Background

Change in land surface elevation is associated with landslides, coastal subsidence, fluid extraction/injection, and other geohazards. Such events across the United States (U.S.) cause billions of dollars in damage every year. Mitigation of damage requires the ability to identify and track the magnitude of vertical land surface motions. The Vertical Land Motion (VLM) solution will provide such information by leveraging the Satellite Needs Working Group (SNWG)-2018 North America Deformation Product in combination with dense global position information from Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS).​

Status

This activity is currently in pre-formulation and will use precise vertical and horizontal geodetic GNSS control to generate a suite of Vertical Land Motion (VLM) products that track the magnitude of vertical land surface motions using the Sentinel-1 A/B/C and future NASA/Indian Space Research Organisation Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) radar observations, along with generating monthly (and possibly biweekly) products, and a spatial and temporal variability map of the land surface elevation change related to seasonal processes. 

Solution Characteristics

Societal Impact

Land surface elevation changes across the U.S. cause billions of dollars in damage every year associated with landslides, coastal subsidence, fluid extraction/injection, and other geohazards. Identifying and tracking land surface elevation change is needed nationally for separating coastal subsidence and sea level rise impacts, hazard mitigation, and infrastructure stability/fragility assessment and modernization. 

Solution Resources

Need help using this solution? For more information about the VLM product, visit the following resources:

• OPERA DISP website
• OPERA CSLC website
• OPERA Stakeholder Engagement Program