Inter- and Post-Seismic Ground Deformation of the 2012 Emilia Seismic Sequence By Means of COSMO-Skymed and Ers-Envisat InSAR Time Series

Abstract:

On May 20, 2012, a moderate earthquake of local magnitude, M 5.9 started a seismic sequence in the central Po Plain of Northern Italy. The mainshock occurred in an area where seismicity of comparable magnitude has neither been recorded nor reported in the historical record over the last 1,000 years. On May 29, 2012 a second large earthquake of M 5.8 occurred 12 km WSW of the mainshock, starting a new seismic sequence in the western area; a total of seven earthquakes with M >5 occurred in the area between May 20 and June 3, 2012. After the first mainshock, a COSMO-SkyMed acquisition plan was going to provide data over a wide area of the Emilia Region covering both the epicentral region and the adjacent West and East areas, and was later extended up to December 31th, 2013 to monitor the post-seismic deformation. Using multitemporal SBAS InSAR technique we measured co and post-seismic deformations; . we used COSMO-SkyMed image datasets spanning the time period 2012-2013, along both ascending and descending orbit. Moreover we studied the pre-seismic (inter-seismic) phase by means of ERS1/2 and ASAR-Envisat data covering the 1992-2010 temporal interval. In this framework the Emilia seismic sequence represents a very interesting case for the study of the complete seismic cycle.