SEntinel-1A TOPS Interferometry application over the Dead Sea

Comparing with its former C-band fellows ERS and Envisat, Sentinel data is favored for its short revisit days (12 days) and free distribution policy. Moreover, TOPS mode can cover a much larger monitoring area (250 km in azimuth) while maintaining a relative high range/ azimuth resolution (4m*20m in general). The advantages of TOPS mode made it become the default mode for Sentinel-1. This paper describes the general processing chain for sentinel-1A TOPS mode from importing, coregistration to generating interferograms and its application in monitoring ground subsidence over the Dead Sea region. The data that comes from TOPS's steering antenna will require some additional processing steps comparing with the stripmap mode. In this paper we apply the TOPS data over the Dead Sea region. A number of interferograms are generated to monitor the local ground subsidence and sinkholes. Distinct ground subsidence is clearly visible on TOPS interferograms.