Looking inside the Continents from Space: Insights into Earthquake Hazard and Crustal Deformation
Lead Research Organisation:
Newcastle University
Department Name: Sch of Engineering
Abstract
As two tectonic plates move together or apart, any continent trapped between them deforms, causing major geological features such as mountain belts or sedimentary basins to develop. As the brittle, near-surface crust tries to accommodate the deformation, earthquakes occur on faults inside the earth. The need to understand how the continents deform, and where earthquakes will occur, is compelling - between 1.4 and 1.7 million people have died in earthquakes in the continental interiors since 1900.
We can measure the way the continents are actively deforming using satellites. GPS can provide very precise measurements of how individual points on the ground move, but such points are often sparsely distributed. Over the past two decades, satellites designed by the European Space Agency (ESA) have demonstrated the ability of satellite-borne radar to measure displacements of the earth's surface. The radar repeatedly sends out bursts of a microwave signal that scatters back from the surface and is measured when it returns to the spacecraft. We use differences in the radar returns acquired by the satellite at two different times to measure the displacement of that point over the intervening time interval. Displacements of a few millimeters or less can be measured in this way.
As the continental crust deforms, the rocks continue to bend, building up strain that will be released in future earthquakes. When assessing earthquake hazard, in addition to knowing where the faults are on which the earthquakes will occur, it is essential to know the rate at which this strain is growing. These rates are small, however, and not easy to measure using radar in the presence of noise caused by changes on the ground from which the radar scatters and in the properties of the atmosphere through which the radar signal passes. In addition, errors in our knowledge of the position of the satellites affect our measurements. Methods can be devised to counter these difficulties, but the opportunities to apply them has been limited with the current satellites by the irregular and infrequent acquisition of radar images over many parts of the seismic belts.
We are motivated to bring the efforts of a team of investigators to bear on these questions because of the planned launch by ESA in mid-to-late 2013 of Sentinel-1A, a new radar satellite. An identical partner, Sentinel-1B will be launched 18 months later. Each spacecraft will pass over a given point on the earth's surface every 6 days; once both are in orbit any point will be revisited every 3 days. This short time interval, plus the fact that observations will be made for every pass of the spacecraft and its position will be carefully controlled and well known, will mean a radical improvement in our ability to measure rates of motion and strain. By combining the measurements from all available satellite tracks, together with any GPS data available, we will be able to map in detail over large areas the rates at which strain is building up.
We plan to look at what happens inside the continents as they deform by using such observations to test and constrain physical models. Thus the displacements occurring in an earthquake measured by radar can be used to infer the movements that have taken place on the fault at depth. The way the earth's surface in the vicinity of an earthquake continues to move immediately after it tells us about the mechanical properties of the surrounding region, knowledge essential to understanding how the forces around a fault vary with time. On a larger scale, the spatial distribution of strain in the continents tells us about changes in the strength of the crust. With these constraints we can test competing hypotheses about how the continents deform and what are the major factors controlling where the deformation occurs.
We can measure the way the continents are actively deforming using satellites. GPS can provide very precise measurements of how individual points on the ground move, but such points are often sparsely distributed. Over the past two decades, satellites designed by the European Space Agency (ESA) have demonstrated the ability of satellite-borne radar to measure displacements of the earth's surface. The radar repeatedly sends out bursts of a microwave signal that scatters back from the surface and is measured when it returns to the spacecraft. We use differences in the radar returns acquired by the satellite at two different times to measure the displacement of that point over the intervening time interval. Displacements of a few millimeters or less can be measured in this way.
As the continental crust deforms, the rocks continue to bend, building up strain that will be released in future earthquakes. When assessing earthquake hazard, in addition to knowing where the faults are on which the earthquakes will occur, it is essential to know the rate at which this strain is growing. These rates are small, however, and not easy to measure using radar in the presence of noise caused by changes on the ground from which the radar scatters and in the properties of the atmosphere through which the radar signal passes. In addition, errors in our knowledge of the position of the satellites affect our measurements. Methods can be devised to counter these difficulties, but the opportunities to apply them has been limited with the current satellites by the irregular and infrequent acquisition of radar images over many parts of the seismic belts.
