Time Series InSAR Ionospheric Delay Estimation, Correction, and Ground Deformation Monitoring With Reformulating Range Split-Spectrum Interferometry

Ionospheric phase delay is a critical error source in time series interferometric synthetic aperture radar (TS-InSAR) for the purpose of monitoring ground surface deformation with SAR data obtained from low-frequency radar systems. Recently, the range split-spectrum interferometry (RSSI) method has been employed to estimate and rectify ionospheric errors in TS-InSAR. However, the performance of the RSSI method is largely restricted by the significant linear scale factors resulting from the current small SAR bandwidth. In this study, we propose a reformulating RSSI (Re-RSSI)-based method for correcting the ionospheric error in TS-InSAR by optimizing the linear scale factors, with the aim of improving the accuracy of TS-InSAR measurements. We evaluate the Re-RSSI method using 121 ALOS-1 PALSAR images that cover two distinct regions: the low-latitude Lazufre volcano region and the high-latitude Anaktuvuk River tundra fire region. Our results demonstrate that the Re-RSSI method can effectively remove time series ionospheric errors at both test sites, where we detected ionospheric delays of approximately 2.5 cm/year (yr) and 2.0 cm/yr, respectively. Using Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) measurements as ground truth, we achieved an 86.59% improvement rate in the root-mean-square error (RMSE) with the Re-RSSI method, which is significantly higher than the 66.40% improvement rate achieved with the traditional RSSI method.