Journal
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY A-MATHEMATICAL PHYSICAL AND ENGINEERING SCIENCES
Volume 360, Issue 1801, Pages 2873-2888Publisher
ROYAL SOC
DOI: 10.1098/rsta.2002.1094
Keywords
earthquake cycle; satellite radar interferometry; InSAR; geodesy
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The earthquake cycle is poorly understood. Earthquakes continue to occur on previously unrecognized faults. Earthquake prediction seems impossible. These remain the facts despite nearly 100 years of intensive study since the earthquake cycle was first conceptualized. Using data acquired from satellites in orbit 800 km above the Earth, a new technique, radar interferometry (InSAR), has the potential to solve these problems. For the first time, detailed maps of the warping of the Earth's surface during the earthquake cycle can be obtained with a spatial resolution of a few tens of metres and a precision of a few millimetres. InSAR does not need equipment on the ground or expensive field campaigns, so it can gather crucial data on earthquakes and the seismic cycle from some of the remotest areas of the planet. In this article, I review some of the remarkable observations of the earthquake cycle already made using radar interferometry and speculate on breakthroughs that are tantalizingly close.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available