Identification of Areas with Instability and Surface Deformation: Using Advanced Radar Interferometry in the Municipality of Fusagasugá, Colombia

Abstract

The municipality of Fusagasugá is located 50 kilometers from the city of Bogotá, Colombia, in the eastern cordillera of the Andes in South America. Due to its geographical location, a mountainous area with heights between 1000 and 2000 meters above sea level and two rainy seasons a year, it is affected by processes of instability and surface deformations. The objective of the present investigation was to identify and quantify the displacement speeds of the zones affected by processes of instability and superficial deformation. In this study, 20 radar satellite images from the Sentinel-1 program were used in the SLC format between 30 January 2020 and 19 April 2022 in descending orbit, applying the Small Base Line (SBAS) technique. On the other hand, 21 SAR images were also used in descending orbit between 6 January 2020 and 14 December 2021, applying the persistent scatterers (PS) technique. With the above information, it was possible to map and update the data of the municipality of Fusagasugá in order to include them in the monitoring processes at the regional level.

Keywords

• interferometry
• radar
• Sentinel-1
• mass removal
• DINSAR