Survey of landslide activity and rockglaciers movement in the Swiss Alps with TerraSAR-X

Four TerraSAR-X stripmap mode scenes acquired during the late summer of 2008 in the Oberwallis region in the Swiss Alps have been interferometrically analyzed for the survey of the activity of unstable slopes. Differential interferometry was applied using a high precision external Digital Elevation Model (DEM). Position, extent, contour, and approximate velocity of unstable slopes were determined for a large area. Selected results representing rockglacier movement and landslide activity are discussed and compared with in-situ information and interferograms derived from ENVISAT ASAR, JERS-1 SAR and ALOS PASLSAR data. This application strongly benefits from the higher spatial resolution of the TerraSAR-X data in comparison to the C- and L-band sensors used in the past, because many of the instabilities are of relatively small size.