1702 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING, VOL. 41, NO.

7, JULY 2003

JERS SAR Interferometry for Land

Subsidence Monitoring
Tazio Strozzi, Senior Member, IEEE, Urs Wegmüller, Senior Member, IEEE, Charles L. Werner, Member, IEEE,
Andreas Wiesmann, Member, IEEE, and Volker Spreckels

Abstract—In this paper, the potential of L-band repeat-pass
differential synthetic aperture radar (SAR) interferometry for
land subsidence monitoring is evaluated using Japanese Earth
Resources Satellite (JERS) SAR data. Bologna, Mexico City, and
the Ruhrgebiet are selected as application sites representing slow
to fast deformation velocities. The investigation includes feasibility
aspects such as data availability, the temporal decorrelation
over different landcover classes and the range of useful spatial
baselines, an analysis of the achieved deformation accuracy, and
considerations on the complementarity to European Remote
Sensing satellite (ERS) SAR interferometry and leveling surveys.
In spite of the rather limited data availability, land subsidence
maps could be generated for the three selected application sites. In
contrast to ERS C-band SAR data, JERS L-band interferometry
permitted the retrieval of subsidence values over vegetated areas
and forest when using interferograms of less than one year ac-
quisition time interval and short baseline. In addition, the longer
L-band wavelength was found to be superior in the case of large
deformation gradients that lead to phase-unwrapping problems
in C-band interferometry.
Index Terms—Japanese Earth Resources Satellite (JERS),
L-band, land subsidence, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) inter-
ferometry.
I. INTRODUCTION
L AND SUBSIDENCE monitoring with differential syn-
thetic aperture radar (SAR) interferometry [1] using data
of the European Remote Sensing satellites 1 and 2 (ERS-1 and
ERS-2) has reached operational readiness. Land subsidence
maps have been generated in numerous cases for different
surface deformation velocities and extents [2], [3]. In several
cases, the subsidence maps were validated with leveling sur-
veys indicating a very high accuracy of a few millimeters per
year [2], [4]. This does not mean that all subsidence mapping
problems are solved with SAR interferometry, but rather that
the technique has a very good potential, that it has reached
some robustness, and that our understanding is sufficient to
evaluate its potential for new cases, i.e., to decide on the
strategy to use, to assess the feasibility, to assess the expected
processing effort and data costs, and to indicate an accuracy. In
spite of this, it is important to keep in mind the limitations of
the technique when applied to ERS SAR data. In most cases it
Manuscript received March 28, 2002; revised August 22, 2002.
T. Strozzi, U. Wegmüller, C. L. Werner, and A. Wiesmann are with Gamma
Remote Sensing, 3074 Muri BE, Switzerland (e-mail: strozzi@gamma-rs.ch).
V. Spreckels is with the Departement of Engineering Surveys and Geo-Infor-
mation, Deutsche Steinkohle AG (DSK), 46236 Recklinghausen-Hochlarmark,
Germany.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TGRS.2003.813273
0196-2892/03$17.00 © 2003 IEEE
is not possible, for example, to generate a subsidence map with
complete spatial coverage due to temporal decorrelation for
certain surface types. In addition, a quantitative interpretation
of the interferometric phase is often not possible in the case of
high fringe rates resulting from large displacement gradients,
due to phase-unwrapping problems.
These limitations are closely related to the C-band frequency
(5.3 GHz, 5.7-cm wavelength) of the ERS SAR. The use of a
lower frequency may avoid some of these problems. L-band
SAR (1.3 GHz, 23.5-cm wavelength) in particular is attractive
for land subsidence mapping because of the expected lower tem-
poral decorrelation over vegetated areas and the better measure-
ments of large deformations. Therefore, it should achieve a more
complete spatial coverage with displacement information.
In this paper, the potential of L-band repeat-pass differential
SAR interferometry for land subsidence monitoring is evalu-
ated using SAR data of the Japanese Earth Resources Satellite
1 (JERS-1) [5]. The selected application sites of Mexico City,
Bologna, and the Ruhrgebiet are characterized by different dis-
placement velocities, extents of the subsiding area and landuse
cover. In addition, for these sites subsidence maps derived from
ERS SAR data and leveling surveys are available for compar-
ison and validation.
II. MEXICO CITY (MEXICO)
Mexico City is built on highly compressible clays and be-
cause of strong groundwater extraction a total subsidence of
more than 9 m has been observed over the last century [6]. Two
independent ERS SAR differential interferograms in ascending
and descending modes, both with an acquisition time interval
of 139 days and perpendicular baselines of less than 30 m, were
used to derive a subsidence map for the time period December
1995 to May 1996 in [7]. Consistent results were found with
the two interferograms and their results averaged in Fig. 1(a).
The observed maximum subsidence velocity was larger than
40 cm/year. The coverage with subsidence information derived
from ERS SAR interferometry is limited to the urban area with
missing information near the Texcoco Lake and to the south in
the Chalco Plain [see Fig. 2(d)].
JERS SAR data suitable for mapping land subsidence in
Mexico City were also found in the archive, but SAR processing
with far-range extension [8] had to be performed in order to
enlarge the coverage to the west of the city. A SAR image
acquired on March 17, 1994 and five other images acquired
every 44 days between April 3, 1996 and September 26, 1996
STROZZI et al.: JERS SAR INTERFEROMETRY FOR LAND SUBSIDENCE MONITORING
(a)
(c)
Fig. 1. Mexico City. Subsidence rates in meters per year derived from (a) two ERS pairs between December 1995 and May 1996, (b) two JERS pairs between
March 1994 and September 1996, (c) three JERS pairs between April 1996 and September 1996, and (d) combined ERS and JERS subsidence rates for 1996.
