DERIVATION OF A MULTI-SENSOR INTERFEROMETRIC DEM OF THE DEAD SEA REGION

Radar interferometry is a well-established technology for the generation of digital elevation models (DEM). Several satellites with SAR-sensors on board have been launched during the last 10 years, which provide interferometric datasets for this purpose. One of them is the ENVISAT ASAR, a repeat pass interferometric system with a repeat cycle of 35 days. The great advantage of this sensor is the new beam steering capability that allows data takes with different incident angles. Especially for the mapping of steep mountainous regions, like the border of the Dead Sea, the combination of different incidence angles will have a favorable effect. Under ESA project 2341 we investigated the combination of several ENVISAT ASAR datasets with different orientation (ascending /descending) and various incidence angles. The data were compared with other interferometric datasets derived from ERS-1/2 tandem data, SRTM X-band and SRTM C-band data. The advantages and disadvantages of the different datasets like wavelength, incidence angle, resolution, single versus repeat pass will be discussed. The result of the study is a multi-sensor DHM, which combines the advantages of each dataset in one final product.