Differential Interferometric SAR and Climate Change

Differential interferometric SAR is a powerful remote sensing technique to measure and monitor land deformation. The technique has several applications, which have been widely demonstrated in the last decades. In this paper we focus on the potential contribution of this technique to climate change studies. We identify five main classes of applications: (i) cryosphere and permafrost; (ii) cryosphere and glaciers; (iii) relative sea level rise; (iv) aquifer monitoring; and (v) landslide monitoring. For each class, we briefly address the contribution of DInSAR. We refer to studies published in the literature, focusing on those based on the European Ground Motion Service, which in this context represents a valuable DInSAR data source for its continental coverage. In the last part of the paper, the key aspects to be considered in any DInSAR application are discussed including the measurement point density, the 1D nature of measurements, the insensitivity to horizontal displacements along the North-South direction, or the effects of phase unwrapping errors.