We are motivated to bring the efforts of a team of investigators to bear on these questions because of the planned launch by ESA in mid-to-late 2013 of Sentinel-1A, a new radar satellite. An identical partner, Sentinel-1B will be launched 18 months later. Each spacecraft will pass over a given point on the earth's surface every 6 days; once both are in orbit any point will be revisited every 3 days. This short time interval, plus the fact that observations will be made for every pass of the spacecraft and its position will be carefully controlled and well known, will mean a radical improvement in our ability to measure rates of motion and strain. By combining the measurements from all available satellite tracks, together with any GPS data available, we will be able to map in detail over large areas the rates at which strain is building up.
We plan to look at what happens inside the continents as they deform by using such observations to test and constrain physical models. Thus the displacements occurring in an earthquake measured by radar can be used to infer the movements that have taken place on the fault at depth. The way the earth's surface in the vicinity of an earthquake continues to move immediately after it tells us about the mechanical properties of the surrounding region, knowledge essential to understanding how the forces around a fault vary with time. On a larger scale, the spatial distribution of strain in the continents tells us about changes in the strength of the crust. With these constraints we can test competing hypotheses about how the continents deform and what are the major factors controlling where the deformation occurs.
Planned Impact
We have identified and engaged with a wide range of non-academic end users of our research, which will have wide-reaching economic and societal impact in several key areas:
1. Geospatial Service Providers.
The state-of-the-art, high-resolution deformation products that we will produce in this project have considerable commercial and societal value. We will use Sentinel-1 to provide near-real-time (rather than post-processed) deformation maps and time. Through the International Space Innovation Centre at Harwell (ISIC) we will actively engage with SMEs to develop and market targeted new geospatial services derived from our results, aimed at the end users in the public and private sector. Potential services could include real-time monitoring of landslides, volcanoes, and man-made subsidence. These impacts will be facilitated through existing links with ISIC and the National Centre for Earth Observation; NCEO aim to commit a member of their impact team to capitalise on the opportunities arising from this project.
2. Meteorological Agencies.
As a by-product, we will produce high-resolution maps of tropospheric path delay in near real time, which have the potential to be assimilated into numerical weather prediction (NWP) models. The data will improve knowledge of the spatial distribution of atmospheric water vapour, and the ability to forecast localised heavy rainfall events. We have engaged with the satellite applications group at the Met Office, which currently assimilates path delay measurements from GPS sites. Although the InSAR path delay maps are snapshots in time, they are effectively continuous in space, and so complement the data currently available from GPS.
3. Government Institutions responsible for earthquake hazard assessment.
One of the most significant outputs of our research will be improved earthquake hazard assessment for the Alpine-Himalayan Belt through the new strain-rate and fault maps of the region. This will have high societal value to government institutions responsible for earthquake hazard assessment. Several of the investigators on this project are also investigators on Earthquakes without Frontiers (EwF), a NERC/ESRC directed program aimed at Increasing Resilience to Natural Hazards. Through this project we are already heavily engaged with a wide partnership of end users from across the entire Alpine-Himalayan Belt, including local, regional, and national governments and NGOs working on disaster risk reduction. We expect these organisations to use our new hazard map and will encourage this through the EwF partnership.
4. The Global Earthquake Model (GEM) and insurance industry.
GEM is a "global collaborative effort with the aim to provide organisations and people with tools and resources for transparent assessment of earthquake risk anywhere in the world" (www.globalquakemodel.org), funded through a partnership of public and private organisations, including the global insurance and re-insurance industry. Our high-resolution strain data from InSAR will inform the next generation of strain models within GEM. Furthermore, our fault-mapping work will feed directly into the efforts of GEM to identify active faults.
5. Public understanding of science.
Earthquakes and tectonics provide a compelling subject with which to engage the public in science. The investigators have a very strong track record in public outreach, regularly providing solicited and unsolicited interviews and articles for the national and international media.
6. Capacity building in developing countries.
The investigators have a strong track record of working with scientists from developing countries to help build capacity. This is particularly critical for work on seismic hazard as it is local scientists who have most influence on their governments and decision makers in times of seismic crisis and will be facilitated in this project through a funded International Opportunities Fund project.
