SkyGeo’ technical paper on climate change, geo-resilience and urban flooding, using InSAR and other data to map subsidence in flood-affected cities.

InSAR for Climate Change Geo-Resilience: Quantifying the Risks of Urban Flooding

Technical Paper

This paper discusses the application of Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) to quantify the risks of urban flooding and foundation damage related to climate change effects, particularly in the Netherlands.

 

  • Learn how high-resolution Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) can quantify the risk of urban flooding by estimating building settlement rates with millimetre-level precision.

  • Understand how combining InSAR data with digital elevation models (DEMs) allows for critical projections on when buildings will reach a flood-susceptible height below NAP (Normal Amsterdam Level).

  • Discover how municipalities can use InSAR-derived settlement rates to define and communicate specific risk thresholds for homeowners based on projected damages and future door sill heights.

  • See how large housing corporations like Ymere use InSAR-based risk indicator maps to assess foundation health, informing maintenance budgets and planning for renovations such as solar panel installation.

  • Learn how InSAR time series analysis reveals the direct effect of climate change, correlating drought summers with new permanent settlement in buildings on shallow foundations.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Municipalities, housing corporations, water authorities and climate adaptation planners in low-lying areas.

  • How InSAR can be used to measure urban flood risk and foundation damage linked to climate change, using examples from the Netherlands.

  • InSAR measures building settlement to the millimeter. Combined with elevation models, it can project when buildings will sink to flood-prone heights relative to NAP, the Dutch reference level.