Envisat interferogram over the L'Aquila area

An Envisat Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) interferogram over the L’Aquila area in central Italy showing the deformation pattern caused by the seismic events in early April 2009. This interferogram was generated by Italy’s Istituto per il Rilevamento Elettromagnetico dell’ Ambiente (IREA-CNR) in Naples, Italy just a few hours after Envisat’s acquisition on 12 April 2009. It combines that acquisition with a pre-seismic acquisition on 1 February 2009, with an estimated baseline (separation between the two Envisat orbital positions) of about 154 m. The satellite’s right-looking angle is 23 degrees.

Each fringe of the interferogram, corresponding to a colour cycle, is equivalent to an Earth surface displacement of 2.8 cm along the satellite direction.