1. Geospatial Service Providers.
The state-of-the-art, high-resolution deformation products that we will produce in this project have considerable commercial and societal value. We will use Sentinel-1 to provide near-real-time (rather than post-processed) deformation maps and time. Through the International Space Innovation Centre at Harwell (ISIC) we will actively engage with SMEs to develop and market targeted new geospatial services derived from our results, aimed at the end users in the public and private sector. Potential services could include real-time monitoring of landslides, volcanoes, and man-made subsidence. These impacts will be facilitated through existing links with ISIC and the National Centre for Earth Observation; NCEO aim to commit a member of their impact team to capitalise on the opportunities arising from this project.
2. Meteorological Agencies.
As a by-product, we will produce high-resolution maps of tropospheric path delay in near real time, which have the potential to be assimilated into numerical weather prediction (NWP) models. The data will improve knowledge of the spatial distribution of atmospheric water vapour, and the ability to forecast localised heavy rainfall events. We have engaged with the satellite applications group at the Met Office, which currently assimilates path delay measurements from GPS sites. Although the InSAR path delay maps are snapshots in time, they are effectively continuous in space, and so complement the data currently available from GPS.
3. Government Institutions responsible for earthquake hazard assessment.
One of the most significant outputs of our research will be improved earthquake hazard assessment for the Alpine-Himalayan Belt through the new strain-rate and fault maps of the region. This will have high societal value to government institutions responsible for earthquake hazard assessment. Several of the investigators on this project are also investigators on Earthquakes without Frontiers (EwF), a NERC/ESRC directed program aimed at Increasing Resilience to Natural Hazards. Through this project we are already heavily engaged with a wide partnership of end users from across the entire Alpine-Himalayan Belt, including local, regional, and national governments and NGOs working on disaster risk reduction. We expect these organisations to use our new hazard map and will encourage this through the EwF partnership.
4. The Global Earthquake Model (GEM) and insurance industry.
GEM is a "global collaborative effort with the aim to provide organisations and people with tools and resources for transparent assessment of earthquake risk anywhere in the world" (www.globalquakemodel.org), funded through a partnership of public and private organisations, including the global insurance and re-insurance industry. Our high-resolution strain data from InSAR will inform the next generation of strain models within GEM. Furthermore, our fault-mapping work will feed directly into the efforts of GEM to identify active faults.
5. Public understanding of science.
Earthquakes and tectonics provide a compelling subject with which to engage the public in science. The investigators have a very strong track record in public outreach, regularly providing solicited and unsolicited interviews and articles for the national and international media.
6. Capacity building in developing countries.
The investigators have a strong track record of working with scientists from developing countries to help build capacity. This is particularly critical for work on seismic hazard as it is local scientists who have most influence on their governments and decision makers in times of seismic crisis and will be facilitated in this project through a funded International Opportunities Fund project.
Publications
Al-Husseinawi Y
(2018)
Evaluation of the Stability of the Darbandikhan Dam after the 12 November 2017 Mw 7.3 Sarpol-e Zahab (Iran-Iraq Border) Earthquake
in Remote Sensing
Albino F
(2020)
Automated Methods for Detecting Volcanic Deformation Using Sentinel-1 InSAR Time Series Illustrated by the 2017-2018 Unrest at Agung, Indonesia
in Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth
Bao F
(2014)
Validating Accuracy of Rayleigh-Wave Dispersion Extracted from Ambient Seismic Noise Via Comparison with Data from a Ground-Truth Earthquake
in Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America
Chen B
(2020)
Three-dimensional time-varying large surface displacements in coal exploiting areas revealed through integration of SAR pixel offset measurements and mining subsidence model
in Remote Sensing of Environment
Chen L
(2019)
A New Deep Learning Algorithm for SAR Scene Classification Based on Spatial Statistical Modeling and Features Re-Calibration.
