Background
Changes in land surface elevation are associated with landslides, coastal subsidence, fluid extraction/injection, and other Earth hazards. 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 and vertical rates of motion.
The vertical land motion (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 will combine results from the SNWG 2018 North America Surface Displacement Product with precise vertical and horizontal geodetic control to generate a suite of VLM products that track the magnitude of vertical land surface motions at 120-meter resolution. The project will use radar data from Sentinel-1 A/B/C/D and NASA/Indian Space Research Organization Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) to generate monthly (and possibly biweekly) products, as well as a spatial and temporal variability map of 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/D | NISAR |
| Processing Level | 4 | 4 |
| Temporal Coverage | October 2019 to September 2029 | October 2025 to 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 14 official 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
Widespread land surface elevation changes affect communities, infrastructure, and coastal environments. Reliable detection and monitoring of vertical land motion supports hazard mitigation and infrastructure stability and modernization efforts, while enabling more informed planning and decision-making.
Solution Resources
Need help using this solution? For more information about the VLM product suite, visit the following resources:
Workshops and Open Meetings
| Title and Registration Link | Description | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Fifth OPERA Stakeholder Engagement Workshop | The fifth workshop provided updates on OPERA data products and how to access and leverage them for common applications. It also introduced the upcoming Vertical Land Motion (VLM) product suite. | Sept. 11, 2025 |