FLATSIM: The ForM@Ter LArge-Scale Multi-Temporal Sentinel-1 InterferoMetry Service

Abstract

The purpose of the ForM@Ter LArge-scale multi-Temporal Sentinel-1 InterferoMetry service (FLATSIM) is the massive processing of Sentinel-1 data using multi-temporal interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) over large areas, i.e., greater than 250,000 km2. It provides the French ForM@ter scientific community with automatically processed products using a state of the art processing chain based on a small baseline subset approach, namely the New Small Baseline (NSBAS). The service results from a collaboration between the scientific team that develops and maintains the NSBAS processing chain and the French Spatial Agency (CNES) that mirrors the Sentinel-1 data. The proximity to Sentinel-1 data, the NSBAS workflow, and the specific optimizations to make NSBAS processing massively parallel for the CNES high performance computing infrastructure ensures the efficiency of the chain, especially in terms of input and output, which is the key for the success of such a service. The FLATSIM service is made of a production module, a delivery module and a user access module. Products include interferograms, surface line of sight velocity, phase delay time series and auxiliary data. Numerous quality indicators are provided for an in-depth analysis of the quality and limits of the results. The first national call in 2020 for region of interest ended up with 8 regions spread over the world with scientific interests, including seismology, tectonics, volcano-tectonics, and hydrological cycle. To illustrate the FLATSIM capabilities, an analysis is shown here on two processed regions, the Afar region in Ethiopa, and the eastern border of the Tibetan Plateau.

Keywords

• InSAR
• Sentinel-1
• automatic processing
• time series analysis
• deformation monitoring
• tectonics