Using a Mesoscale Meteorological Model to Reduce the Effect of Tropospheric Water Vapour from DInSAR Data: A Case Study for the Island of Tenerife, Canary Islands

Abstract

Measurements of ground displacement through classical Differential Interferometric SAR (DInSAR) and advanced DInSAR techniques have been carried out over the entire actively volcanic island of Tenerife, Canary Islands. However, a detailed analysis of the effect of tropospheric water vapour on DInSAR at Tenerife should be carried out to evaluate its influence, including correction models that might improve the accuracy of DInSAR derived deformation signals. Unlike water vapour correction models that are based on space platforms (e.g. MODIS and MERIS), we present an alternative approach that is based on precise water vapour estimations derived from mesoscale numerical meteorological models, in particular the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. The application of this approach to a set of DInSAR observations of the island of Tenerife shows encouraging results.