Research papersCharacterisation of hydraulic head changes and aquifer properties in the London Basin using Persistent Scatterer Interferometry ground motion data

•Chalk aquifer storage and compressibility in London are estimated by using PSI data.•PSI-derived storage correlates with the hydrogeological setting of the London Basin.•Where confined by London Clay, the Chalk aquifer storage is typically 10−4 to 10−5.•Where overlain by Lambeth Group and semi-confined, the storage is 10−3 to 10−4.•PSI-derived storage values agree with those obtained in situ from pumping tests.

In this paper, Persistent Scatterer Interferometry was applied to ERS-1/2 and ENVISAT satellite data covering 1992-2000 and 2002-2010 respectively, to analyse the relationship between ground motion and hydraulic head changes in the London Basin, United Kingdom. The integration of observed groundwater levels provided by the Environment Agency and satellite-derived displacement time series allowed the estimation of the spatio-temporal variations of the Chalk aquifer storage coefficient and compressibility over an area of ∼1360 km2. The average storage coefficient of the aquifer reaches values of 1 × 10−3 and the estimated average aquifer compressibility is 7.7 × 10−10 Pa−1 and 1.2 × 10−9 Pa−1 for the periods 1992-2000 and 2002-2010, respectively. Derived storage coefficient values appear to be correlated with the hydrogeological setting, where confined by the London Clay the storage coefficient is typically an order of magnitude lower than where the chalk is overlain by the Lambeth Group. PSI-derived storage coefficient estimates agree with the values obtained from pumping tests in the same area. A simplified one-dimensional model is applied to simulate the ground motion response to hydraulic heads changes at nine piezometers. The comparison between simulated and satellite-observed ground motion changes reveals good agreement, with errors ranging between 1.4 and 6.9 mm, and being 3.2 mm on average.