Towards unraveling total subsidence of a mega-delta – the potential of new PS InSAR data for the Mekong delta
Philip S. J. Minderhoud, Ivana Hlaváčová, Jan Kolomazník, Olaf Neußner
Abstract
Abstract. Total subsidence in deltaic areas is the cumulative effect of a range of driving mechanisms, both natural and anthropogenic. The populous and low-lying Vietnamese Mekong delta is facing accelerating subsidence rates and effective mitigation strategies are urgently needed to save-guard the future sustainability of the delta. This paper gathers results from existing measurements and estimates of subsidence in the Mekong delta and presents new, delta-wide datasets of PSI observations of vertical velocity from 2014–2019. We describe the practical application of this new data in ongoing projects in Vietnam and outline a planned approach to determine depth-dependent subsidence rates, using this new dataset in combination with field surveys and physics-based numerical models, to advance towards improved quantitation of the contributions of individual subsidence mechanisms.