Evaluation of Atmospheric Effects on Interferograms Using DEM Errors of Fixed Ground Points

High-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data are widely used for disaster monitoring. To extract damaged areas automatically, it is essential to understand the relationships among the sensor specifications, acquisition conditions, and land cover. Our previous studies developed a method for estimating the phase noise of interferograms using several pairs of TerraSAR-X series (TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X) datasets. Atmospheric disturbance data are also necessary to interpret the interferograms; therefore, the purpose of this study is to estimate the atmospheric effects by focusing on the difference in digital elevation model (DEM) errors between repeat-pass (two interferometric SAR images acquired at different times) and single-pass (two interferometric SAR images acquired simultaneously) interferometry. Single-pass DEM errors are reduced due to the lack of temporal decorrelation and atmospheric disturbances. At a study site in the city of Tsukuba, a quantitative analysis of DEM errors at fixed ground objects shows that the atmospheric effects are estimated to contribute 75% to 80% of the total phase noise in interferograms.