in Sensors (Basel, Switzerland)
Chen M
(2016)
Imaging Land Subsidence Induced by Groundwater Extraction in Beijing (China) Using Satellite Radar Interferometry
in Remote Sensing
Crippa P
(2017)
The impact of resolution on meteorological, chemical and aerosol properties in regional simulations with WRF-Chem
in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
Crippa P
(2017)
Forecasting ultrafine particle concentrations from satellite and in situ observations
in Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
Crippa P
(2016)
Evaluating the skill of high-resolution WRF-Chem simulations in describing drivers of aerosol direct climate forcing on the regional scale
in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
Description | The significant achievements concern the improved mitigation of atmospheric effects on data from ESA's Sentinel-1 satellites used to measure ground displacement over regions of tens to several hundred km extent. The award's objective was to reduce the impact of such atmospheric noise, which are caused by the presence of atmospheric (tropospheric) water vapour delaying the microwave signal's travel time from satellite to ground and can otherwise mask real, or be misinterpreted as geophysical signals of millimetric/centimetric magnitude arising from tectonic or volcanic deformation. Such masking and/or misinterpretation arises because measurements of ground displacement are obtained from the differencing of Sentinel-1 images collected over the same region at different times (Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar: InSAR) and hence different atmospheric effects are present. For successful atmospheric effect correction across the interferogram, tropospheric delays are interpolated from pointwise values, for example from ground-based GPS receivers or the grid points of a numerical weather model. The water vapour and hence the delay on the satellite signal varies with elevation, called the stratified component, but lateral variations principally due to atmospheric turbulence also arise. The first significant achievement was to develop an iterative tropospheric decomposition (ITD) method that decoupled the stratified and turbulent components of tropospheric delay such that both could be successfully interpolated to sub-km resolution from pointwise measurements which had a horizontal spacing of even a few tens of kilometres. This ITD method improved on previous attempts by about 15%, and enabled water vapour fields accurate to 1.7 mm of total column water (representing the atmospheric water vapour above a point when condensed) to be generated across both flat and mountainous terrain. The method was successfully demonstrated from interpolating both pointwise GPS and High Resolution ECMWF weather model grid point (global 9-12 km spatial resolution every 6 hours) tropospheric delays, and their integration. Indicators for the performance and feasibility of the method were also developed. The tropospheric delay fields generated have been made available to the community since 2017 via the Generic Atmospheric Correction Online Service for InSAR (GACOS: www.gacos.net), with more than 3000 unique users as of March 2023. The second significant achievement was the improvement of Sentinel-1 based maps of ground displacement from ~2-3 cm accuracy to ~1 cm accuracy over wide regions (~250 km x 250 km) after applying ITD-based atmospheric corrections rather than previous methods, and which could be applied in near real-time and for all times. The application of such corrected Sentinel-1 ground displacement maps was first demonstrated through the detection of small magnitude co-seismic deformation from the 2017 magnitude 6.4 Nyingchi earthquake (mapping the buried fault geometry south of Tibet), which was only revealed after atmospheric correction. Then the application of such atmospheric corrections was shown to improve time series of ground displacements measured with Sentinel-1, by reducing spatial-temporally correlated errors, enabling the detection of time-dependent afterslip distribution after earthquakes, for example that of the 2016 magnitude 7.8 Kaikoura earthquake to an accuracy of ~1 cm over 13 months. |
Exploitation Route | Atmospheric delay maps generated using the developed iterative tropospheric decomposition method (ITD) and the High Resolution ECMWF weather model have already been provided (as of March 2023) to over 3000 unique users globally via ~380k job requests to the released GACOS service (www.gacos.net). Such maps have been used to apply atmospheric corrections to Sentinel-1 and other Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) data to improve the accuracy of such measurements of volcano deformation, earthquake displacements and subsequent geophysical modelling, which is expected to continue. The uptake of the method is also illustrated by over 600 Google Scholar citations (as of March 2023) to the three journal papers describing the development of the ITD method, its application to InSAR atmospheric correction, and the GACOS method with performance and feasibility indicators. The developed ITD method also has the potential for application by surveyors and positioning providers, for example commercial Network Real Time Kinematic Global Navigation Satellite Systems (Network RTK) centimetric accuracy positioning services, with the interpolation of tropospheric delay from discrete reference stations 10s of kilometres apart to the user's location a significant positioning error source. |
Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Environment,Other |
Description | GACOS has generated great impacts in the InSAR community (including non-academic users) with ~380k jobs received from ~3200 unique InSAR researchers and users across the world (up to March 2023) |
First Year Of Impact | 2018 |
Sector | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Environment |
Impact Types | Cultural |
Description | Can satellites be used as an early warning system for landslides? |
Geographic Reach | Asia |
Policy Influence Type | Implementation circular/rapid advice/letter to e.g. Ministry of Health |
Impact | At about 5:38am local time on 24 June 2017 (21:38 on 23 June 2017 UTC), a massive landslide struck Xinmo Village, Maoxian County, Sichuan Province in China. The Maoxian landslide swept 64 homes in Xinmo village, blocking a 2km section of river and burying 1,600 meters of road. Three days later (on 27 June 2017), a second landslide hit Xinmo Village; almost in the same time, another landslide occurred in Shidaguan Town, 20km away from Xinmo Village. The team from Newcastle University (UK), Chengdu University of Technology (CUT), Tongji University, China Academy of Space Technology and Wuhan University (China) raced against time to respond these two events by combining ESA's Sentinel-1, Chinese Gaofen-2/3 with field observations. Our study convincingly demonstrated that InSAR can be used to detect and map active landslides over a wide region, identifying the source of the landslide and also its boundaries. Going forward, we can use this information to set up real-time monitoring systems -- such as GPS, Beidou and Galileo -- for those sites and whenever we detect abnormal behaviour, the system can send out an early warning message. Through our collaborator from CUT, our landslide early warning system concept was demonstrated to senior officers of Sichuan Provincial government within days after the Maoxian landslides. In the end of July 2017, the provincial government decided to carry out satellite radar project to identify potential landslides in Sichuan Province. |
URL | https://www.preventionweb.net/news/view/54209 |
Description | Invited Presentation in the 2019 Major Geological Hazard Identification and Early Warning Workshop, Chengdu, 18-19 May 2019 |
Geographic Reach | Asia |
Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
Impact | Over 500 people attended the 2019 Major Geological Hazard Identification and Early Warning Workshop, Chengdu, 18-19 May 2019, in which Prof Zhenhong Li presented an invited talk on "Landslide Detection and Monitoring with Satellite Radar Observations: Challenges and Solutions". This led to a few discussion on potential collaborations. |
Description | Radar training course for a delegation from China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) |
Geographic Reach | Asia |
Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
Impact | In the CAST Radar Training Course, we have demonstrated how to best collect observations with radar satellites (e.g. Sentinel-1A/1B, TanDEM-X) and provided some suggestions to the observational plan of Chinese Gaofen-3 satellite. |
Description | Dragon-4: Earth observations for geohazard monitoring and risk assessment |
Amount | € 70,000 (EUR) |
Organisation | European Space Agency |
Sector | Public |
Country | France |
Start | 10/2017 |
End | 06/2020 |
Description | EPSRC DTP studentship: Measuring co-seismic and inter-seismic deformation with GPS/InSAR |
Amount | £56,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | 1514447 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 10/2014 |
End | 09/2017 |
Description | Ground Based Synthetic Aperture Radar (GB-SAR) |
Amount | £152,100 (GBP) |
Organisation | Natural Environment Research Council |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 11/2014 |
End | 03/2016 |
Description | Increasing Resilience to Natural Hazards In Earthquake-prone regions in China (IRNHiC) |
Amount | £122,641 (GBP) |
Organisation | Natural Environment Research Council |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 01/2016 |
End | 01/2019 |
Description | International Global Atmospheric Chemistry (IGAC) Project 2016 Science Conference Early Career Travel Grant |
Amount | $2,000 (USD) |
Organisation | International Global Atmospheric Chemistry |
Sector | Learned Society |
Country | United States |
Start | 09/2016 |
End | 09/2016 |
Description | KAUST Competitive Research Grant Call |
Amount | $436,000 (USD) |
Organisation | King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | Saudi Arabia |
Start | 04/2016 |
End | 04/2019 |
Description | L'Oréal-UNESCO UK and Ireland Fellowship For Women In Science |
Amount | £15,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | L'Oreal (Paris) |
Sector | Private |
Country | France |
Start | 08/2015 |
End | 08/2016 |
Description | NERC Building Resilience: Building REsilience to Multi-source Flooding in South/Southeast Asia through a Technology-informed Community-based approacH (REMATCH) |
Amount | £167,389 (GBP) |
Funding ID | NE/P015476/1 |
