The Advanced Rapid Imaging and Analysis (ARIA) team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and California Institute of Technology, both in Pasadena, California, created this coseismic Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) map that shows surface displacement (wrapped interferogram) caused by the recent major earthquakes in California, including the M6.4 (July 4, 2019) and the M7.1 (July 5, 2019) events.

The interferogram is derived from synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images from the ALOS-2 satellite, operated by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The images were taken before (April 16, 2018) and after (July 8, 2019) the sequence of earthquakes. Each color cycle represents 11.45 cm (4.5 inches) of ground displacement in the radar line-of-sight (LOS, 28 degrees from vertical and roughly east). 

The image covers an area of 50 by 125 kilometers (31 by 78 miles), and each pixel measures about 90 meters across. No filter was applied during the processing. The linear features that cut the color fringes in the southeast indicate likely locations of surface rupture caused by the earthquakes, and the noisy areas in the northwest may indicate locations where ground surface was disturbed by the earthquakes.

The ALOS-2 data were provided by JAXA. This task is funded by NASA's Disasters Program.

The products (KMZ and GeoTIFF files) are available to download at aria-share.jpl.nasa.gov/20190704-California_EQ

For more information about ARIA, visit: http://aria.jpl.nasa.gov