Investigating subsidence and environmental change adaption in urban slums using SAR satellite data

This study will employ a multi-temporal InSAR (interferometric synthetic aperture radar) technique (i.e. Persistent Scatterer Interferometry) to provide the estimation of subsidence dynamics. By combining InSAR with other geospatial observations from e.g. open street map and optical satellites, we will propose strategies for environmental change adaptation. The potential study area can be over Kibera, Nairobi, Kenya, which is the largest slum in Nairobi, as well as the largest urban slum in Africa. C-band Sentinel-1 SAR data will be collected via https://search.asf.alaska.edu/#/ and used for this study. The main objectives of this study include: 1) to quantify and assess the subsidence in the selected urban slum; 2) to interpret the subsidence time series of some representative InSAR measurement points; 3) to determine the key driving factors of subsidence; 4) to investigate existing adaptive strategies for environmental change adaptation; 5) to propose recommendations to enhance the resilience for such communities.