Ge et al. (2025) Preliminary application of Chinese high-resolution small SAR satellites in large-scale monitoring of the middle route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project

Identification

• Journal: Advances in Space Research
• Year: 2025
• Date: 2025-11-20
• Authors: Zixuan Ge, Yongkai Wang, Wenhao Wu, Jie Liu, Weijie Ran, Peng Yuan, Yanan Su, Jiangtao Xu, Jiyuan Hu, Peijie Zhu, Yu Zhang
• DOI: 10.1016/j.asr.2025.11.055

Research Groups

• School of Earth Sciences and Spatial Information Engineering, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, China
• China South-to-North Water Diversion Group Water Network Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd, Beijing, China
• School of Geography and Tourism, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, China
• Spacety Co., Ltd. (Changsha), China
• State Key Laboratory of Spatial Datum, College of Remote Sensing and Geoinformatics Engineering, Faculty of Geographical Science and Engineering, Henan University, Zhengzhou, China
• College of Geomatics and Geoinformation, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin, China
• School of Architecture and Design, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, China

Short Summary

This study evaluates the preliminary application of Chinese high-resolution small SAR satellites ("Fucheng-1" and "Shenqi" series) for large-scale ground deformation monitoring along the Tianjin section of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project (SNWDP), demonstrating their capability and consistency with Sentinel-1A.

Objective

• To evaluate the preliminary application and capabilities of Chinese high-resolution small SAR satellites ("Fucheng-1" and "Shenqi" series) for large-scale ground deformation monitoring along the South-to-North Water Diversion Project (SNWDP) route, specifically in the Tianjin section.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Tianjin section of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project (SNWDP), including Xiong County and Gu’an area of Langfang, Hebei Province, China.
• Temporal Scale: Recent years leading up to 2025.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Distributed Scatterer Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (DS-InSAR) technology.
• Data sources: Chinese small SAR satellites ("Fucheng-1" and "Shenqi" series), Sentinel-1A satellite, Corner Reflectors (CR) for validation.

Main Results

• High spatial consistency was observed between deformation results derived from Sentinel-1A and the "Fucheng-1" and "Shenqi" satellites.
• The average coherence coefficients of the dual-star constellation showed an improvement compared to Sentinel-1A with a similar temporal baseline.
• Among selected monitoring points, the minimum Maximum Absolute Error (MaxAE) value was 1.699 mm/yr, and the highest Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC) reached 0.977.
• These results indicate stable orbit control capabilities, dual-star constellation interferometry capabilities, and time-series resolution capabilities of Chinese small SAR satellites.
• Significant regional ground subsidence was detected in Xiong County and Gu’an area of Langfang, Hebei Province, although a recent trend of subsidence mitigation has emerged.

Contributions

• First-time employment of Chinese small SAR satellites ("Fucheng-1" and "Shenqi" series) for large-scale monitoring of water diversion projects.
• Demonstration and validation of the capabilities of these new Chinese SAR satellites for high-precision, large-scale ground deformation monitoring.
• Validation of the consistency and improved coherence of the Chinese dual-star constellation compared to conventional SAR data (Sentinel-1A).
• Application of DS-InSAR with multi-source SAR imagery and corner reflectors for deformation analysis in challenging agricultural areas.

Funding

• Not explicitly mentioned in the provided text.

Citation

@article{Ge2025Preliminary,
  author = {Ge, Zixuan and Wang, Yongkai and Wu, Wenhao and Liu, Jie and Ran, Weijie and Yuan, Peng and Su, Yanan and Xu, Jiangtao and Hu, Jiyuan and Zhu, Peijie and Zhang, Yu},
  title = {Preliminary application of Chinese high-resolution small SAR satellites in large-scale monitoring of the middle route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project},
  journal = {Advances in Space Research},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.1016/j.asr.2025.11.055},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2025.11.055}
}