Spatio-temporal analysis of ground deformation occurring near Rice Lake, Saskatchewan, and observed by Radarsat-2 DInSAR during 2008–2011

Abstract

We present ground deformation maps for the southern Saskatchewan region between Rice Lake and the City of Saskatoon measured by Radarsat-2 Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (DInSAR) during 2008–2011. We acquired and processed Radarsat-2 data from two different tracks (Multi-Look Fine beam and one Standard beam) and performed advanced interferometric analysis that revealed ground deformation with a maximum line-of-sight rate close to 10 cm per year. Decomposition of ascending and descending, line-of-sight images into horizontal (mainly east–west) and vertical components revealed the presence of localized horizontal motion with a maximum absolute rate of 4 cm per year and subsidence with a maximum rate of −10 cm per year. These results suggested that simple line-of-sight time series analysis of interferometric data acquired in single geometry is insufficient for capturing a complete pattern of ground deformation and can be misleading in the presence of both horizontal and vertical components of deformation.