Subsidence Mapping Using InSAR

Subsidence, a common hazard on the earth’s surface, can be due to natural or anthropogenic causes. Subsidence mapping is of utmost importance, as it can greatly help in the safety, mitigation and management of life, property and natural resources. Airborne and satellite-based synthetic aperture radar interferometry (InSAR) techniques have provided unprecedented accuracy (millimetre level) and greater spatial coverage. Persistent scatterer InSAR, which makes use of a large number of SAR images to achieve coherence, is a recently developed tool for obtaining greater details, even in relatively less coherent and inaccessible areas. This chapter provides a description of subsidence mapping using InSAR, with examples of its mapping capabilities.