Spatiotemporal Analysis of C-band interferometric Phase Anomalies over Sicily

Abstract:
Short temporal SAR interferograms present a phase which is biased with respect to the surface deformation signal. We analyse the anomalies in terms of their spatiotemporal patterns in a C-band Sentinel-1 dataset. The temporal high-pass component can be explained with moisture variations as sensed by the ASCAT scatterometer. The low-pass components need a different explanation. Considering the apparent accumulation of delay, the spatial correlation to land cover types or topographic height, and the seasonality, they are compatible with wet biomass accumulation. The strong decorrelation observed is likely related to strong vegetation extinction in C-band.