Diagnosing Subsidence Geohazard at Beijing Capital International Airport, from High-Resolution SAR Interferometry

Abstract

Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA) has suffered from uneven land subsidence since 1935, which affects the smoothness of airport runways and seriously threatens the safety of aircrafts. In this paper, a spaceborne interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) with high-resolution Cosmo-SkyMed SAR data was utilized at BCIA for the first time to diagnose the subsidence hazard. The results show that subsidence is progressing at BCIA at a maximum rate of 50 mm/year, which is mainly distributed in the northwest side of the airport. It was found that the Shunyi-Liangxiang fault directly traverses Runway2 and Runway3 and causes uneven subsidence, controlling the spatial subsidence pattern to some degree. Four driving factors of subsidence were investigated, namely: the over-exploitation of groundwater, active faults, compressible soil thickness, and aquifer types. For the future sustainable development of BCIA, the influence of Beijing new airport and Beijing Daxing International Airport (BDIA), was analyzed and predicted. It is necessary to take relevant measures to control the uneven subsidence during the initial operation of BDIA and conduct long-term monitoring to ensure the regular safe operation of BCIA. This case demonstrates a remote sensing method of diagnosing the subsidence hazard with high accuracy and non-contact, providing a reliable alternative for the geohazard diagnosis of key infrastructures in the future.