Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences | 2021
Spatial and temporal subsidence characteristics in Wuhan city\n(China) during 2015–2019 inferred from Sentinel-1 SAR\nInterferometry
Abstract
Abstract. Ground subsidence is regarded as one of the most common geohazards accompanied with the rapid urban expansion in recent years. In the last two decades, Wuhan located in the alluvial Jinaghan Plain has experienced great urban expansion with increased subsidence issues, i.e. soft foundation subsidence and karst collapses. Here we investigated subsidence rates in Wuhan city with 2015–2019 Sentinel-1 SAR images. We found that the overall subsidence over Wuhan region is significantly correlated with the distribution of engineering geological regions (EGSs). We further validated the InSAR measurements with better than 5\u2009mm accuracy by comparing with leveling measurements. Subsidence centers in Qingling-jiangdi, Houhu, Qingshan and Dongxihu area were identified with displacement rates of approximately 30\u2009mm/yr. Our results demonstrated that the dominant driven factor is ongoing constructions and the subsidence centers shifted with construction intensities. Qingling-Jiangdi area in our study is a well-known sites of karst collapses. We find the nonlinear subsidence of this area is correlated with the water level variations of the Yangtze River.