Requirements for an L-band InSAR Mission to Monitor Global Tectonic Activities

Kurzfassung

DLR is currently studying a space mission based on a formation of two L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar satellites dedicated to monitor a) the global biomass for CO₂ cycle studies b) small displacements of the earth surface. The focus of this presentation is the so called deformation mode for repeated displacement measurements during the mission lifetime. Measurements shall be made on risk regions such as faults, volcanoes, landslides and urban areas – or even globally if feasible. The study is currently in the requirements definition phase where the following parameters are discussed with the scientific user community, most importantly: - signal characteristics and accuracy requirements, - areas of interest, - revisit time requirements for different application fields such as volcanic or seismic activity, landslides or anthropogenic subsidence and - definition product levels, i.e., different processing stages. The goal of the study is to design a mission optimized for the derived requirements. This includes - mission and coverage concepts, - instrument design and - 3D motion reconstruction methods. In our presentation we show the current ideas and the requirements collected for deformation measurements.