CR-Based TerraSAR-X Interferometry for Landslide Monitoring

To monitor and detect the events of landslide, rock-fall along the banks of the Yangtze River in the Three Gorges area, the differential INSAR technique with corner reflectors (CR-Based INSAR) might be more effective than the conventional geological, and discrete GPS measurement techniques, conventional D-INSAR, as well as nature persistent scatterers method. Unfortunately, in most places of the world, the correlation between radar acquisitions degrades with time due to vegetation, climatic condition, or other surface property changes. In those areas only a few persistent point scatterers or even no any one can be found out. The corner reflectors, duo to their design, provide a very clear and stable target response (both amplitude and phase) to the radar at any acquisition time. They don’t suffer from de-correlation effects of conventional InSAR. Aside from the millimeter-lever measurement accuracy, the great benefit of this technique is the regular and remote monitoring and measuring without the need for repeated ground field visits and their associated costs. Using high resolution TerraSAR-X data the CR-Based INSAR technique is applied to monitor landslides in the Three Gorges area. The results prove that this measure method is useable in the non-coherent areas.