Ground-based SAR data analysis tools for deformation monitoring

In the last years, the Ground-Based SAR (GBSAR) technique has proved to be a reliable tool for deformation measurement and monitoring. Compared with other point-wise geodetic techniques it can provide “continuous” displacement measurements over areas of few squared kilometers, with a high spatial resolution and precision up to millimeter level. The process of estimating deformation from the GBSAR data is not always straightforward: it requires appropriate data processing and analysis tools. One of the main critical steps is the phase unwrapping, which can critically affect the deformation measurements and hence the interpretation of the deformation phenomenon at hand. This paper is addressed to a specific type of GBSAR data acquisition: the so-called discontinuous mode. The paper includes two main parts. In the first one we describe the procedure used at the CTTC to process and analyze discontinuous GBSAR data. The second part of the paper discusses the performances of the proposed procedure in a real case study: the deformation monitoring of the village of Barberà de la Conca, located in Southern Catalonia.