TERRAIN ELEVATION CHANGES BY RADAR SATELLITE IMAGES INTERPRETATION AS A COMPONENT OF GEO-ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING

The purpose of this work is to establish the dynamics of the terrain elevation changes in time as a component of geo-environmental monitoring basing on radar satellite images interpretation. Research has been performed for the territory of the right-bank slopes of the Dnipro River in Kyiv. There are proposed a method of the establishing of terrain elevation changes which build on the construction of a base point network for all satellite images, interpretation of the results taking into account seasonality and gradation ∆h in accordance with the elevation discreteness of the images that have been used. Analysis of a images series from December 2007 to January 2009 made it possible to identify stable areas within the research territory and those where the fluctuations of elevations (rising and lowering) have been observed. Terrain elevation changes in unstable areas are explained according to the engineering-geological conditions and technogenic development of the researched area. Distinguished trends based on ∆h of surface revealed a correlation with the location of a extended fault system and other lineaments of this territory. Comparison of long-term observations of terrain elevation changes will allow to identify and classify the lineament forms, in particular those that affect the slopes stability.