Organisation | Natural Environment Research Council |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 11/2016 |
End | 07/2017 |
Description | RAE Distinguished Visiting Fellowship |
Amount | £4,890 (GBP) |
Organisation | Royal Academy of Engineering |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 10/2014 |
End | 04/2015 |
Description | RApID: Resilient Application of Intelligent Disaster management |
Amount | £14,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Satellite Applications Catapult |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 12/2014 |
End | 03/2015 |
Description | Satellite Radar Seminars |
Amount | £43,200 (GBP) |
Organisation | China Academy of Space Technology |
Sector | Private |
Country | China |
Start | 11/2017 |
End | 04/2018 |
Description | The RGS-IBG Hong Kong Research Grant |
Amount | £2,500 (GBP) |
Funding ID | https://www.rgs.org/geography/news/hong-kong-research-grant-supports-seismic-hazard-r/ |
Organisation | Royal Geographical Society |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2019 |
End | 09/2020 |
Title | ITD model: Generation of real-time mode high-resolution water vapor fields from GPS observations |
Description | We have developed the Iterative Tropospheric Decomposition (ITD) model to separate stratified and turbulent signals from tropospheric total delays, and generate high spatial resolution zenith total delay and/or precipitable water vapour maps to be used for correcting InSAR measurements and other applications. This research has been published in Journal of Geophysical Research (doi:10.1002/2016JD025753). |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2017 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | The InSAR atmospheric correction model, incorporating continuous and global tropospheric delay datasets (e.g. numerical weather models), being developed by LiCS is based on this research. |
URL | http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2016JD025753/full |
Title | Near real-time tropospheric corrections based on high-resolution global model output |
Description | We developed a tropospheric delay correction method based on the High resolution ECMWF (HRES-ECMWF) global model output. Out method was found to improve tropospheric delay estimates on specific case studies and a systematic evaluation of its performance is ongoing. |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | The use of HRES-ECMWF based correction model will be implemented in the COMET InSAR processing chain to provide near real-time and improved estimates of tropospheric delays. |
Title | Establishing Wide-scale Mapping of Vertical Land Motion with Advanced DInSAR Time Series Analysis in Scotland |
Description | A collection of IDL and Matlab scripts used to process data and generate figures for the thesis. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2018 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Description | Success in Chinese radar mission: First interferograms from Gaofen-3 |
Organisation | China Academy of Space Technology |
Country | China |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | The main contributions of the Newcastle team were their expertise on radar interferometric processing and satellite orbit determination. |
Collaborator Contribution | The CAST team collected all the Gaofen-3 radar images requested by the Newcastle team and provided the datasets to the latter. The former also provided their expertise on radar missions and SAR processing. |
Impact | The collaboration between Professor Zhenhong Li's team at Newcastle University and the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) generated interferograms using Chinese Gaofen-3 (GF-3) imagery for the first time in March 2017. These were also the first interferograms from Chinese SAR missions. CAST sent a delegation with 10 members to Newcastle for a radar training course in Jan 2018. |
Start Year | 2016 |
Title | GNSS-based InSAR Atmospheric Correction Model |
Description | We have developed the Iterative Tropospheric Decomposition (ITD) model to separate stratified and turbulent signals from tropospheric total delays, and generate high spatial resolution zenith total delay and/or precipitable water vapour maps to be used for correcting InSAR measurements and other applications. This research has been published in Journal of Geophysical Research (doi:10.1002/2016JD025753). |
Type Of Technology | Software |
Year Produced | 2016 |
Impact | A web-based toolbox is being developed, in which ITD is employed to generate high-resolution water vapour or tropospheric delay maps for InSAR correction. This toolbox will be open for the public. |
Title | Generic Atmospheric Correction Online Service for InSAR (GACOS) |
Description | GACOS utilises the Iterative Tropospheric Decomposition (ITD) model (Yu et al., 2017) to separate stratified and turbulent signals from tropospheric total delays, and generate high spatial resolution zenith total delay maps to be used for correcting InSAR measurements and other applications. GACOS has the following key features: (i) globally available; (ii) operational in a near real time mode; (iii) easy to implement; and (iv) users to be informed how the model performs and whether the correction is recommended. |
Type Of Technology | Webtool/Application |
Year Produced | 2017 |