Projection is UTM, zone 14.
were used to compute a series of interferograms with acqui-
sition time intervals between 44–924 days and perpendicular
baselines between 222–3689 m.
Independently of landuse and acquisition time interval we
found complete decorrelation for perpendicular baselines larger
than around 2000 m (see Fig. 2), also by applying the spec-
tral-shift filtering [1]. For acquisition time intervals larger than
two years we found a visible phase signal only for urban areas
near the city center but not to the south in the Chalco Plain. It
has to be noticed that a coherence of 0.1 still results in a vis-
ible phase signal with JERS SAR interferometry. For acquisi-
tion time intervals of less than 176 days and baselines between
around 1000–2000 m the phase signal over the urban area is
visible but noisy. For baselines smaller than around 1000 m and
acquisition time intervals of less than 176 days, high coherence
1703
(b)
(d)
is observed over the urban areas and even over nonbuilt-up areas
the phase signal is useful.
Two interferograms formed with data acquired between
March 1994 and September 1996 and three interferograms for
the period between April 1996 and September 1996, all with
baselines shorter than 1026 m, were selected for further anal-
ysis. The topographic phase component was estimated based
on a digital elevation model (DEM) derived from an ERS-1/2
Tandem pair. For the geometric referencing between the JERS
and ERS data, terrain corrected geocoding with a global DEM
and a fine registration using an intensity cross-correlation
method [9] were used. The terrain flattened JERS interfero-
grams were unwrapped and stacking of the two interferograms
acquired between March 1994 and September 1996 and of
the three interferograms acquired between April 1996 and
1704
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
Fig. 2. Mexico City. JERS SAR coherence versus perpendicular baseline
and acquisition time interval over selected areas. (a) Urban area near the city
center. (b) Urban area in the Chalco Plain. (c) Nonbuilt-up area. (d) ERS SAR
backscattering coefficient image with polygons used to compile the statistic.
September 1996 was applied to combine the individual results
into two maps with reduced errors.
Subsidence information derived from the interferograms with
two years acquisition time interval [see Fig. 1(b)] is restricted to
the urban area near the city center and is similar to that obtained
with ERS SAR data in Fig. 1(a). L-band SAR interferometry for
acquisition time intervals of less than 176 days [see Fig. 1(c)],
on the other hand, extended subsidence information to less ur-
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING, VOL. 41, NO. 7, JULY 2003
banized and more vegetated areas. The spatial coverage of sub-
sidence information in Fig. 1(c) is mainly limited by the area
where the ERS Tandem pair used to derive the DEM could be
unwrapped. The L-band interferograms of less than 176 days
acquisition time interval could be unwrapped without any par-
ticular difficulty, whereas for the ERS SAR interferograms with
acquisition time intervals of 139 days and the JERS SAR inter-
ferograms with two years time interval, the fringe rate was in
some areas very high and hard to be resolved. The mosaic of
combined ERS and JERS results of Fig. 1(d) gives an impres-
sive overview of the subsidence in Mexico City in 1996, with
settlements of more than 50 cm/year in some areas. The loca-
tion and magnitude of subsidence is also in general agreement
with the results of leveling surveys and theoretical models [6].
III. BOLOGNA (ITALY)
At Bologna, land subsidence is caused by ground-water
exploitation for industrial, domestic and agricultural uses
[10]. Maximum subsidence velocities of 6–8 cm/year were
observed with precision leveling surveys during the time period
1987–1991. Using the interferogram stacking technique, we
produced a subsidence map for the time period 1992 to 1993
[Fig. 3(a)] based on six ERS SAR scenes with acquisition time
intervals between 140–385 days and perpendicular baselines of
less than 68 m [11]. The subsidence information derived from
ERS SAR interferograms of around one year acquisition time
interval is restricted to built-up areas. A phase-unwrapping
algorithm for sparse data [12] was used to retrieve subsidence
values also for the suburbs of Bologna and the neighboring
small towns. However, in comparison to leveling surveys,
the spatial coverage with subsidence data outside Bologna is
incomplete.
Limited data availability strongly restricted the selection of
JERS SAR data to map subsidence at Bologna. Only four scenes
were acquired by JERS over Bologna, between July 24, 1993
and April 14, 1994, and only two interferograms with perpen-
dicular baselines of less than 2000 m showed coherence (Fig. 4).
The two interferograms have acquisition time intervals of 88 and
264 days. Considering that subsidence in Bologna does not ex-
ceed 8 cm/year, we expect large errors from the analysis of these
data. However, these data were further processed in order to in-
vestigate the coherence over nonurban areas. An external DEM
with a pixel size of around 200 m 200 m was used for ter-
rain corrected geocoding and removal of the topographic phase
component.
The result with JERS SAR data [Fig. 3(b)] confirms the
higher coherence of L-band interferometry in nonurban areas in
comparison to C-band one. The subsidence signal in Fig. 3(b) is
affected by large-scale errors due to baseline and atmospheric
artifacts. Nevertheless, there is a general similarity in the loca-
tion and magnitude of subsidence measured with JERS SAR
interferometry and leveling surveys [10]. A more complete
validation with leveling data was not performed, because of the
unsatisfactory JERS SAR data availability. More JERS pairs
with longer acquisition time intervals and short baselines would
be required for an improved analysis at this site with relatively
low deformation rates of a few centimeters per year.
STROZZI et al.: JERS SAR INTERFEROMETRY FOR LAND SUBSIDENCE MONITORING 1705

