SAR interferometry—issues, techniques, applications

Data from interferometric synthetic aperture radar (INSAR) can provide three-dimensional information by using the phase as an additional information source derived from the complex radar data. In this paper, the issues, techniques and applications of SAR interferometry are reviewed. After a brief historical review, the geometric implementations of SAR interferometry are described. The general processing techniques are summarized and an introduction to various phase unwrapping techniques is given. Besides the differential use of SAR interferometry, the review focuses on parameters such as baseline, decorrelation and motion compensation which have a limiting influence on the quality of the data. After evaluating the various existing and potential applications using SAR interferometric techniques such as topographic mapping, digital elevation modelling, slope measurement, change detection, classification, ocean currents, polar research, seismic events and volcanic hazards, the paper concludes with some research issues, trends and developments in SAR interferometry. The paper is illustrated by examples of SAR interferometric data and derived products from the ESA ERS-1/ERS-2 and SIR-C/X-SAR satellite mission and from single pass aircraft data. An extensive list of references and bibliography on SAR interferometry is provided at the end of this review paper.