Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Interferometry (InSAR) can measure terrain movements, supporting geo hazard monitoring for potential prevention of landslides, urban subsidence, volcano risk etc. Movements are detected, evaluated and analysed with interferometric techniques.
Integration of SAR interferometry with other sources of Earth observation and in-situ data allows the generation of products such as landslide inventories, hazard zoning, susceptibility maps, forecasting and monitoring of slow moving landslides, monitoring of man-made structures and subsidence mapping. Telespazio VEGA UK’s specialist knowledge of SAR and InSAR processing techniques has led to the DAMMINGS project, an ESA funded research project looking at the application of both Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and (SAR) data to perform frequent Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) Surveys in an innovative manor across man made Dams and Reservoirs in Europe. Furthermore Telespazio VEGA leads an Innovate UK project focused on the utilisation of InSAR ground motion measurements within building information models (BIMs): Satellite-SHM.
The COSMO-SkyMed constellation’s high revisit frequency shortens the interval between two measurements, so that the generation of time series of SAR data is numerous enough to apply the interferometric technique in a much shorter time period than with data from a single satellite.