Saudi Journal of Engineering and Technology (SJEAT)
Volume-10 | Issue-12 | 648-659
Review Article
Integration of PSInSAR Using SAR Data for Regional Subsidence Mapping in Pakistan
Asad Basheer, Muhammad Tahir Munir, Muhammad Nabil Ashraf
Published : Dec. 23, 2025
Abstract
In Pakistan, land subsidence has become a serious geohazard, with the major factors being rapid urbanization, overextraction of groundwater, overloading of infrastructural facilities, and natural compaction. Conventional terrestrial methods of monitoring, such as leveling and GNSS, are highly accurate but spatially sparse, costly, and cannot monitor deformation over a regional scale. Here, satellite-based Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (InSAR) especially Persistent Scatterer InSAR, provides a stable and economical method of long-standing subsidence monitoring on extensive and uneven surfaces. The paper demonstrates an attempt to integrate PSInSAR with multi-temporal SAR data to map and analyze subsidence trends of the area land of selected urban and peri-urban areas of Pakistan. The PSInSAR method allows the stable radar target of interest to be identified and allows the time series of millimeter-scale surface deformation to be extracted, which is likely to reduce the atmospheric disturbance and time-correlation effects of traditional InSAR methods. This study will measure spatial variability, temporal change, and subsidence hotspots of anthropogenic and geological nature by using the high-resolution SAR datasets. The paper also compares the patterns of deformation that are observed with the root causes that include: groundwater depletion, land-use change, and expansion of infrastructure. The results present important information about the processes of subsidence in data-sparse areas of Pakistan and indicate that PSInSAR is a valid instrument of monitoring hazard control, urban development and sustainable resources utilization. This study helps to enhance geospatial decision-support systems and provides a scientific foundation of risk-based policymaking in the regions with subsidence risks.