SBAS-DInSAR time series in the last eighteen years at Mt. Etna volcano (Italy)

Abstract-We investigate the deformation of Mt. Etna volcano (Italy) by exploiting the advanced Differential Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (DInSAR) technique referred to as the Small BAseline Subset (SBAS) algorithm. In particular, we take advantage of the multi-sensor data processing capability of the SBAS algorithm which allows us to generate Mt. Etna mean deformation velocity maps and the corresponding time series in the last eighteen years. To achieve this task we exploit different set of SAR data collected by the European (ERS-1/2, ENVISAT) satellites in the 1992-2010 time interval, and by the Italian COSMO-SkyMed constellation during 2009-2010 period. We also benefit from the availability of ERS-ENVISAT multi-orbit (ascending and descending) data in order to discriminate the vertical and East-West components of the volcano edifice displacements and generate the relevant time series. Finally, we evidence how the higher spatial resolution and denser temporal sampling of the COSMO-SkyMed data, with respect to the European satellites, permit to follow with more details the complex deformative pattern which has characterized the volcano in the last two years.