Crustal deformation in Australia measured by satellite radar interferometry using ALOS/PALSAR imagery

Abstract

The Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS), launched on 24 January 2006, is a Japanese satellite carrying an L-band SAR sensor, namely the PALSAR, which is expected to demonstrate good performance in applications such as crustal deformation measurement, subsidence detection and landslide monitoring. This paper describes a case study of Differential Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (DInSAR) using ALOS/PALSAR data to detect crustal deformation caused by a recent small earthquake in Western Australia.

Single Look Complex (SLC) images acquired by the ALOS/PALSAR sensor were used to measure the co-seismic deformation of the 9 October 2007 earthquake that occurred south of the town of Katanning, in the state of Western Australia. Three images with dual polarizations (HH & HV) were used in this study; two acquired before the earthquake event and one after. The two-pass DInSAR processing method was applied to generate differential interferograms. The peak-to-peak surface displacement is up to 32 centimetres in the radar line-of-sight direction.

The interferograms were used to constrain the fault modelling. The co-seismic displacements were modelled using a two-segment uniform slip model in a homogeneous isotropic half-space. A genetic algorithm was used to determine the optimal source parameters for the nonlinear inversion. The resultant maximum slip is about 0.4 metres on an almost pure reverse fault striking ~NE55° and dipping at ~40°S. The scalar moment was estimated to be 1:84 × 10¹⁶ Nm (Mw4.8), which is in good agreement with the seismological results. The root-mean-square difference between the DInSAR observed and modelled displacements is 1.6 cm.