tim Wright ◽  
Jonathan Weiss ◽  
John Elliott ◽  
...  

For the past five years, the 2-satellite Sentinel-1 constellation has provided abundant and useful Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data, which have the potential to reveal global ground surface deformation at high spatial and temporal resolutions. However, for most users, fully exploiting the large amount of associated data is challenging, especially over wide areas. To help address this challenge, we have developed LiCSBAS, an open-source SAR interferometry (InSAR) time series analysis package that integrates with the automated Sentinel-1 InSAR processor (LiCSAR). LiCSBAS utilizes freely available LiCSAR products, and users can save processing time and disk space while obtaining the results of InSAR time series analysis. In the LiCSBAS processing scheme, interferograms with many unwrapping errors are automatically identified by loop closure and removed. Reliable time series and velocities are derived with the aid of masking using several noise indices. The easy implementation of atmospheric corrections to reduce noise is achieved with the Generic Atmospheric Correction Online Service for InSAR (GACOS). Using case studies in southern Tohoku and the Echigo Plain, Japan, we demonstrate that LiCSBAS applied to LiCSAR products can detect both large-scale (>100 km) and localized (~km) relative displacements with an accuracy of <1 cm/epoch and ~2 mm/yr. We detect displacements with different temporal characteristics, including linear, periodic, and episodic, in Niigata, Ojiya, and Sanjo City, respectively. LiCSBAS and LiCSAR products facilitate greater exploitation of globally available and abundant SAR datasets and enhance their applications for scientific research and societal benefit.


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