A First Quantitative Evaluation of Atmospheric Effects on SAR Interferometry

Considerable interest has been generated recently in the use of SAR interferometry for monitoring slow deformation processes. Previous studies have shown that atmospheric inhomogeneities can form a major error source in these measurements. Since these inhomogemeities are distributed with a significant temporal and spatial variance, the corresponding phase delay can be observed within a single interferometric SAR pair. Especially in sea-bordering countries as the Netherlands, interferometric pairs are influenced considerably by the rapidly changing tropospheric conditions. In this study it will be tried to give a first quantitative evaluation of observed effects in SAR interferograms of the Netherlands. Using additional measurements and standard meteorological information, the plausibility of the effects to be atmospherical of origin is examined.