Ground subsidence in Semarang-Indonesia investigated by ALOS–PALSAR satellite SAR interferometry

The focus of this study is investigation of land subsidence in Semarang city Indonesia with the use of Interferometry Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) of ALOS–PALSAR satellite. We processed 22 ascending SAR images during January 2007 to January 2009 plus two descending SAR images acquired on 6 June 2006 and 17 June 2007. The time series analysis of interferometry was performed by using 12 pairs of interferogram relative to 21 January 2007 and 8 pairs of interferogram relative 24 January 2008. The topographic phase contribution was removed using the 3-arcsec (90 m) Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), Digital Elevation Model (DEM). We performed precision baseline estimation to vanish the fringes from baseline effect between master and slave data. In order to investigate the contribution of horizontal movement in our analysis, we constructed two interferograms of ascending orbit and descending orbit. The time series results exhibited that the area is subsiding continuously without a significant seasonal effect during January 2007 to January 2009. The land subsidence observed from InSAR data is approximately up to 8 cm/year. Three cross sections on image displacement show the extreme land subsidence occurred especially along the coastal area and lowland area where this area is considered as industrial with high-density settlements, consuming a lot of groundwater, and land is changed from agriculture and cultivation purposes to industrial estates and house. Our result also shows a consistency with historical pattern of subsidence measured by leveling data. The results highlight the potential use of InSAR measurements to provide better constraints for land subsidence in Semarang city Indonesia.

Research highlights
► We investigate land subsidence Semarang Indonesia using ALOS PALSAR Interferometry.
► Land subsidence in this city has been performed by different methods in the past.
► Maximum subsidence rate in Semarang reaches to 8 cm/yr January 2007–January 2009.
► The result shows a consistence with result from different methods in previous time.
► Land subsidence is generally caused by groundwater extraction and landuse changed.