Interpretation and sensitivity analysis of the InSAR line of sight displacements in landslide measurements

Landslides are major geological hazards and frequently occur in mountainous areas with steep slopes, often causing significant loss. Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) has been widely used in landslide measurement over the last three decades. However, InSAR only can measure one-dimensional displacements (i.e. those in the radar’s line of sight (LOS) direction), resulting in the uncertainty between LOS displacement and the real slope displacement. In this paper, based on ascending and descending data from Sentinel-1 satellite, a wide-area potential landslide early identification was carried out using SBAS-InSAR in the whole of Mao County, a mountainous area in western Sichuan (China), with a total of 41 potential landslides successfully detected. Based on the quantitative analysis, the results show that the InSAR LOS measurement values are slope aspect and gradient-dependent. Finally, we innovatively derived a LOS displacement sensitivity map of InSAR in landslide measurement, revealing the relationship between LOS displacement, real displacements on slopes with arbitrary aspects and gradients, and SAR geometric distortion. This is a generalized finding useful for any slopes. It provides theoretical support to acquire and understand the real slope displacement from InSAR landslide measurement, which is vital to assist in correctly interpreting LOS displacement and carrying out subsequent quantitative geological engineering analysis.