First assessment of the interferometric capabilities of SAOCOM-1A: New results over the Domuyo Volcano, Neuquen Argentina

Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (DInSAR) has been used for measuring ground deformations with high both spatial and temporal resolutions. The effectiveness of this technique has been extensively proved using mainly C and X band because of the availability of SAR platforms operating in these frequencies. In vegetated areas, L-band SAR is more adequate because of their less sensitivity to temporal decorrelation. This work presents a review of the characteristics of the L-band Argentinian satellite SAOCOM-1A and its potential in deformation monitoring. In order to show it, we processed a dataset acquired over the Domuyo Volcano (Neuquen, Argentina). Time series and mean deformation maps are validated against those computed using a Sentinel-1 dataset spanning the same time period. Results show an inflation pattern of 6 cm between August 2019 and May 2020. As expected and despising the scarce availability of SAOCOM scenes, its mean velocity map is admittedly more coherent in comparison with the Sentinel-1. Thus, we demonstrate, for the first time, the computation of deformation time series using SAOCOM data.

Automated summary

This study evaluates the potential of using the L-band Argentinian satellite SAOCOM-1A for deformation monitoring, comparing the results with a Sentinel-1 dataset and demonstrating the computation of deformation time series using SAOCOM data for the first time. The results show a consistent inflation pattern and suggest that the mean velocity map from SAOCOM data is more coherent compared to Sentinel-1 data.