Germany: The Sentinel-1A radar satellite has recently mapped Napa valley quake using a technique that shows up minute surface changes in rainbow colors.
The new technique that produces this type of analysis is known as Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (InSAR). Using interferogram, the scientists precisely traced the extent of the fault rupture.
Yngvar Larsen from Norway’s Northern Research Institute and Petar Marinkovic from PPO.labs in the Netherlands processed this new interferogram from two images: one that Sentinel-1A acquired on 7 August, the day the satellite reached its operational orbit, and another captured on 31 August.
According to European Space Agency, the extent of the ground deformation in the interferogram shows that the fault slip continues further north than the extent of the rupture mapped at the surface. Each color cycle on the interferograms represents a 1.1-inch shift in the earth's movement.
Dr John Elliot from the UK's NERC Centre for the Observation and Modelling of Earthquakes, Volcanoes and Tectonics (COMET) said, "The infrastructure is in place and once we get to work with the quality of the data now coming through from Sentinel, we should be able to start turning out these inteferograms very quickly."
The August 24th Napa quake of 6.0 intensity is considered to be the biggest earthquake that has shaken northern California in 25 years.
Source: ESA
