PIAHSProceedings of the International Association of Hydrological SciencesPIAHSProc. IAHS2199-899XCopernicus GmbHGöttingen, Germany10.5194/piahs-372-347-2015Mapping and characterization of land subsidence in Beijing Plain
caused by groundwater pumping using the Small Baseline Subset (SBAS) InSAR
techniqueM. L.Gaohttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-8871-6999H. L.GongB. B.ChenZhouC. F.LiuK. S.ShiM.College of Resource Environment and Tourism, Capital Normal University, Beijing 100048, ChinaState Key Laboratory Incubation Base of Urban
Environmental Processes and Digital Simulation, Capital Normal University,
Beijing 100048, Chinanow at: Haidian, Beijing, ChinaM. L. Gao (b-19890320@163.com)12November2015372372347349This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/This article is available from https://piahs.copernicus.org/articles/372/347/2015/piahs-372-347-2015.htmlThe full text article is available as a PDF file from https://piahs.copernicus.org/articles/372/347/2015/piahs-372-347-2015.pdf
InSAR time series analysis is widely used for detection and monitoring of
slow surface deformation. In this paper, 15 TerraSAR-X radar images acquired
in stripmap mode between 2012 and 2013 are processed for land subsidence
monitoring with the Small Baseline Subset (SBAS) approach in Beijing Plain in
China. Mapping results produced by SBAS show that the subsidence rates in the
area of Beijing Plain range from -97.5 (subsidence) and to
+23.8 mmyr-1 (uplift), relative to a presumably stable
benchmark. The mapping result also reveals that there are the five subsidence
centers formed by surface deformation spreading north to south east of the
downtown. An uneven subsidence patten was detected near the Beijing Capital
International Airpor, which may be related to loading of buildings and the
aircraft.
Introduction
Land subsidence has become a hazard and could lead to serious
problems especially in urban areas, related to city flooding (Ng et
al., 2012), structural damages to buildings and other civilian
infrastructures (Chaussard et al., 2013), including local subsurface water
systems (Zhang et al., 2014). Consequently, subsidence monitoring in the
urban area is necessary for safety, security, economic and planning reasons.
Subsidence in Beijing was first detected in the 1960s and has progressed in
several areas for decades. The subsidence is mainly caused by intense
groundwater extraction according to previous studies (Chen et al., 2014; Hu
et al., 2014). Ground surface deformation can be observed through the InSAR
techniques, which greatly facilitate the monitoring of the land subsidence in
metropolitan areas (Kagawa and Furuno, 2010; Aobpaet et al., 2013). InSAR
time-series methods such as PS-InSAR and Small Baseline methods have been
applied to study subsidence in Beijing (Zhang et al., 2011; Gu et al., 2014).
Chen et al. (2011) concluded that seasonal and inter-annual variation of
groundwater drawdowns have resulted in an uneven spatial and temporal
distribution of subsidence, with a maximum subsidence rate of about
-41.08 mmyr-1.
This paper presents ground deformation results based on SBAS processing of
15 TerraSAR-X images covering the eastern area of the Beijing Plain, China.
We processed the SLC (single look complex) images using the Stanford Method
for Persistent Scatterers (StaMPS) processing software to determine the
line-of-sight (LOS) displacements (native valued LOS displacements represent
an increase in range and subsidence in this paper) and subsidence rates. We
present the mapped subsidence rates and describe the characteristics of the
subsidence in the study area.
Study area and data description
The study area is the Beijing Plain area (centered at
39∘58′37′′ N, 116∘42′11′′ E) in the city of Beijing
with as area of about 1900 km2 (Fig. 1). In this area, the elevation
ranges from 20 to 40 m, and there are many buildings and other
civilian infrastructure.
The 15 SLC ascending orbit, stripmode images have an azimuth resolution of
3.3 m, and range resolution of 2.0 m. The images were
acquired over Beijing during the period of January 2012 and November 2013.
