Gravity-driven deformation of Tenerife measured by InSAR time series analysis

We study the state of deformation of Tenerife (Canary Islands) using Differential Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (DInSAR). We apply the Small BAseline Subset (SBAS) DInSAR algorithm to radar images acquired from 1992 to 2005 by the ERS sensors to determine the deformation rate distribution and the time series for the coherent pixels identified in the island. Our analysis reveals that the summit area of the volcanic edifice is characterized by a rather continuous subsidence extending well beyond Las Canadas caldera rim and corresponding to the dense core of the island. These results, coupled with GPS ones, structural and geological information and deformation modeling, suggest an interpretation based on the gravitational sinking of the dense core of the island into a weak lithosphere and that the volcanic edifice is in a state of compression. We also detect more localized deformation patterns correlated with water table changes and variations in the deformation time series associated with the seismic crisis in 2004. Citation: Fernandez, J., et al. (2009), Gravity-driven deformation of Tenerife measured by InSAR time series analysis, Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, L04306, doi: 10.1029/2008GL036920.