Impact | GACOS was launched in the ESA FRINGE workshop in Helsinki, Finland on 6 June 2017, and has been widely used for correcting atmospheric effects on SAR intereferograms in the InSAR community - over 100k correction maps have been freely generated up to 28 Feb 2018. |
Title | Generic Atmospheric Correction Online Service for InSAR (GACOS) |
Description | GACOS was released in the FRINGE workshop in June 2017 and has been promoted in a series of workshops and conferences in the past 12 months. A paper introducing GACOS was published in JGR in 2018: Yu, C., Z. Li, N. T. Penna, and P. Crippa (2018), Generic atmospheric correction model for Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar observations, Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 123(10), 9202-9222, doi:10.1029/2017JB015305. |
Type Of Technology | Webtool/Application |
Year Produced | 2018 |
Impact | GACOS has become a standard tool for atmospheric correction in the InSAR community. It has generated over 150k correction maps for InSAR users/researchers for free up to now. |
Title | Generic Atmospheric Correction Online Service for InSAR (GACOS, Version 1.5) |
Description | GACOS utilises the Iterative Tropospheric Decomposition (ITD) model (Yu et al., 2017) to separate stratified and turbulent signals from tropospheric total delays, and generate high spatial resolution zenith total delay maps to be used for correcting InSAR measurements and other applications. GACOS was upgraded to Version 1.5 in February 2020 with the following two new functions: (i) API available to order GACOS products in an automatic way; and (ii) indicators available to inform the users how the model performs and whether the correction is recommended. |
Type Of Technology | Webtool/Application |
Year Produced | 2019 |
Impact | GACOS has generated great impacts in the InSAR community with over 40k jobs received from ~2500 identical researchers across the world (up to December 2019) |
URL | http://ceg-research.ncl.ac.uk/v2/gacos/ |
Description | 2017 UK-China Science and Innovation Forum |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | On 6 Dec 2017, the UK-China Science and Innovation Forum was opened by His Royal Highness Prince Andrew, Duke of York. Liu Yandong, China's Vice-Premier, Wang Zhigang, Vice-Minister of the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, and Jo Johnson, UK Minister for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation, also attended. Professor Zhenhong Li from the School of Engineering was invited to showcase two research projects he has been leading: (i) Remote Sensing: Repeat Pass Interferometry of Chinese Gaofen-3 Satellite (ii) Precision Agriculture for Family-farms in China (PAFiC) Professor Li introduced the Chinese Gaofen-3 radar satellite and its potential applications to Vice-Premier Madam Liu. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | http://www.ncl.ac.uk/engineering/news/item/professorshowcasesresearchattheroyalsociety.html |
Description | ESA-MOST cooperation Dragon 3 final results and Dragon 4 kick-off symposium (Wuhan) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | The Dragon programme has been supported by ESA and MOST in China since 2004 with four phases: Dragon-1 (2004-2008), Dragon-2 (2008-2012), Dragon-3 (2012-2016) and Dragon-4 (2016-2020). In this symposium, Dragon IV was kicked off. It involves 8 research fields including atmosphere, agriculture, urbanization, and geohazards. Prof Zhenhong Li, Prof Guijun Yang and Dr Hao Yang summarised the achievements of Dragon-3 and introduced the work plan for Dragon-4. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | Pre-2006,2006,2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013,2014,2015,2016 |
URL | http://www.most.gov.cn/kjbgz/201607/t20160707_126445.htm |
Description | InSAR Meteorology Workshop in Miami |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | The InSAR Meteorology Workshop was funded by NASA, bringing together Meteorologists, Geodesists & InSAR engineers, and explore potential applications of the InSAR technique for Meteorology. It was expected that the workshop would serve as a resourceful atmospheric science program for ESA's Sentinel-1 and upcoming NASA-ISRO SAR (NISAR) mission, eventually paving a successful path for establishment of InSAR Meteorology field. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | https://insarmeteorologymiami2018.org |
Description | Indonesian fires exposed 69 million to "killer haze" |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Newcastle University Press Office: Indonesian fires exposed 69 million to "killer haze" http://www.ncl.ac.uk/press/news/2016/11/wildfires/ |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
URL | https://www.altmetric.com/details/13680394/news |
