RADARSAT-2 InSAR for monitoring permafrost environments: Pangnirtung and iqaluit

RADARSAT-2 InSAR data sets were used to create maps of seasonal surface displacement at two Canadian permafrost sites: Pangnirtung and Iqaluit. Patterns of InSAR displacement reproduced well the relative movement associated with different surficial geology units and identified unstable areas. InSAR results did not produce an exact quantitative match with thaw tube measurements of settlement, spatial and temporal averaging in the InSAR processing may account for this. The role of soil moisture and potential ground penetration by the radar was examined but considered unlikely to be a significant source of error.