Abstract:
WARNING: THIS IS A PREVIEW
The SAR4Tectonics project aims to provide open-access, global measurements of ground deformation in high-strain areas near tectonic plate boundaries. By leveraging the capabilities of the Persistent and Distributed Scatterer (PS/DS) technique with Sentinel-1 SAR images, the project seeks to deliver comprehensive and accurate data on ground deformation, which is crucial for understanding geological processes, assessing seismic risks in these regions, and advance our understanding of Earth's dynamic processes in general. The PS/DS technique offers significantly denser spatial coverage than GNSS, enabling the detection of more localized deformation signals. For the first time, such a vast and detailed dataset is made publicly available. By making this data openly accessible, the SAR4Tectonics project hopes to reduce the burden of SAR data processing for geoscientists, facilitating future studies.
The project involved processing 6.5 years of SAR data, focusing on areas where the second invariant of strain exceeds 3 nanostrain per year. Various error corrections were employed, including tropospheric delay correction using ECMWF reanalysis data, ionospheric mitigation via CODE total electron content maps, and solid earth tide modeling. Additionally, the impact of vegetation and soil moisture on distributed scatterers was minimized through a full covariance matrix approach (phase linking), and the results were calibrated using GNSS data. The final dataset includes line-of-sight average velocity maps, deformation time series, projection vectors, and reference plate modeled velocities.
Notes
- This is an incomplete preview of the dataset, with calibration improvements still underway.
- Data download will be enabled once processing is finalized.
- This visualization shows a randomly overlapping mosaic of all tracks.
- A research paper describing the details of the processing is in preparation.
- The different coverage in ascending and descending passes is due to data availability.
- Steep valleys may exhibit residual tropospheric errors.
- Due to the automatic unsupervised processing, phase unwrapping errors may be present in areas of strong deformation.
- This is a research product provided as is and may contain errors.
Product Information:
- Product Name: SAR4Tectonics
- Release: 2025-06-01
- Contact: Giorgio Gomba
Data Information:
DLR © 2025
Keywords:
DLR, EOC, IMF, Land, SAR4Tectonics, Sentinel-1, InSAR, persistent scatterers, ground deformation, tectonic plate boundaries, high-strain areas, seismic risk assessment, open data
Map Projection:
Bounds: -15, 0, 180, 90
