Ground deformation in the former coal mines in southern Limburg, The Netherlands, as observed by satellite radar interferometry

Persistent Scatterer Interferometry methodologies measure ground motion with, under the right circumstances, 1 mm/yr precision by using the scatterers that remain coherent over a series of radar acquisitions. In this study, we present the results of applying this technique to measure land deformation in South Limburg, the Netherlands. This area is of special interest because of its long coal mining history, which ceased almost completely during the seventies. After the collieries were abandoned the water drainage also stopped. As a consequence, the water started to recover to flow through the galleries produce in ground uplift. Thus, from PSI observations we estimated the total cumulative deformation in the area. We employed two data sets in this research that were acquired by the European satellites ERS1/2 and Envisat, spanning from 1993 to 2001 and from 2003 to 2008, respectively.