Monitoring of mining-induced subsidence lakes by Radarsat-2 SAR images in Huainan, Eastern China

Coal mining plays an important role in economic development in China. However, this anthropogenic activity has caused serious land subsidence and damages. In this paper, mining-induced subsidence lakes areas are monitored using Radarsat-2 SAR images in Huinan city. The area and expanding rate of the three major mining induced subsidence lakes were obtained and analyzed by our method. The total expansion areas of subsidence lakes reached to 1.611km². The area expansion of subsidence lakes correlated with the deformation result by InSAR in previous research, which indicates that the underground mining activity is the main reason for the subsidence lake expansion. Seasonal expansion patterns were examined by comparing each site´s expansion rate in each season.