Application of Multi-Temporal Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (MT-InSAR) technique to Land Deformation Monitoring in Warri metropolis, Delta State, Nigeria

Abstract

Warri is one of the mega cities in Delta State in the coastal region of Nigeria hosting many industries. One of the three of Nigeria oil refineries is located in Warn. This study reveals the occurence of land deformation in the Warri area which is not only because it was formed in a tectonic setting but because of the high demand of the underground water for indutrial and domestics uses, high population density and oil and gas exploration in the area. Land deformation in this area is currently being accelerated by this indiscriminate withdrawal of underground water from the aquifers and exploration of the oil and gas leading to the compacting sediments. In this study Multi-Temporal Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (MT-InSAR) technique was applied to monitor land deformation in Warri metropolis in the period between 09/02/2006 and 12/08/2010 with Envisat data obtained from European Space Agency (ESA). The processing was done using Stanford Method for Persistent Scatterers/Multi-Temporal InSAR (StaMPS). From the analysis of the results, land deformation is occurring in Warri metropolis at a moderate rates (+/-5 mm/yr). During the preliminary investigations, structures, particularly buildings, were physically observed subsiding while some others with cracks of various types and degrees. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.