InSAR Displacement with High-Resolution Optical Remote Sensing for the Early Detection and Deformation Analysis of Active Landslides in the Upper Yellow River

Frequent landslides and other geological disasters pose a serious threat to human life and infrastructure in the Upper Yellow River. Detecting active landslides and ascertaining their impact necessitate the determination of deformation characteristics. In this study, we developed an integrated method combining interferometric synthetic aperture radar and high-resolution optical satellite remote sensing to detect active landslides in the Upper Yellow River region from Longyang Gorge to Lijia Gorge. Sentinel-1 satellite data from January 2019 to April 2021 with ascending and descending orbits were adopted to obtain deformation using the STACKING and interferometric point target analysis techniques. A 97.08% overlap rate in the detected results from the two InSAR technologies confirmed the suitability of both approaches. The missing detection rates (6.79% & 8.73%) from single line-of-sight (LOS) InSAR results indicate the necessity of different orbit direction data. Slight deformation rate changes (<4 mm/month) before and after rainy seasons of the Lijia Gorge landslide group indicate that precipitation exerted little impact on slope activity. This study supports the feasibility of integrated methods for the detection and analysis of active landslides in the Upper Yellow River and other regions.

Automated summary

In this study, an integrated method combining interferometric synthetic aperture radar and high-resolution optical satellite remote sensing was developed to detect active landslides in the Upper Yellow River region. The results from two InSAR technologies showed a 97.08% overlap rate, confirming the suitability of both approaches. The slight deformation rate changes before and after rainy seasons indicated that precipitation had little impact on slope activity. This study supports the feasibility of integrated methods for detecting and analyzing active landslides in the Upper Yellow River and other regions.