Investigating Land Subsidence due to Over- Extraction of Groundwater in Lucknow City using Satellite Remote Sensing Technique InSAR

Kumar, Ravi (2023) Investigating Land Subsidence due to Over- Extraction of Groundwater in Lucknow City using Satellite Remote Sensing Technique InSAR. Masters thesis, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata.

Text (MS dissertation of Ravi Kumar (18MS029)) Thesis_18MS029.pdf - Submitted Version Restricted to Repository staff only Download (42MB)

Abstract

This work focuses on the monitoring of land subsidence in the Lucknow city of India, which is caused mainly by over-extraction of groundwater. Land subsidence is a slow process that can lead to damages in infrastructure such as roads, buildings, and underground pipes, causing significant economic loss. The study area, Lucknow, is the capital of Uttar Pradesh and rapidly growing from last two decades which is leading to over-extraction of groundwater resources and water shortage. We found that there is long term decline in groundwater levels in Lucknow city. Some regions like Vikasnagar, New Hyderabad and Triveni Nagar were showing water table depletion rate of more than 1 m/yr. Satellite remote sensing techniques, specifically the Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), are used to monitor land subsidence. The study employs Small Baseline Subset (SBAS) multi temporal-InSAR (MT-InSAR) technique on Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images captured by the Sentinel-1 satellite. The study period is Jan 2015- June 2022. The number of SAR images acquired from Sentinel-1 is 196 and 210 for ascending and descending orbit, respectively. The results show that the city has experienced land subsidence of up to 20 mm/year in some areas (such as Jail Road, Tiwaripur, Chandganj and Kapoorthla), and these areas have experiences steep trend of water table decline. The study concludes that land subsidence and groundwater overextraction are correlated, and SAR remote sensing techniques can provide an effective tool to monitor land subsidence in urban areas caused by groundwater extraction. The research highlights the importance of sustainable use of groundwater resources and proper management of urban areas to avoid further damages caused by land subsidence.

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