Monitoring Earth Surface Deformations with InSAR Technology: Principle and Some critical Issues

Synthetic aperture radar interferometry, InSAR, is a novel remote sensing technique to measure earth surface deformation. It is capable of obtaining dense information related to the deformation of a large area efficiently, economically and effectively. Therefore, InSAR is a promising technology for monitoring the earth surface deformation related to some natural hazardous events, such as earthquake, volcano eruption, land subsidence, landslide. However, some critical issues need to be addressed before it becomes a reliable and accurate monitoring technology. In this paper, the principles and basic concepts of InSAR are introduced, its applications are reviewed and critical issues on future development examined.