Ground deformation analysis through spaceborne SAR interferometry and geophysical modeling

We present the main activities and the most significant results that the Institute for Electromagnetic Sensing of the Environment (IREA) of the National Research Council (CNR) has retrieved within the framework of its collaboration with the Ministry of Economic Development (MiSE) - Directorate- General for Safety of Mining and Energy Activities National Mining Office for Hydrocarbons and Georesources (DGS-UNMIG). In particular, this agreement aims at detecting and monitoring surface deformation affecting the areas of particular interest for the DGS-UNMIG through space-borne Differential SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) Interferometry (DInSAR) analysis and multi-parameters and multi-physics modelling. The first ones provide information on the spatial distribution of the retrieved ground displacements and their temporal evolution, the second on the geological/geophysical processes that characterize the investigated areas. In this work, we present the preliminary results retrieved via interferometric analysis performed by exploiting SAR data acquired from the first (ERS-ENVISAT) and second (Sentinel-1) generation sensors over the Emilia-Romagna Region (North Italy) and the entire Italian Peninsula, respectively. Moreover, we performed a 3D geological- structural model of the Cavone site (Emilia-Romagna) and a 3D FEM (Finite Element Method) model for simulating the co-seismic dislocation of the M6.0 and M5.8 seismic events, which occurred on 20/05/2012 and 29/05/2012 over Emilia-Romagna region, respectively.