X-, C-, and L-Band DInSAR Investigation of the April 6, 2009, Abruzzi Earthquake

This letter compares the coseismic deformation maps obtained from different synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensors using the well-known differential SAR interferometry technique. In particular, four deformation maps have been obtained from X-, C-, and L-band SAR sensors onboard COSMO-SkyMed, Envisat, and ALOS satellite missions correspondingly. The test case is the April 6, 2009, earthquake (M-omega = 6.3). This seismic event struck a densely populated region of the Apennines and was felt all over Central Italy. The SAR data set is rather inhomogeneous, since it includes interferograms with three different wavelengths, four acquisition geometries, different spatial resolutions, variable temporal and spatial baselines, and differently emphasized signal noise. However, we find that the detected displacements are highly comparable. The outcome of this work is that, even though such differences have an impact on the properties of the interferograms, the displacements can be measured with an overall discrepancy of about half the value of the shortest wavelength (COSMO-SkyMed) data set.