National geohazards mapping in Europe: Interferometric analysis of the Netherlands

Abstract The launch of Copernicus, the largest Earth Observation program to date, is significant due to the regular, reliable and freely accessible data to support space-based geodetic monitoring of physical phenomena that can result in natural hazards. In this study, wide area interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) capability is demonstrated by processing 435 Copernicus Sentinel-1 C-Band SAR images (May 2015–May 2017) using the Intermittent Small Baseline Subset (ISBAS) method to produce a wide-area-map (WAM) covering 53,000 km2 of the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. The ISBAS-WAM contains over 19 million measurements, achieving a ground coverage of 94%. The retrieval of measurements over soft surfaces (i.e. agricultural fields, forests and wetlands) was crucial due the dominance of non-urban land cover. A statistical analysis of the velocities reveals that intermittently coherent measurements in rural areas can provide reliable, additional deformation information with a very high degree of confidence (5σ), which spatially correlates to known deformation features associated with compressible soils, infrastructure settlement, peat oxidation, gas production, salt mining and underground and opencast mining. The spatial distribution of deformations concurs with independent data sources, such as previous persistent scatterer interferometry (PSI) deformation maps, models of subsidence and settlement susceptibility, and quantitatively with GPS measurements over the Groningen gas field. Remotely derived deformation products, with near complete spatial coverage, provide a powerful screening tool for mitigation and remediation of geological and geotechnical issues to help in the protection of assets, property and life. The ISBAS-WAM demonstrates that routine generation of such products on a continental scale is now theoretically achievable, given the establishment of the Copernicus programme and the development of state-of-the-art InSAR methods, such as ISBAS.

[1]  Fabio Rocca,et al.  Monitoring landslides and tectonic motions with the Permanent Scatterers Technique , 2003 .

[2]  David Gee,et al.  Supporting energy regulation by monitoring land motion on a regional and national scale: A case study of Scotland , 2018 .

[3]  L. Cascini,et al.  DInSAR data assimilation for settlement prediction: case study of a railway embankment in The Netherlands , 2017 .

[4]  J. Maccabiani,et al.  Multi-scale analysis of settlement-induced building damage using damage surveys and DInSAR data: A case study in The Netherlands , 2017 .

[5]  Michael Eineder,et al.  Practical persistent scatterer processing validation in the course of the Terrafirma project , 2007 .

[6]  V. Ketelaar.  Satellite Radar Interferometry: Subsidence Monitoring Techniques , 2009 .

[7]  Luke Bateson,et al.  DInSAR estimation of land motion using intermittent coherence with application to the South Derbyshire and Leicestershire coalfields , 2013 .

[8]  Stuart H. Marsh,et al.  Mexico City land subsidence in 2014-2015 with Sentinel-1 IW TOPS: Results using the Intermittent SBAS (ISBAS) technique , 2016, Int. J. Appl. Earth Obs. Geoinformation.

[9]  Nicola Castelletto,et al.  Can natural fluid pore pressure be safely exceeded in storing gas underground , 2013 .

[10]  Colm Jordan,et al.  PANGEO : enabling access to geological information in support of GMES : D3.1 : survey team requirements and recommendations. Version 2 , 2011 .

[11]  André Vervoort,et al.  Upward surface movement above deep coal mines after closure and flooding of underground workings , 2017 .

[12]  H. Zebker,et al.  A new method for measuring deformation on volcanoes and other natural terrains using InSAR persistent scatterers , 2004 .

[13]  F. Casu,et al.  Large areas surface deformation analysis through a cloud computing P-SBAS approach for massive processing of DInSAR time series , 2017 .

[14]  Alessandro Simoni,et al.  Using advanced InSAR techniques to monitor landslide deformations induced by tunneling in the Northern Apennines, Italy , 2017 .

[15]  Claudio Prati,et al.  A New Algorithm for Processing Interferometric Data-Stacks: SqueeSAR , 2011, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[16]  J. Griffioen,et al.  3D geology in a 2D country: perspectives for geological surveying in the Netherlands , 2013, Netherlands Journal of Geosciences - Geologie en Mijnbouw.

[17]  J. N. Breunese,et al.  Induced seismicity of the Groningen gas field: History and recent developments , 2015 .

[18]  R. Capes.  PanGeo: Enabling Access to Geological Information in Support of GMES , 2012 .

[19]  Alessandro Parizzi,et al.  Wide area persistent scatterer interferometry , 2011, 2011 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium.

[20]  Stuart Marsh,et al.  Monitoring land motion due to natural gas extraction: Validation of the Intermittent SBAS (ISBAS) DInSAR algorithm over gas fields of North Holland, the Netherlands , 2016 .

[21]  Jérémy Rohmer,et al.  Revealing the surface deformation induced by deep CO2 injection in vegetated/agricultural areas: the combination of corner-reflectors, reservoir simulations and spatio-temporal statistics , 2015 .

