G11C-04
Monitoring our Hazardous Planet with Sentinel-1 InSAR: Results and Prospects

Monday, 14 December 2015: 08:45
2002 (Moscone West)
Tim J Wright1, Andrew J Hooper2, David P Bekaert1, Paola Crippa3, Susanna K Ebmeier4, John R Elliott5, Pablo J González2, Emma L Hatton2, Thomas Francis Ingleby2, Yngvar Larsen6, Petar Marinkovic7, Karsten Spaans2 and Richard J Walters2, (1)University of Leeds, COMET, School of Earth and Environment, Leeds, LS2, United Kingdom, (2)University of Leeds, COMET, School of Earth and Environment, Leeds, United Kingdom, (3)Newcastle University, COMET, School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom, (4)University of Bristol, COMET, School of Earth Sciences, Bristol, United Kingdom, (5)University of Oxford, COMET, Department of Earth Sciences, Oxford, United Kingdom, (6)NORUT Northern Research Institute, Tromsø, Norway, (7)PPO Labs, The Hague, Netherlands
Abstract:
Sentinel-1A was launched by the European Space Agency in April 2014 as the first satellite of the European Commission’s Earth Observation program, Copernicus. Here we review the capabilities and results from this first operational C-band radar, and discuss the prospects for using Sentinel-1 for routine monitoring of tectonic and volcanic areas.

The Sentinel-1 constellation (the 1B satellite will be launched in early 2016) has several advantages over previous radar missions for InSAR applications: (1) Data are being acquired systematically for tectonic and volcanic areas, (2) Images cover a wide footprint, 250 km from near to far range in Interferometric Wide Swath (TOPS) mode, (3) Small perpendicular and temporal baselines greatly improve interferometric coherence at C-band, (4) The mission is planned to be operational for 20 years, with 1C and 1D planned for future launches, (5) Data are freely available to all users.

Since reaching its operational orbit in August 2014, Sentinel-1A has provided valuable data for a number of geological events. These include earthquakes in Napa (August 2014) and Nepal (April 2015), and eruptions at Fogo (November 2014) and Calbuco (April 2015). We will show results from these events, as well as the ongoing monitoring of postseismic deformation following the earthquakes. In COMET (* http://comet.nerc.ac.uk), we are building a system to routinely produce Sentinel-1 interferograms and time series for tectonic and volcanic areas. We will make the results available to the community. In this presentation we will describe progress to date in building this system, which we aim to launch in 2016, and will discuss the anticipated scientific results.

* COMET is the UK Natural Environment Research Council’s Centre for the Observation and Modelling of Earthquakes, Volcanoes, and Tectonics.

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