Improving interferometric radar measurement accuracy using local meteorological data

Abstract

Permanent monitoring of potential rock-slide area can be done using interferometric radar measurements where the accuracy is limited by the variation of the velocity of light, i.e. variation of the refractive index. Using differential interferometric measurements, the measurement accuracy can be very good if the distance between the reference and the potential rock-slide area is small. However, if the distance to the reference is large or if using a reference is not possible, the measured accuracy is dependent on the variation of the refractive index. Using meteorological data at the radar site, the refractive index can be estimated locally. The results show that the meteorological data can improve the interferometric radar measurement accuracy.