Automatic exclusion of surface deformation in InSAR DEM generation using differential radar interferometry

The Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) are an important source of topographical data for many scientific and engineering applications. Where topographical data are unavailable, global coverage elevation data sets, typically DEMs from remotely sensed data, are the main sources of such information. Interferometric SAR (InSAR), is a useful method for low-cost, relatively precise and wide-coverage surface DEM generation. However, ground deformation should somehow be excluded from InSAR-based DEM generation. To identify surface deformation areas, the so-called Differential InSAR (DInSAR) is a commonly used method. In this paper, the authors propose a two-step DEM generation method: the ground deformation area detection using DInSAR technique and deformation area exclusion in InSAR DEM generation by detected mask.