The ASTER GDEM V2 product with 1 arcsec geographical resolution
(30 m) was used as the external DEM in the InSAR process.
Map of the study area, Beijing Plain, China. The red box in the
figure represents the coverage of the TerraSAR-X stripmap which covers an
area of more than 1900 km2. The blue polygons are water bodies. The
red cross symbol represents the location of the referenced M1 benchmark.
Time-series InSAR analysis
The SBAS analysis relies on a subset of interferogram pairs that were created
with small temporal (over short time intervals) and geometrical baselines to
limit decorrelation noise. The noise is further reduced by applying range and
azimuth filters, and spatial multi-looking. In this paper, we performed the
SBAS approach on the dataset using the StaMPS/MTI toolkit. The candidate
pixels are identified in the same way as PS pixels (Hooper et al., 2007),
based on the spatial correlation of the phase. A subset of 30 interferogram
pairs were formed temporal and geometrical baselines less than 200 days and
500 m, respectively, with an coherence threshold of 0.7. Phase
unwrapping used a statistical cost approach.
Mean LOS subsidence rates (mmyr-1) spatial distribution.
Red and blue areas represent subsidence and uplift relative to the referenced
point M1, respectively. Profile A–A′, which is perpendicular to profile
B–B′, goes through the two subsidence areas (marked as red circles), and
intersects the profile B–B′ at O. The black box represents the location of
Beijing Capital International Airport.
Results and discussion
More than 220 000 sufficiently coherent pixels were identified, processed
from more than 2 600 000 candidate pixels. The mean LOS deformation rates
(unit: mmyr-1) were derived from the unwrapped time-series phases
using linear least squares. The results are relative to the benchmark M1 (as
shown in Fig. 1). M1 is a levelling benchmark situated in a relatively stable
area.
Figure 2 shows the mean LOS subsidence rate (mmyr-1) estimations.
For coherent pixel from January 2012 to November 2013, the deformation rates
range from -97.5 to +23.8 mmyr-1, relative to the benchmark
M1. However, because no uplift is expected in this area, if we consider that
M1 could be subsiding, then uplift areas shown in blue on Fig. 2 could be
subsiding slower than M1. In this case, the maximum subsidence rate in
eastern Beijing could be about 121.3 mmyr-1.
Subsidence rates along profile A–A′ and profile B–B′ shown in
Fig. 2. The profiles intersect at the point O. (Note: negative values
indicate subsidence.)
As can be seen from the Fig. 2, fewer coherent pixels are evident in the
non-urbanized rural areas and croplands in the east. Two main subsidence
areas and several other subsidence features of smaller extent have formed
since the 1990s. Figures 2 and 3 show that profile A–A′ intersects the two
main subsidence areas, and a smaller subsidence features, while profile B–B′
intersects the southern subsidence area and two smaller subsidence features,
including one at the airport. The settlements along the profile A–A′ have
extended and connected to one huge subsidence area. The subsidence in this
area has been attributed to the exploitation of groundwater, as the previous
studies concluded. However, we also detected subsidence near the Beijing
Capital International Airport with ranging from -26.2 to
13.6 mmyr-1. The T1 and T2 terminals constructed in the early
1990s appear to be subsiding slightly with respect to the surrounding areas,
while the T3 terminal built in 2008 is uplifting relative to M1. We consider
that subsidence at the airport is probably due to dynamic loading of aircraft
takeoffs and landings and the static loading of the large buildings.
Conclusions
The SBAS technique was used with 15 TerraSAR-X SLC images to
detect and characterize subsidence on the eastern Beijing Plain. Deformation
measured during the period 2012∼2013, show subsidence in two main areas
and several other areas of smaller extent. The maximum subsidence rate was
-97.5 mmyr-1. Uplift was also measured with a maximum rate of
+23.8 mmyr-1. We believe that the subsidence is mainly caused
by the exploitation of groundwater. Uneven subsidence was detected near the
of the Beijing Capital International Airport location, which may be caused by
surface loading of buildings and the arcraft, apart from the groundwater
depression cones. Further work is planned to evaluate subsidence near the
airport, and other ground-based geodetic surveys are planned to validate
these results for the Beijing Plain.