(a) (b)
Fig. 3. Bologna. Subsidence rates in meters per year derived from (a) six ERS pairs between May 1992 and July 1993 and (b) two JERS pairs between July 1993
and April 1994. Projection is UTM, zone 32.

(a) (b)

(c) (d)
Fig. 4. Bologna. JERS coherence maps in SAR geometry, linear scale between 0.0 and 0.3. (a) 24.07.93–20.10.93, 88 days, 1008 m. (b) 24.07.93–14.04.94, 264
days, 1658 m. (c) 20.10.93–14.04.94, 176 days, 2643 m. Also shown in (d) is a JERS backscattering coefficient image.

IV. RUHRGEBIET (GERMANY)
Underground coal mining in the German Ruhrgebiet causes
significant surface movement. The mining company Deutsche
Steinkohle AG (DSK) is legally obliged to assess the environ-
mental impact of the excavations. Surface movement caused by
mining is a very dynamic process with high spatial and tem-
poral variability. For mining areas with high subsidence veloc-
ities, ERS interferometric pairs with acquisition time intervals
of only one or a few 35-day repeat cycles are most appropriate
[13].
An example of a 70-day interferogram is shown in Fig. 5(b).
For nonurbanized areas [see Fig. 5(a)], the ERS phase signal is
noisy, but a clear subsidence signal can be identified in the urban
area in the Southwest corner. Also shown are the active mine
panels for the acquisition period, with yellow boxes indicating
the mining activity up to the first acquisition date and cyan boxes
1706 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING, VOL. 41, NO. 7, JULY 2003

(a) (b) (c)

