By submitting this form, you are agreeing to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Using radar images of the Earth’s surface that are gathered from orbiting satellites, InSAR (Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar) is a method for mapping ground deformation.
Radar waves work just as well in the dark as they do in the day, unlike visible or infrared light.By combining two or more synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images over the same area, interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) approaches can reveal surface topography or surface motion.
The surface’s topography can be traced if the combined SAR photos come from somewhat dissimilar locations.
Using this method, it is possible to create three-dimensional photographs of the Earth’s surface. The analysis of interference patterns produced when two sets of radar signals are combined is known as interferometry.
The Global Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) Market accounted for $XX Billion in 2022 and is anticipated to reach $XX Billion by 2030, registering a CAGR of XX% from 2023 to 2030.
A method called InSAR (Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar) uses radar images of the Earth’s surface that are gathered from orbiting satellites to map ground deformation.
Radar waves are equally effective in the dark and can penetrate most weather clouds, unlike visible or infrared light.
As a result, InSAR offers two significant advantages during a volcanic crisis: the ability to monitor ground deformation even in poor weather and at night.
It is possible to compare two radar images of the same region that were taken at separate times from comparable vantage points in space.
Any movement of the ground surface towards or away from the satellite can be measured and shown as a “picture”—not of the surface itself, but of how much the surface moved (deformed) during the intervals between photos.
A pulse of radar energy is released from a satellite, dispersed by the Earth’s surface, and recorded back at the satellite with two types of information: amplitude and phase.
This creates the “picture” of the radar deformation. A return signal’s amplitude, which is controlled by the surface’s physical characteristics, measures the strength of the signal.
Changes in the distance between the times two radar images were taken, which is the round-trip distance from the satellite to the ground and back, are visible.
Because InSAR creates a map of ground deformation that covers a very vast spatial region with centimetre-scale accuracy, unlike other approaches that rely on data at a few places, it significantly expands the capacity of scientists to monitor volcanoes.
This method is particularly helpful at remote, challenging-to-access volcanoes and in places where dangerous circumstances impede or restrict ground-based volcano monitoring.
