Monitoring permafrost environments with InSAR and polarimetry, case studies from Canada

The status of permafrost is important for northern environmental and infrastructure monitoring. The use of D-InSAR for large area coverage of terrain stability in permafrost regions is rapidly gaining acceptance. We present here D-InSAR derived terrain stability products for Yellowknife and Tuktoyaktuk in northern Canada and evaluate their information content. RADARSAT-2 data stacks are used to map the seasonal and year to year terrain movement. The potential complication of InSAR signals detecting changing water levels in flooded vegetation is identified. Radar polarimetry is also explored for information content. While polarimetry can characterize surface structure and hence landcover, D-InSAR, with its ability to detect active geomorphological processes, is deemed more immediately useful for monitoring permafrost environments.