Fig. 5. Ruhrgebiet. (a) Color composite of ERS Tandem coherence (red), backscattering coefficient (green), and temporal variability of the backscattering
coefficient (blue), where blue regions are generally water, green generally forest, orange generally agriculture, and yellow generally urban. (b) ERS-filtered
0
interferogram, 07.07.96–15.09.96, 70 days, 161 m, with superimposed mining information. (c) JERS-filtered interferogram 24.06.96-20.09.96, 88 days, 502 m.
Projection is Gauss–Krüger (TM), zone 2.

the mining works up to the second acquisition date. A major

difficulty in the quantitative interpretation of the ERS interfer-
ograms was the phase unwrapping of the high fringe rates over
ongoing excavation. Displacements of up to 6–8 cm in the obser-
vation period were reliably estimated. Higher deformation rates
were not accurately caught resulting in a significant underesti-
mation for settlements between 10 and 30 cm [13].
JERS SAR data selection for the Ruhrgebiet was strongly (a)
restricted by the few acquisitions found in the archive. Only
seven scenes, resulting in five interferograms with baselines
shorter than 2000 m and acquisition time intervals of less than
132 days, are available. Far-range extension [8] was applied
to enlarge the study area and improve the coverage of active
mining areas. Here, we report on interferograms with topo-
graphic and displacement phase terms not yet separated from
each other. (b)
In the interferogram shown in Fig. 5(c), with a perpendic-
ular baseline of 502 m and an acquisition time interval of 88
days, the coherence is high even for forests, resulting in a signif-
icantly increased spatial coverage of subsidence information in
comparison to ERS SAR interferometry. For agricultural areas
more decorrelation is observed. Three clear subsidence signals
appear at positions where mining was ongoing. In all three cases
the displacement causes a phase difference of only one fringe or
(c)
less because of the reduced sensitivity of the long L-band wave-
length. This allows us to unwrap the phase easily. Fig. 6. Ruhrgebiet. JERS SAR coherence versus perpendicular baseline and
acquisition time interval over selected landuse classes. (a) Urban, (b) forest, and
The analysis of the other interferograms showed that 1) the (c) agricultural.
coherence over urban areas [Fig. 6(a)] is good for all analyzed
baselines up to 1350 m, 2) the coherence over forest [Fig. 6(b)]
V. DISCUSSION
diminishes in particular with increasing baseline, but for inter-
ferograms of up to 1350 m it is still useful, and 3) the coherence JERS SAR interferometry for land subsidence monitoring
over agricultural fields [Fig. 6(c)] diminishes with increasing was applied to Mexico City, Bologna, and the Ruhrgebiet. In
time interval from 44–176 days. The available data were not spite of the limited data availability, land subsidence maps for
sufficient to study seasonal effects over agricultural regions. the three application sites could be generated and compared fa-
STROZZI et al.: JERS SAR INTERFEROMETRY FOR LAND SUBSIDENCE MONITORING
vorably with subsidence maps derived from ERS SAR interfer-
ometry and leveling surveys. Range extended SAR processing
was applied in some of the examples to cover areas of interest
of up to a few kilometers outside the normal swath.
It was demonstrated that L-band interferograms of less than
one year acquisition time interval and for perpendicular base-
lines up to 1000 m can be used to map subsidence for vegetated
areas and forest. It was also found that high deformation gra-
dients, which could not be resolved with ERS, can be resolved
with L-band interferometry because of the reduced movement
sensitivity at the longer wavelength. Such high gradients are, for
example, often observed above active mining. Based on this we
conclude that L-band differential SAR interferometry is partic-
ularly well suited for the measurement of large displacements
with strong deformation gradients (e.g., cm/ km) and dis-
placements in forested areas. This is complementary to ERS dif-
ferential SAR interferometry, which is better suited for the mea-
surement of slow displacements in urban areas.
Obvious atmospheric artifacts were not found on the JERS
interferograms. This was noticed not only for the reported inter-
ferograms over Mexico City, Bologna, and the Ruhrgebiet, but
also for interferograms with very short baselines and acquisition
time intervals over Verona (Italy) and Maracaibo (Venezuela).
We found that the main processing problem in JERS SAR inter-
ferometry is the baseline estimation because of the inaccurate
