Differential SAR Interferometry for surface monitoring of an Earth Dam

Surface monitoring of dams is commonly based on in situ topographic surveying, time consuming and characterized by some limitations in space coverage and frequency. More recent satellite-based technologies allow us to integrate and improve the monitoring capabilities provided by ground-based methods, thanks to their effectiveness to measure many persistent scatters acting as non-destructive control points. The availability of a large number of measurements point, distributed along the whole structure and characterized by millimetric accuracy for the displacement rate, can be profitably exploited for the calibration of numerical models simulating its behavior under stress conditions thus improving the capability of maintaining safety standards. The aim of this work is to show how DInSAR (Differential Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry) technique can be profitably exploited and effectively integrated with the traditional monitoring systems, which provide comparable accuracy measurements on a limited number of points. Results on the test case study of Genzano di Lucania earth dam are discussed and presented.