RADARSAT-2-based digital elevation models derived from InSAR for high latitudes of northern Canada

Thuan Chu; Apurba Das; Karl-Erich Lindenschmidt

doi:10.1117/1.JRS.11.035013

5 September 2017 RADARSAT-2-based digital elevation models derived from InSAR for high latitudes of northern Canada

Thuan Chu, Apurba Das, Karl-Erich Lindenschmidt

Author Affiliations +

Journal of Applied Remote Sensing, Vol. 11, Issue 3, 035013 (September 2017). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JRS.11.035013

Abstract

The accuracy of digital elevation models (DEMs) plays an important role in many terrain-related applications, particular in high northern latitudes where there is uncertainty in DEMs. Using the interferometric synthetic aperture radar techniques, this study examined how different RADARSAT-2 beam modes can be used to generate DEMs with high accuracy. Using a conventional interferometry method, the Spotlight DEM shows the highest accuracy among all studied DEM products, with the root-mean-square error (RMSE) ranging from 13.9 to 17.4 m, followed by the F0W3 DEM and U26W2 DEM. The error sources in DEM generation due to uncertainty in perpendicular baseline and atmospheric delay are likely more important than the random phase noise caused by volume scattering and environmental changes during synthetic aperture radar (SAR) acquisitions. The small baselines subset (SBAS) method did not significantly improve DEM quality due to the limitation of the number of SAR images in this study. The integration of both Spotlight conventional DEMs and SBAS DEM considerably improved results yielding high-quality DEMs for the study area, with an RMSE of 9.7 m. Further studies are necessary to quantitatively evaluate the effects of surface motion as well as the orbital and atmospheric errors on the DEM accuracy. The Slave River Delta in the Northwest Territories of Canada was used as a test case.

Citation Download Citation

Thuan Chu, Apurba Das, and Karl-Erich Lindenschmidt "RADARSAT-2-based digital elevation models derived from InSAR for high latitudes of northern Canada," Journal of Applied Remote Sensing 11(3), 035013 (5 September 2017). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JRS.11.035013

Received: 29 May 2017; Accepted: 16 August 2017; Published: 5 September 2017

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