Error analysis for interferometric SAR measurements of ice sheet flow

摘要

This article concerns satellite interferometric radar measurements of ice elevation and three-dimensional flow vectors. It describes sensitivity to 1) atmospheric path length changes, and other phase distortions, 2) violations of the stationaryflow assumption, and 3) unknown vertical velocities and slope errors in conjunction with a surface parallel flow assumption. The most surprising result is that assuming a stationary flow the east component of the three-dimensional flow derived fromascending and descending orbit data is independent of slope errors and of the vertical flow.