A Study on the Enhancement of DEM Resolution by Radar Interferometry

Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) were generated by ERS-1/2 and JERS-1 SAR interferometry in Daejon area, Korea. The quality of the DEM' s was evaluated by the Ground Control Points (GCPs) in city area where GCPs were determined by GPS surveys, while in the mountain area with no GCPs, a 1:25,000 digital map was used. In order to minimize errors due to the inaccurate satellite orbit information and the phase unwrapping procedure, a Differential InSAR (DInSAR) was implemented in addition to the traditional InSAR analysis for DEM generation. In addition, DEMs from GTOP030, SRTM3, and 1:25,000 digital map were used for assessment the resolution of the DEM generated from DInSAR. 56 meters of elevation errors were found in the flat area regardless of the usage and the resolution of DEM, as a result of InSAR analyzing with a pair of ERS tandem and 6 pairs of JERS-1 interferograms. In the mountain area, however, DInSAR with DEMs from SRTM-3 and the digital map was found to be very effective to reduce errors due to phase unwrapping procedure. Also errors due to low signal-to-noise ratio of radar images and atmospheric effect were attenuated in the DEMs generated from the stacking of 6 pairs of JERS-1. SAR interferometry with multiple pairs of SAR interferogram with low resolution DEM can be effectively used to enhance the resolution of DEM in terms of data processing time and cost.