orbit information of the JERS-1 satellite. When possible, the
baseline was estimated using ground-control points on stable
areas. Otherwise, the baseline was estimated from the interfer-
ogram fringe rate.
Future work will concentrate on the quantitative validation
of the displacements in the Ruhrgebiet with ground truth and
on the analysis of slow displacements of few centimeters per
year with the stacking of multiple interferograms. In expectation
of the L-band PALSAR system onboard the Japanese ALOS
satellite scheduled for launch in 2004, we conclude that L-band
differential SAR interferometry has a very high potential for
subsidence monitoring provided that data are regularly acquired
in a single interferometric mode with small enough baselines.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
JERS SAR data courtesy of J-2RI-001 and ALOS-RA-94,
copyright National Space Development Agency of Japan. ERS
SAR data copyright European Space Agency (ESA). ERS SAR
data analysis supported by the ESA Data User Programme. ERS
SAR data of Mexico City courtesy of A03-178. Mining infor-
mation courtesy DSK. The Italian National Geologic Survey is
acknowledged for the DEM of Bologna.
REFERENCES
[1] R. Bamler and P. Hartl, “Synthetic aperture radar interferometry,” Inv.
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[4] M. Crosetto, C. C. Tscherning, B. Crippa, and M. Castillo, “Subsidence
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[5] Y. Nemoto, H. Nishino, M. Ono, H. Mizutamari, K. Nishikawa, and K.
Tanaka, “Japanese Earth Resources Satellite-1 synthetic aperture radar,”
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[6] G. F. Vega, “Subsidence of the city of Mexico; a historical review,” in
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[7] T. Strozzi and U. Wegmüller, “Land subsidence in Mexico city mapped
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Germany, June 28–July 2 1999.
[8] C. Werner, U. Wegmüller, T. Strozzi, and A. Wiesmann, “Gamma
SAR and interferometric processing software,” in Proc. ERS-ENVISAT
Symp., Gothenburg, Sweden, Oct. 16–20, 2000.
[9] U. Wegmüller, C. Werner, T. Strozzi, and A. Wiesmann, “Automated and
precise image registration procedures,” in Proc. MultiTemp 2001 Conf.,
Trento, Italy, Sept. 13–14, 2001.
[10] M. Barbarella, L. Pieri, and P. Russo, “Studio dell’abbassamento del
suolo nel territorio bolognese mediante livallazioni ripetute: Analisi dei
movimenti e considerazioni statistiche,” in INARCOS, 1990, pp. 1–19.
[11] T. Strozzi, U. Wegmüller, and G. Bitelli, “Differential SAR interferom-
etry for land subsidence mapping in Bologna,” in Land Subsidence—Vol.
II—Proc. 6th Int. Symp. Land Subsidence, Ravenna, Italy, Sept. 24–29,
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[12] M. Costantini and P. Rosen, “A generalized phase unwrapping approach
for sparse data,” in Proc. IGARSS, Hamburg, Germany, June 28–July 2
1999.
[13] V. Spreckels, U. Wegmüller, T. Strozzi, J. Musiedlak, and H. C. Wich-
lacz, “Detection and observation of underground coal mining-induced
surface deformation with differential SAR interferometry,” in Proc.
Joint Workshop of ISPRS Working Groups I/2, I/5, and IV/7 “High
Resolution Mapping from Space”, Hannover, Germany, Sept. 19–21,
2001.
Tazio Strozzi (M’98–SM’03) received the M.S. and
Ph.D. degrees from the University of Bern, Switzer-
land, both in physics, in 1993 and 1996, respectively.
He has been with Gamma Remote Sensing, Muri,
Switzerland, since 1996, where he is responsible
for the development of radar remote sensing
applications and is manager of a number of research
and commercial projects. From 1996 to 1998, he
was a part-time Physics Teacher at the Highschool
of Bellinzona, Bellinzona, Switzerland. From
1999 to 2001, he worked as a part-time Visiting
Scientist at the University of Wales, Swansea, U.K. He is Principal Investigator
for ERS, ENVISAT, and JERS projects on forest mapping and subsidence
monitoring. His current activities include SAR and SAR interferometry for
landuse applications (including forest, urban areas, and hazard mapping) and
differential SAR interferometry for subsidence monitoring, glacier motion
estimation, and landslide surveying.
Urs Wegmüller (M’94–SM’03) received the M.S.
and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Bern,
Bern, Switzerland, both in physics, in 1986 and
1990, respectively.
Between 1991 and 1992, he was a Visiting
Scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California
University of Technology, Pasadena, working on
the retrieval of canopy parameters from microwave
remote sensing data. Between 1993 and 1995, at