[22]  Malcolm Davidson,et al.  GMES Sentinel-1 mission , 2012 .

[23]  E. Chaussard,et al.  Sinking cities in Indonesia: ALOS PALSAR detects rapid subsidence due to groundwater and gas extraction , 2013 .

[24]  Euskadi. Servicio de Cartografía.  Corine Land Cover , 2012 .

[25]  R. Hanssen,et al.  SUBSIDENCE DUE TO PEAT DECOMPOSITION IN THE NETHERLANDS, KINEMATIC OBSERVATIONS FROM RADAR INTERFEROMETRY , 2008 .

[26]  Gianfranco Fornaro,et al.  A new algorithm for surface deformation monitoring based on small baseline differential SAR interferograms , 2002, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[27]  A. Muntendam-Bos,et al.  Production induced subsidence and seismicity in the Groningen gas field – can it be managed? , 2015 .

[28]  Davide Notti,et al.  Twenty-year advanced DInSAR analysis of severe land subsidence: The Alto Guadalentín Basin (Spain) case study , 2015 .

[29]  M. Crosetto,et al.  Persistent Scatterer Interferometry: Potential, Limits and Initial C- and X-band Comparison , 2010 .

[30]  Diofantos G. Hadjimitsis,et al.  The Protection of Cultural Heritage Sites from Geo-Hazards: The PROTHEGO Project , 2016, EuroMed.

[31]  Ramon F. Hanssen,et al.  Nationwide Railway Monitoring Using Satellite SAR Interferometry , 2017, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing.

[32]  Ramon F. Hanssen,et al.  DIFFERENT APPROACHES FOR PSI TARGET CHARACTERIZATION FOR MONITORING URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE , 2012 .

[33]  G. D. De Lange,et al.  A Predictive Map of Compression- Sensitivity of the Dutch Archaeological Soil Archive , 2012 .

[34]  Ramon Hanssen,et al.  Surface Deformation Of The Whole Netherlands After PSI Analysis , 2012 .

[35]  Zhong Lu,et al.  Radarsat-1 and ERS InSAR Analysis Over Southeastern Coastal Louisiana: Implications for Mapping Water-Level Changes Beneath Swamp Forests , 2008, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[36]  S. Bourne,et al.  A seismological model for earthquakes induced by fluid extraction from a subsurface reservoir , 2014 .

[37]  Frank W. Davis,et al.  Sensitivity of Modeled C- and L-Band Radar Backscatter to Ground Surface Parameters in Loblolly Pine Forest , 1998 .

[38]  J. A. Roholl,et al.  Categorizing seismic risk for the onshore gas fields in the Netherlands , 2018 .

[39]  D. Ngan-Tillard,et al.  Total engineering geology approach applied to motorway construction and widening in the Netherlands Part I: A pragmatic approach , 2010 .

[40]  Stuart Marsh,et al.  Ground motion in areas of abandoned mining: application of the intermittent SBAS (ISBAS) to the Northumberland and Durham coalfield, UK , 2017 .

[41]  Howard A. Zebker,et al.  Decorrelation in interferometric radar echoes , 1992, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[42]  M. G. Ciminelli,et al.  Analysis of surface deformations over the whole Italian territory by interferometric processing of ERS, Envisat and COSMO-SkyMed radar data , 2017 .

[43]  Andrew Hooper,et al.  A multi‐temporal InSAR method incorporating both persistent scatterer and small baseline approaches , 2008 .

[44]  Fabio Rocca,et al.  Permanent scatterers in SAR interferometry , 2001, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[45]  H. Middelkoop,et al.  Double trouble: subsidence and CO2 respiration due to 1,000 years of Dutch coastal peatlands cultivation , 2016, Hydrogeology Journal.

[46]  E. Chaussard,et al.  Land subsidence in central Mexico detected by ALOS InSAR time-series , 2014 .

[47]  G. Lange,et al.  Sinking coastal cities , 2014 .

[48]  S. Sjögersten,et al.  Monitoring tropical peat related settlement using ISBAS InSAR, Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) , 2018, Engineering Geology.

[49]  Rosario Montuori,et al.  Probabilistic analysis of settlement-induced damage to bridges in the city of Amsterdam (The Netherlands) , 2018 .

[50]  R. F. Bekendam,et al.  Ground movements over the coal mines of southern Limburg, The Netherlands, and their relation to rising mine waters , 1995 .

[51]  R. Hanssen,et al.  Surface deformation induced by water influx in the abandoned coal mines in Limburg, The Netherlands observed by satellite radar interferometry , 2013 .

[52]  I. Kroon,et al.  The effective subsidence capacity concept: How to assure that subsidence in the Wadden Sea remains within defined limits? , 2012, Netherlands Journal of Geosciences - Geologie en Mijnbouw.