The 1998 Sarno (italy) Landslide from Sar Interferometry

The SAR Interferometry is a tecnique for measuring the topography of surface and its change through the phase component of a coherent radar signal [1]. This paper reports on the results of the SAR Interferometry application to the study to the Sarno landslide. Two ERS-1/2 tandem pairs acquired over the Sarno area after the 1998 landslide have been processed to generate a SAR DEM. Due to the strong topographic relief of the study area, to avoid or limit layover and shadowing, we used either an ascending or a descending tandem pair. A DEM generated by means of two ERS1/2 tandem pairs has been compared with a topographic map derived DEM dated 1997 allowing the identification of the areas mostly affected by the landslide. The external DEM has been used because no ERS tandem pairs acquired before the disaster were available to produce a synthetic one.