Remote Sens. 2016, 8(10), 852; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs8100852
Taking Advantage of the ESA G-POD Service to Study Ground Deformation Processes in High Mountain Areas: A Valle d’Aosta Case Study, Northern Italy
Martina Cignetti 1,*
, Andrea Manconi 2, Michele Manunta 3
, Daniele Giordan 1, Claudio De Luca 3, Paolo Allasia 1 and Francesca Ardizzone 4
, Daniele Giordan 1, Claudio De Luca 3, Paolo Allasia 1 and Francesca Ardizzone 41
National Research Council of Italy, Research Institute for Geo-Hydrological Protection (CNR-IRPI), Strada delle Cacce 73, 10135 Torino, Italy
2
Departement of Earth Sciences, Engineering Geology, ETH Zürich, Sonneggstrasse 5, NO G65, CH-8092 Zürich, Switzerland
3
National Research Council of Italy, Istituto per il Rilevamento Elettromagnetico dell’Ambiente (CNR-IREA), via Diocleziano 328, 80124 Napoli, Italy
4
National Research Council of Italy, Research Institute for Geo-Hydrological Protection (CNR-IRPI), Via della Madonna Alta 126, 06128 Perugia, Italy
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editors: Roberto Tomas, Zhenhong Li and Prasad S. Thenkabail
Received: 15 July 2016 / Revised: 18 August 2016 / Accepted: 11 October 2016 / Published: 20 October 2016
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Earth Observations for Geohazards)
Abstract
This paper presents a methodology taking advantage of the GPOD-SBAS service to study the surface deformation information over high mountain regions. Indeed, the application of the advanced DInSAR over the arduous regions represents a demanding task. We implemented an iterative selection procedure of the most suitable SAR images, aimed to preserve the largest number of SAR scenes, and the fine-tuning of several advanced configuration parameters. This method is aimed at minimizing the temporal decorrelation effects, principally due to snow cover, and maximizing the number of coherent targets and their spatial distribution. The methodology is applied to the Valle d’Aosta (VDA) region, Northern Italy, an alpine area characterized by high altitudes, complex morphology, and susceptibility to different mass wasting phenomena. The approach using GPOD-SBAS allows for the obtainment of mean deformation velocity maps and displacement time series relative to the time period from 1992 to 2000, relative to ESR-1/2, and from 2002 to 2010 for ASAR-Envisat. Our results demonstrate how the DInSAR application can obtain reliable information of ground displacement over time in these regions, and may represent a suitable instrument for natural hazards assessment. View Full-TextKeywords:
high mountain regions; ground surface deformation; DInSAR; GPOD-SBAS
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Cignetti, M.; Manconi, A.; Manunta, M.; Giordan, D.; De Luca, C.; Allasia, P.; Ardizzone, F. Taking Advantage of the ESA G-POD Service to Study Ground Deformation Processes in High Mountain Areas: A Valle d’Aosta Case Study, Northern Italy. Remote Sens. 2016, 8, 852.
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