Patent ID: 7768441

Claim:
A method for refining surface deformation measurements, comprising: providing InSAR data, wherein the InSAR data is line of sight InSAR data; providing Global Positioning System (GPS) data; filtering the InSAR data using a two dimensional convolution filter; assembling the GPS data over a time span that matches the InSAR data; resolving the GPS data into a line of sight direction represented by the InSAR data; determining a correction, wherein determining the correction includes: matching the InSAR data with the GPS data at one or more correction points along the line of sight direction; and fitting a plane to the InSAR data, wherein the plane makes an average line of sight deformation around an edge of a scene represented by the InSAR data equal to zero; generating a corrected line of sight image, wherein the generating includes applying the correction to the InSAR data using a minimally curved surface between a plurality of known points; generating a plurality of XY motion maps, wherein generating includes: correlating a plurality of XY motions from a plurality of GPS sites with a gradient of the corrected line of site image; determining a correlation coefficient, wherein the correlation coefficient is a percentage that represents how dependent calculation of the XY motion will be upon the gradient of the corrected line of site image; and building a plane of XY motion using at least one of the plurality of XY motions; using the correlation coefficient to produce a linear combination of the plurality of XY motion maps; and using the linear combination to convert the InSAR data to vertical motion.