the University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland, his
research included interferometric data processing,
theoretical modeling of scattering in forest canopies, and retrieval algorithm
development for geo- and biophysical parameters using SAR interferometry.
In 1995, he was a founding member of GAMMA Remote Sensing AG,
Muri, Switzerland, which is active in the development of signal processing
techniques and remote sensing applications. As CEO of GAMMA, he has
overall responsibility for GAMMA’s activities. In addition, he is directly
responsible for a number of research and commercial projects of GAMMA.
His main involvement currently is in the development of applications and the
definition and implementation of related services in land surface deformation
mapping, hazard mapping, landuse mapping, and topographic mapping. He is
Principal Investigator for ERS, ENVISAT, SRTM, and ALOS announcement
of opportunity projects on SAR and SAR interferometry-related calibration
issues, application development, and demonstration.
1708 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING, VOL. 41, NO. 7, JULY 2003
Charles L. Werner (S’75–M’79) received the Ph.D.
degree in systems engineering from the University of
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, in 1987.
He has been with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, CA, where he worked on digital pro-
cessing and applications of airborne and spaceborne
SAR, especially in the area of interferometry.
This has included research in focusing algorithms,
speckle reduction, scatterer classification, polar-
ization signatures, detection of moving targets,
radiometric calibration, and interferometric signal
processing. He developed the system design for the Cassini Titan Radar
Mapper, a multimode radar incorporating SAR, altimeter, scatterometer, and
radiometer modes. While working at the University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzer-
land (1992–1995), he developed a high-resolution interferometric processor for
both airborne and spaceborne SAR sensors included ERS-1, and the Dornier
DOSAR airborne system. In 1995, he and cofounded Gamma Remote Sensing
AG, Muri, Switzerland, to further the use of SAR remote sensing, particularly
interferometry, for a wide range of applications including generation of digital
elevation models, studies of interferometric signatures of forest and agricultural
areas, and differential interferometric measurement of crustal deformation and
ice motion. He is currently with Gamma Remote Sensing AG, working on
many aspects of SAR interferometric signal processing and applications.
Andreas Wiesmann (M’00) received the M.S.
degree in physics and the Ph.D. degree in natural
sciences, both from the University of Bern, Bern,
Switzerland, in 1994 and 1998, respectively.
In 1998, he joined Gamma Remote Sensing AG,
Muri, Switzerland, as a Senior Research Scientist.
His current work includes the development of SAR-
and InSAR-based applications for earth observation.
Volker Spreckels received the Graduate Engineer
(Dipl.-Ing.) degree in geodesy from the University
of Hannover, Hannover, Germany, in 1995.
Between 1995 and 1996, he was a freelancer at
PHOENICS, Service-Oriented Society for Digital
Photogrammetry and GIS Ltd., Hannover, Germany.
His main projects were the production of orthoim-
ages, 3-D building data, and digital elevation models
for the computer-based planning of cellular radio
networks for private GSM network operators. From
1996 to 1997, he was employed as Photogram-
metry-Engineer at Kirchner & Wolf Consult, Ltd., Hildesheim, Germany, where
his task was the generation of DEM and the production of digital orthoimages.
Between 1997 and 2002, he worked as a Research Assistant at the Institute for
Photogrammetry and GeoInformation (IPI), University of Hannover, in four
successive research and development projects set up by the German hard coal
mining company Deutsche Steinkohle AG (DSK), Recklinghausen, Germany.
The aim of the projects was to investigate the capability of different space- and
airborne systems for the detection and monitoring of subsidence movements
caused by underground hard coal mining activities. The projects dealt with
DEMs derived from analytical and digital photogrammetry, three-line-scanner
imagery (HRSC-A), airborne laser- (TopoSys) and radar data (AeS-1), and the
use of differential SAR interferometry for the detection of relative subsidence
movements. Since September 2002, he has been the Group Manager for
Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing in the Department of Engineering
Surveys and Geo-Information at DSK.