Landslide monitoring with staring-spotlight data: Canillo case study

One of the main applications of SAR interferometry is the monitoring of hazard risks related with urban subsidence and landslide instabilities. The different sensors available offer different carrier frequencies, image swaths and resolutions. Depending on the extension of the area and phenomena to monitor, one particular mode can be more suitable than others. In this paper the benefits of high-resolution X-band for landslide monitoring is addressed. The selected mode is the experimental Staring-Spotlight of TerraSAR/TanDEM-X and the area under study the landslide of El Forn de Canillo (Andorra) that is perfectly oriented for orbital DInSAR processing. The paper demonstrates the benefits of high resolution data and the processing challenges that have to be addressed.