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Satellites shine light on Italian earthquake

The medieval town of L’Aquila in central Italy suffered a 6.3 earthquake on 6 April. Now, a team of Italian researchers are studying data gathered from the ESA (European Space Agency) Envisat and the Italian Space Agency’s COSMO-SkyMed satellites in order to better understand the tragedy.

Using a technique called SAR Interferometry (InSAR) the team have been comparing precise images of the same location in order to make precise measurements of ground motion.

Using data from before and after the earthquake, the team have generated an ‘'interferogram' which produces with coloured bands representing areas of movement relative to the satellite.

"We produced an interferogram just a few hours after the Envisat acquisition by combining these data with data acquired before the earthquake on 1 February. We were pleased that we were able to immediately see the pattern of the earthquake," commented Riccardo Lanari of Istituto per il Rilevamento Elettromagnetico dell’ Ambiente (IREA-CNR) in Naples, Italy.

To allow for further investigation, ESA is making all data pertinent to the region freely available to all investigating engineers and scientists.

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