Acknowledgements
The provision of the Doris and StaMPS for data processing by TUDelft is
gratefully acknowledged.
ReferencesAobpaet, A., Cuenca, M. C., Hooper, A., and Trisirisatayawong, I.: InSAR
time-series analysis of land subsidence in Bangkok, Thailand, Int. J. Remote
Sens., 34, 2969–2982, 10.1080/01431161.2012.756596,2013.Chaussard, E., Amelung, F., Abidin, H., and Hong, H.: Sinking cities in
Indonesia: ALOS PALSAR detects rapid subsidence due to groundwater and gas
extraction, Remote Sens. Environ., 128, 150–161,
10.1016/j.rse.2012.10.015, 2013.Chen, B. B., Gong, H. L., Li, X. J., Lei, K. C., Zhang, Y. Q., Li, J. W., Gu,
Z. Q., and Dang, Y. A.: Spatial-temporal characteristics of land subsidence
corresponding to dynamic groundwater funnel in Beijing Municipality, China,
Chinese Geogr. Sci., 21, 753–64, 10.1007/s11769-011-0509-6, 2011.Chen, B. B., Gong, H. L., Li, X. J., Lei, K. C., Ke, Y. H., Duan, G. Y., and
Zhou, C. F.: Spatial correlation between land subsidence and urbanization in
Beijing, China, Nat. Hazards, 75, 2637–2652,
10.1007/s11069-014-1451-6, 2014.
Gu, Z. Q., Gong, H. L., Zhang, Y. Q., Lu, X. H., Wang, S., Wang, R., and Liu,
H. H.: Research on Monitoring Land Subsidence in Beijing Plain Area Using
PS-InSAR Technology. Spectrosc. Spect. Anal., 34, 1898–1902, 2014.Hooper, A., Segall, P., and Zebker, H.: Persistent scatterer interferometric
synthetic aperture radar for crustal deformation analysis, with application
to Volcán Alcedo, Galápagos, J. Geophys. Res., 112, B07407,
10.1029/2006JB004763, 2007.Hu, B., Wang, H. S., Sun, Y. L., Hou, J. G., and Liang, J.: Long-Term Land
Subsidence Monitoring of Beijing (China) Using the Small Baseline Subset
(SBAS) Technique, Remote Sens., 6, 3648–3661, 10.3390/rs6053648, 2014.
Kagawa, A. and Furuno, K.: Land subsidence monitoring system in the southeast
part of Kanto groundwater basin, Japan, in: Land Subsidence, Associated
Hazards And the Role Of Natural Resources Development, Proceedings of EISOLS
2010, Querétaro, Mexico, 17–22 October 2010, IAHS Publ. 339, 339–344,
2010.Ng, A. H.-M., Ge, L. L., Li, X. J., Hasanuddin, Z., Abidin, Andreas, H., and
Zhang, K.: Mapping land subsidence in Jakarta, Indonesia using persistent
scatterer interferometry (PSI) technique with ALOS PALSAR, Int. J. Appl.
Earth Obs., 18, 232–242, 10.1016/j.jag.2012.01.018, 2012.Zhang, X. D., Ge, D. Q., Ma, W. Y., Zhang, L., Wang, Y., and Guo, X. F.:
Study the Land Subsidence Along Jinghu Highway (Beijing-Hebei) Using Ps-Insar
Technique, in: Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), 2011 IEEE
International, 24–29 July 2011, Vancouver, BC, IEEE, 1608–1611,
10.1109/IGARSS.2011.6049538, 2011.
Zhang, Y. Q., Gong, H. L., Gu, Z. Q., Wang, R., Li, X. J., and Zhao, W. J.:
Characterization of land subsidence induced by groundwater withdrawals in the
plain of Beijing city, China, Hydrogeol. J., 22, 397–409, 2014.