ISPRS Commission Reports

Land surface deformation due to underground mining is always a concern to the local communities and environment. Theunderground coal mines at the study site in Northern China are located quite closely to each other. In order to ensure safe mining aswell as to prevent illegal mining activities, differential radar interferometry (DInSAR) was introduced for monitoring minesubsidence. The spaceborne SAR data acquired by ENVISAT (C-band) and ALOS (L-band) were tested in this paper. The limits ofradar interferometry were discussed by addressing the issues of decorrelation and deformation phase gradient. The ALOS resultsshow it is more suitable for monitoring the rapid and large land deformation due to underground mining. However, the data acquiredin summer season (June – September) have higher noise, which may be caused by the local agriculture