Monitoring Cultural Heritage Sites with Advanced Multi-Temporal InSAR Technique: The Case Study of the Summer Palace

A novel Multi-Temporal Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (MTInSAR) technique revealed that the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Summer Palace in Beijing, remains largely stable but faces localized risks. The study identified mm/cm-level instabilities in Longevity Hill's ruins and monuments, likely due to human activities and natural decay. Subsidence near East and South Gates was linked to urbanization, while groundwater variations and over-tourism contributed to instability along Kunming Lakeside. This advanced approach, combining Persistent Scatterers (PSs) and Distributed Scatterers (DSs), offers a high-precision tool for early risk detection and preventive conservation of cultural heritage sites.

Tang, P., Chen, F., Zhu, X., & Zhou, W. (2016). Monitoring Cultural Heritage Sites with Advanced Multi-Temporal InSAR Technique: The Case Study of the Summer Palace. Remote Sensing, 8(5), 432. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs8050432