Separation of different deformation regimes using PS-InSAR data

Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar using Permanent Scatterers (PS-InSAR) [2] can be used for analyzing deformation patterns in time and space. 'Permanent Scattering' can be caused by different physical objects in the terrain. As PSs can be physically different, they may describe deformation patterns caused by different phenomena like gas extraction, ground water level variations or foundation instabilities. Separating superposed deformation signals is not trivial. The high precision of the phase data does not automatically lead to a reliable estimation of the deformation parameters. This paper gives a description of possible deformation causes and related scattering characteristics combined with a case study on separating deformation regimes. The results of a PS analysis performed on Rotterdam, the Netherlands, are used. Three classes of deformation mechanisms are discussed in relation with the corresponding scattering properties.