HR: 0800h
AN: G51A-0134    [Abstracts]
TI: Application of Persistent Scatterer Radar Interferometry to the New Orleans delta region
AU: * Lohman, R
EM: rbl62@cornell.edu
AF: Cornell University, Snee Hall, Ithaca, NY 14850, United States
AU: Fielding, E
EM: eric.fielding@jpl.nasa.gov
AF: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91101, United States
AU: Blom, R
EM: ron.blom@jpl.nasa.gov
AF: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91101, United States
AB: Subsidence in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast is currently monitored using a variety of ground- and satellite-based methods, and extensive geophysical modeling of the area seeks to understand the inputs to subsidence rates from sediment compaction, salt evacuation, oxidation and anthropogenic forcings such as the withdrawal or injection of subsurface fluids. Better understanding of the temporal and spatial variability of these subsidence rates can help us improve civic planning and disaster mitigation efforts with the goal of protecting lives and property over the long term. Existing ground-based surveys indicate that subsidence gradients of up to 1 cm/yr or more over length scales of several 10's of km exist in the region, especially in the vicinity of the city of New Orleans. Modeling results based on sediment inputs and post-glacial sea level change tend to predict lower gradients, presumably because there is a large input from unmodeled crustal faults and anthropogenic activity. The broad spatial coverage of InSAR can both add to the existing network of ground-based geodetic surveys, and can help to identify areas that are deforming anomalously with respect to surrounding areas. Here we present the use of a modified point scatterer method applied to radar data from the Radarsat satellite for New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. Point target analysis of InSAR data has already been successfully applied to the New Orleans area by Dixon et al (2006). Our method is similar to the Stanford Method for PS (StaMPS) developed by Andy Hooper, adapted to rely on combinations of small orbital baselines and the inclusion of coherent regions from the time span of each interferogram during phase unwrapping rather than only using points that are stable within all interferograms.
DE: 1211 Non-tectonic deformation
DE: 1243 Space geodetic surveys
SC: Geodesy [G]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting