Monitoring of millimeter-scale deformations in Tallinn using repeated leveling and PS-InSAR analysis of Sentinel-1 data

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate millimeter-scale deformations in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, by using repeated leveling data and the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images of Sentinel-1 satellite mission. The persistent scattered interferometric SAR (PS-InSAR) analysis of images from ascending and descending orbits from June 2016 to November 2021 resulted the line-of-sight (LOS) displacement velocities in the Tallinn city center. Velocity solutions were estimated for the full period of time, but also for shorter periods to monitor deformation changes in yearly basis. The gridded LOS velocity models were used for the decomposition of east-west and vertical velocities. Additionally, the uncertainty of 2D velocity solutions was estimated by following the propagation of uncertainty. The 3D velocity of permanent GNSS station “MUS2” in Tallinn was used to unify the reference of all PS-InSAR velocity solutions. The results of the latest leveling in Tallinn city center in 2007/2008 and 2019 showed rather small subsidence rates which were in agreement with InSAR long-termsolution. However, the short-termInSAR velocity solutions revealed larger subsidence of city center with a rate about –10 mm/yr in 2016–2017, and the uplift around 5 mm/yr in 2018–2019 with relatively stable periods in 2017–2018 and 2019–2021. The inclusion of groundwater level observation data and the geological mapping information into the analysis revealed possible spatiotemporal correlation between the InSAR results and the groundwater level variations over the deep valleys buried under quaternary sediments.

Keywords

• sar interferometry
• repeated leveling
• vertical land movement
• groundwater level change
• geodetic network