LANDSLIDE DEFORMATION MONITORING IN JIZAN AREA, SAUDI ARABIA USING PS-INSAR

The Red Sea Hills in the Jizan area are subject to ongoing landslide risks with increased development of the near-coastal mountain areas. In Jizan, the phenomenon of rock falls, abrupt collapse and slow gradual slides has been observed. Areas in Jizan have been considered as geological hazards due to the risks that caused by landslide deformation. Most recently, remote sensing has played an important role in landslide monitoring and mapping applications. Many remote sensing techniques have been used for geomorphology and topography of landslides, and monitoring slope deformation. In this study, we investigate the landslide deformation in Jizan area, Saudi Arabia by using PS-InSAR techniques. The major purpose of this study is to examine whether the landslide deformation in Jizan area can be well identified through the PS-InSAR method and compare the results with GIS method. Ten ERS 1 and 2 scenes acquired from 1996 to 2009 and five Envisat radar scenes acquired from 2003 to 2008 were acquired over the study area. These were processed using the StaMPS persistent scatterer processing technique. Areas of rapid deformation were identified and correlated with areas of known landslides, and with GIS landslide susceptibility models. In addition areas of decorrelation between image acquisitions were identified to identify possible landslide sites.