HR: 14:10h
AN: G53A-03    [Abstracts]
TI: Large-scale deformation of Tibet measured with Envisat ScanSAR interferometry
AU: * Fielding, E J
EM: Eric.J.Fielding@jpl.nasa.gov
AF: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Dr., Pasadena, CA 91109, United States
AU: Rosen, P A
EM: Paul.A.Rosen@jpl.nasa.gov
AF: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Dr., Pasadena, CA 91109, United States
AU: Burgmann, R
EM: burgmann@seismo.berkeley.edu
AF: 2Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California Berkeley, McCone Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720, United States
AB: Scanning synthetic aperture radar (ScanSAR) interferometry has the potential to map deformation over large areas. The large actively deforming area and arid climate of Tibet make it an excellent test area for the ScanSAR interferometry technique, which has been proposed as a possible SAR operation mode for the DESDynI mission recommended by the Decadal Survey. The Envisat C-band (5.6 cm wavelength) ScanSAR is called Wide Swath (WS) mode and images a track that is over 400 km wide, with five subswaths. Envisat WS was not originally designed for interferometry, but about one in five pairs have the required burst synchronization. Since January 2007, the European Space Agency have been attempting to greatly improve the burst synchronization and reduce the variation in baselines. Unfortunately, some of the WS data over Tibet has been acquired in HH polarization and some in VV polarization, causing an additional limitation on usable interferometric pairs. Several Envisat tracks across Tibet have appropriate WS acquisitions to form interferometric pairs. Initial results show a reduction of coherence in eastern Tibet where the plateau climate is wetter and allows more vegetation cover. Processing long strips (>1000 km) with the full WS width gives strong constraints on the baseline between the two orbits of image-pair acquisitions and enables better separation of atmospheric effects and orbit errors from moderate- wavelength (~ 100 km) deformation signals. Long-wavelength control from GPS or other ground-based data is still required for the longest wavelengths (>300 km).
DE: 1209 Tectonic deformation (6924)
DE: 1240 Satellite geodesy: results (6929, 7215, 7230, 7240)
DE: 1241 Satellite geodesy: technical issues (6994, 7969)
DE: 6924 Interferometry (1207, 1209, 1242)
DE: 8110 Continental tectonics: general (0905)
SC: Geodesy [G]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting