Browsing by Author "Wei, Shiang-Hung"

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Land Subsidence in Chiayi, Taiwan, from Compaction Well, Leveling and ALOS/PALSAR: Aquaculture-Induced Relative Sea Level Rise
(2018-01-01)
Hung, Wei-Chia
;
Hwang, Cheinway
;
Chen, Yi-An
;
Zhang, Lei
;
Chen, Kuan-Hung
Chiayi County is located in the largest alluvial plain of Taiwan with extensive aquaculture and rice farming sustained by water extracted from groundwater wells. Chiayi is a typical aquaculture area affected by land subsidence, yet such lands worldwide combine to provide nearly 90% of global aquaculture products, greatly reducing oceanic overfishing problems. This study uses precision leveling, multi-layer compaction monitoring well (MLCW) and spaceborne SAR interferometry (InSAR) to examine the cause and effect of land subsidence in Chiayi associated with groundwater extractions and changes. Heights at benchmarks in a leveling network are measured annually and soil compactions at 24-26 layers up to 300-m depths at 7 MLCWs are collected at one-month intervals. Over 2007-2011, 15 ALOS/PALSAR images are processed by the method of TCPInSAR to produce subsidence rates. All sensors show that land subsidence occur in most parts of Chiayi, with rates reaching 4.5 cm/year around its coast, a result of groundwater pumping from shallow to deep aquifers. MLCWs detect mm-accuracy seasonal soil compactions coinciding with groundwater level fluctuations and causing dynamic compactions. Compactions near Taiwan High Speed Rail may reduce the strength of the rail's supporting columns to degrade its safety. The SAR images yield subsidence rates consistent with those from leveling and compaction wells after corrections for systematic errors by the leveling result. Subsidence in Chiayi's coastal area leads to relative sea level rises at rates up to 15 times larger than the global eustatic sea level rising rate, a risk typical for world's aquaculture-rich regions. At the fish pond-covered Budai Township, InSAR identifies subsidence spots not detected by leveling, providing crucial geo-information for a sustainable land management for aquaculture industry.
Multi-Decadal Monitoring of Lake Level Changes in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau by the TOPEX/Poseidon-Family Altimeters: Climate Implication
(2016-06-01)
Hwang, Cheinway
;
Cheng, Yung-Sheng
;
Han, Jiancheng
;
Kao, Ricky
;
Huang, Chi-Yun
Lake levels in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) provide valuable records for climate change studies. We use two decades of measurements (January 1993-December 2014) from the TOPEX/Poseidon (T/P)-family satellite altimeters (T/P, Jason-1 and -2) to detect lake level variations at 23 lakes along their repeat ground tracks every 10 days. We employ an optimal processing technique to obtain quality measurements, including outlier detection, averaging and filtering. The lake level accuracies are improved by subwaveform retracking. Jason-1 delivers few measurements after waveform retracking and a cluster classification at most lakes. From January 1993 to December 2014, most lake levels in eastern Tibet rose, while those in western Tibet declined. In Qinghai, lake levels dropped before 2005 and then rose afterwards, coinciding with the measure in 2005 that protects the Qinghai ecosystem (e.g., grassland conservation). The overall pattern of lake level change in the QTP is largely affected by monsoons and lake locations. Most lake levels show clear annual and inter-annual oscillations. Certain lakes show alternating level highs and lows in the same seasons and varying amplitudes of annual oscillations due to lake level changes. We detect a sudden rise of lake level by 7 m caused by floods, varying lake level trends associated with the 199798 El Nino and other factors, and persistently rising and declining lake levels associated with the long-term precipitation trends in the QTP. The T/P-family satellites will continue to monitor lake levels here as long as the sea level monitoring program lasts, collecting a long-term climate record at highlands echoing sea level change.
SOLID EARTH DEFORMATION MONITORING USING SATELLITE ALTIMETRY IN SOUTHWESTERN COASTS IN TAIWAN
(2010)
Cheng, Kai-chien
;
Hwang, Cheinway
;
Chung, Yu-Hsiang
;
Huang, Ching-Yao
;
Wei, Shiang-Hung
A novel method of using waveform retracked altimeter observations on land for the monitoring of the solid Earth deformation in Taiwan is described in the article. The southwestern coasts of Taiwan have been experiencing a significant land subsidence in the rate of similar to 8 cm/year, due to, in part, the excess extraction of the underground water. The first-order leveling networks and the GPS control points available in the area were used to verified the results of the waveform retracked altimeter observation. In this study, we proposed to use TOPEX/Poseidon (T/P) altimeter land observations from 1992-2002 on one T/P groundtrack that passes the southwestern coasts of Taiwan where is part of the Chia-Nan Plain with the main vegetation being rice paddy. This special vegetation and flat terrain provide an opportunity for successful waveform retracking. The comparison between T/P retracked result and that from the leveling network and GPS control points are presented.
Surface Deformation from Sentinel-1A InSAR: Relation to Seasonal Groundwater Extraction and Rainfall in Central Taiwan
(2019-12-01)
Yang, Yi-Jie
;
Hwangl, Cheinway
;
Hung, Wei-Chia
;
Fuhrmann, Thomas
;
Chen, Yi-An
Extracting groundwater for agricultural, aquacultural, and industrial use in central Taiwan has caused large-scale land subsidence that poses a threat to the operation of the Taiwan High Speed Railway near Yunlin County. We detected Yunlin subsidence using the Sentinel-1A Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) by the Small BAseline Subset (SBAS) method from April 2016 to April 2017. We calibrated the initial InSAR-derived displacement rates using GPS measurements and reduced the velocity difference between the two sensors from 15.0 to 8.5 mm/a. In Yunlin's severe subsidence regions, cumulative displacements from InSAR and GPS showed that the dry-season subsidence contributed 60%-74% of the annual subsidence. The InSAR-derived vertical velocities matched the velocities from leveling to better than 10 mm/a. In regions with few leveling measurements, InSAR increased the spatial resolution of the vertical velocity field and identified two previously unknown subsidence spots over an industrial zone and steel factory. Annual significant subsidence areas (subsidence rate > 30 mm/a) from leveling from 2011 to 2017 increased with the declining dry-season rainfalls, suggesting that the dry-season rainfall was the deciding factor for land subsidence. A severe drought in 2015 (an El Nino year) dramatically increased the significant subsidence area to 659 km(2). Both InSAR and leveling detected similarly significant subsidence areas in 2017, showing that InSAR was an effective technique for assessing whether a subsidence mitigation measure worked. The newly opened Hushan Reservoir can supply surface water during dry seasons and droughts to counter rain shortage and can thereby potentially reduce land subsidence caused by groundwater extraction.