Radar interferometry and its application potential in Tasmania

Nick Roberts, PhD

InSAR supports diverse engineering and geoscience investigations by measuring sub-centimetre-scale surface displacements over extensive areas. This remote sensing technique’s application potential continually increases through advancements sensor technology and data processing, but successful implementation requires some basic understanding of its strengths, flexibilities, and limitations. Such knowledge gaps likely contribute to InSAR’s underutilization in Tasmania despite its capabilities to improve land-use planning, environmental management, and risk reduction. Readily available Tasmanian datasest – particularly LiDAR elevation models, borehole records, and the geohazards database – provide complementary information to further increase the utility of InSAR-measured deformation.

This presentation provides an overview of space-borne InSAR including basic radar theory, sensor options, processing approaches, principle challenges, and integration with complementary techniques. It features results from a range of sites to illustrate key points for the planning, analysis and interpretation of InSAR datasets. The presentation will end with a discussion of possible InSAR applications in Tasmania to benefit the states’ communities, natural resources and transportation infrastructure, including several projects being planned at MRT.

This meeting is sponsored by the Australian Institute of Geoscientists and the Australian Geomechanics Society.

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