Background
Change in land surface elevation is associated with landslides, coastal subsidence, fluid extraction/injection, and other geohazards. Such events across the United States cause billions of dollars in damage every year. Mitigation of damage requires the ability to identify and track the magnitude of vertical land surface motions.
The VLM solution will provide such information by leveraging the Satellite Needs Working Group (SNWG)-2018 North America Displacement Product suite in combination with dense global position information from Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). Further information about the Observational Products for End-Users from Remote Sensing Analysis (OPERA) project can be found below.
Status: In Development
This solution is currently in pre-formulation and will use precise vertical and horizontal geodetic GNSS control to generate a suite of VLM products that track the magnitude of vertical land surface motions using the Sentinel-1 A/B/C and NASA/Indian Space Research Organization Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) radar observations, along with generating monthly (and possibly biweekly) products, and a spatial and temporal variability map of the land surface elevation change related to seasonal processes.
Solution Characteristics
| Products | OPERA_L4_VLM_S1 | OPERA_L4_VLM_NI |
|---|---|---|
| Output Variables | Vertical land motion, vertical land motion uncertainty, eastward motion, eastward motion uncertainty, northward motion, northward uncertainty, other support layers | |
| Platforms | Sentinel-1 A/B/C | NISAR |
| Processing Level | 4 | 4 |
| Temporal Coverage | October 2019 - September 2029 | October 2025 - March 2030 |
| Temporal Frequency | Weekly | Weekly |
| Latency | 1 month | 1 month |
| Spatial Coverage | North America* | North America* |
| Spatial Resolution | 100 m | 100 m |
| Data Format | NetCDF | NetCDF |
*North America = USA, all official 14 U.S. Territories, Canada within 200 km of U.S. border, and all mainland countries from U.S. southern border to and including Panama
Societal Impact
Land surface elevation changes across the U.S. cause billions of dollars in damage every year associated with landslides, coastal subsidence, fluid extraction/injection, and other geohazards. Identifying and tracking land surface elevation change is needed nationally for separating coastal subsidence and sea level rise impacts, hazard mitigation, and infrastructure stability/fragility assessment and modernization.
Solution Resources
Need help using this solution? For more information about the VLM product suite, visit the following resources:
- OPERA DISP website
- OPERA Coregistered Single-Look Complex (CSLC) website
- OPERA Stakeholder Engagement Program
Workshops and Open Meetings
| Title and Registration Link | Description | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Fifth OPERA Stakeholder Engagement Workshop | The fifth OPERA workshop reports updates on the OPERA data products and how to access and leverage them for common applications. It also introduces OPERA's upcoming VLM product suite. | Sept. 11, 2025 |