RADARSAT constellation mission for monitoring ground deformation in Alberta's oil sands

The Canadian RADARSAT Constellation Mission (RCM, to be launched in 2018) will consist of three C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar satellites. The equivalent four day repeat cycle of RCM will allow monitoring fast ground uplift and subsidence in Alberta's oil sands region, where the Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) and the Cyclical Steam Simulation (CSS) enhanced oil recovery technologies are employed. Previous observations showed slow and steady uplift at the SAGD sites and very fast uplift and subsidence at the CSS sites. The forthcoming RCM and currently operated RADARSAT-2 satellites display significant differences in resolution, coverage, and noise floor. Using RCM simulator we evaluated average interferometric coherence vs spatial resolution and noise floor. We determined that noise floor moderately affects coherence but main limitation is imposed by resolution. The Very High and High resolution RCM beams are best for monitoring ground deformation in Alberta's oil sands.