Work

Subsidence Monitoring and Driving-Factor Analysis of China’s Coastal Belt Based on SBAS-InSAR

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: China’s sinuous coastline is increasingly threatened by land subsidence driven by complex geological conditions and intensive human activity. Using year-round Sentinel-1A acquisitions for 2023 and SBAS-InSAR processing, we generated the first millimetre-resolution subsidence velocity field covering the 50 km coastal buffer of mainland China. We elucidated subsidence patterns and their drivers and quantified the associated socio-economic risks by integrating 1 km GDP and population data. Our analysis shows that ~55.77% of the coastal zone is subsiding, exposing 97.42 million residents and CNY 16.41 billion of GDP. Four hotspots—Laizhou Bay, northern Jiangsu, the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) and the Pearl River Delta (PRD)—exhibit the most pronounced deformation. Over-extraction of groundwater is identified as the primary driver. The 15 m resolution subsidence product provides an up-to-date, high-precision dataset that effectively supports sustainable development research in coastal hazard prevention, territorial spatial planning, and sea-level rise studies.

Source: Sustainability

DOI: 10.3390/su17219592

Authors: Wei Fa, Hongsong Wang, Wenliang Liu, Hongxian Chu, Yuqiang Wu

Institutions: Ministry of Natural Resources, China Geological Survey, China University of Geosciences, Maritime Safety Administration of the People's Republic of China

Language: English

Topic: Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Applications and Techniques

Subfield: Aerospace Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Sustainable cities and communities, Industry, innovation and infrastructure, Climate action

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,896