Description | Land subsidence in Beijing |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | We employed Small Baseline InSAR technique to process ENVISAT ASAR and TerraSAR-X stripmap images collected from 2003 to 2011 and observed a maximum subsidence in the eastern part of Beijing with a rate greater than 100 mm/year; We also found some relationships between land subsidence and different conditioning and triggering factors (e.g., groundwater levels, soft soil thickness and active faults). This research finding has attracted attention of a wide range of prestigious international media (e.g., The Guardian, The Telegraph, Huffington Post, Forbes, BBC and Xinhua News), and is ranked in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric, a system that tracks the online attention for a specific piece of research (See: https://mdpi.altmetric.com/details/8441790#score). This contribution is also selected as TOP 10 published articles in 2016 by MDPI (http://blog.mdpi.com/2017/02/20/mdpi-altmetrics-top-10-published-articles-in-2016). Based on the research finding and an interview with Prof Zhenhong Li, Xinhua News Agency produced an internal report on land subsidence hazards in China for Central Chinese Government |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
URL | https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/24/beijing-has-fallen-chinas-capital-sinking-by-11cm-a-ye... |
Description | Mr Jiang Sunan, Minister Counsellor of Science and Technology Section, Chinese Embassy in London visited Newcastle Geomatics |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | On 14 March 2017, Mr Jiang Sunan, Minister Counsellor of Science and Technology Section, Chinese Embassy in London visited Newcastle University together with his colleague and met the Imaging Geodesy Team led by Professor Zhenhong Li. Professor Li introduced the research activities in his team: (i) Earth Observations, (ii) Geohazard monitoring, and (ii) Precision Agriculture. Mr Jiang was impressed by the EO technologies demonstrated by Professor Li and the research findings of Professor Li's team. He highlighted the UK-China golden era and encouraged Professor Li to develop further collaborations with China. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Mr Jiang Sunan, Minister Counsellor of Science and Technology Section, Chinese Embassy visited Professor Li's Imaging Geodesy Team (14 Mar 2017) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Mr Jiang Sunan, Minister Counsellor of Science and Technology Section, Chinese Embassy and his colleague visited Professor Zhenhong Li's Imaging Geodesy Team at Newcastle University on 14 Mar 2017. Professor Li introduced his main research topics including satellite geodesy, remote sensing and their applications to geohazards (e.g. earthquakes, landslides and city subsidence), infrastructure stability and precision agriculture. The direct outcome of this event was that Professor Zhenhong Li was invited to deliver presentations at the UK-China Science and Innovation Forum held in the Royal Society London on 6 December 2017 (http://www.ncl.ac.uk/engineering/news/item/professorshowcasesresearchattheroyalsociety.html). |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | RRS Discovery: Inspiring the New Generation of Women in Science |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | A small group of early-career scientists met inspiring environmental women researchers to celebrate successes and to help shape a diverse future. The discussion points raised during the event included: work-life balance and terms of employment, changing the culture of academia, positive discrimination, retention of women in science and unconscious gender bias. Ouctomes from the meeting included identifications of actions for the students to push the equalities agenda in their institution and to share related networks/events/information, and actions for NERC to support them. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | http://www.nerc.ac.uk/latest/events/list/rrs-women/ |
Description | SET for Britain 2015 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | SET for Britain is a series of poster competitions and exhibitions held in the House of Commons. The overall aim of SET for BRITAIN is to encourage, support and promote Britain's early-stage and early-career research scientists, engineers, technologists and mathematicians who are an essential part of continuing progress in and development of UK research. The interaction with MPs is a unique way to communicate research results to policy makers and thus potentially impact the society. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | http://www.setforbritain.org.uk/index2016.asp |
Description | School talk (Southridge First School, Whitley Bay) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Professor Zhenhong Li was invited to give a talk to 60 students in Southridge First School, Whitley Bay. He introduced satellites and their potential applications (e.g. earthquakes, volcanoes, flooding and agriculture), which sparked questions and discussion afterwards. It appeared that a couple of students decided to become a professor in the future! |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | The UK-China Research and Innovation Impact Festival and Gala Reception in Beijing on 08 November 2018 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | The UK-China Research and Innovation Impact Festival and Gala Reception was a 'Science fair'-style exhibition. Nine UK-China joint projects were invited to demonstrate their values and impact. Over 250 people including several (deputy) directors of research councils in China and the UK attended this event. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | https://www.ukri.org/news/impact-and-breadth-of-uk-china-collaboration-on-show-at-china-launch-of-uk... |