Monitoring urban subsidence, cavities and landslides by remote sensing

Información del proyecto

MUSCL

Identificador del acuerdo de subvención: EVG1-CT-1999-00008

Proyecto cerrado

Fecha de inicio 1 Marzo 2000

Fecha de finalización 1 Septiembre 2002

Financiado con arreglo a

• Programme for research, technological development and demonstration on "Energy, environment and sustainable development, 1998-2002"

Coste total € 846 697,00

Aportación de la UE € 452 598,00

Coordinado por

LEOPOLD-FRANZENS-UNIVERSITAET INNSBRUCK
Austria

Resultado final

Validation and operational assessment of the Permanent Scatterers SAR Technique for monitoring terrain movements

The SAR Permanent Scatterers (PS) Technique, developed at Politecnico di Milano and patented in 1999, is an advanced tool for monitoring from space terrain movements with millimetric accuracy. In the framework of the MUSCL project the PS technique has been applied for monitoring terrain movements in different scenarios: - Mediterranean coastal landslide (Ancona, Italy). - Urban subsidence induced by a varying ground water level (Milano, Italy. San Jose Santa Clara Valley, California, USA) - Detection of single building collapse precursors (Camaiore, Italy) - Landslides in alpine environment (Innsbruck, Austria. Triesenberg, Liechtenstein). PS measurements have been successfully compared (in cooperation both with MUSCL partners and public administrations) with those available from independent tools, in particular optical levelling relative to Ancona and Milano, GPS data relative to the Triesen-Triesenberg area and ground truth (Camaiore). The comparison confirmed the theoretically derived millimetric precision of the PS Technique and its maturity for operational exploitation.

Documentation of SAR interferometry methods and applications for monitoring landslides and subsidence

Documentation of information material has been prepared for the public, describing the remote sensing methods and applications to measure and monitor displacements at the Earth's surface with very high accuracy over extended areas and time periods. The main data sources are satellite based imaging radar systems (SAR). SAR interferometry (INSAR) was used as main technique. Results of application studies are presented to map motion fields of various temporal and spatial scales from regional scales down to displacements of individual objects. The methods were applied and validated in various test sites in Alpine and Mediterranean regions, including synergistic studies with optical image data and ground-based geophysical and geodetic measurements. Millimetric accuracy is achieved for the displacement measurements, which are carried out over repeat intervals ranging from a few weeks to several years. In addition, a ground-based INSAR sensor and the methods of data analysis, applied and refined in the project, are described and application examples are shown. These tools can be used to monitor the displacement of individual slopes in detail with high temporal and spatial accuracy.