Application of Two-Pass D-InSAR in Chengdu Region's Deformation Measurement in Wenchuan Earthquake

On the 12th May 2008, an earthquake with 8.0 Ms shook a large area of the Sichuan Province in China. The epicenter of the devastating earthquake was located in Wenchuan, 80 kilometers west-northwest of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province. A lot of scholars have used various remote sensing images and other techniques to detect the disaster. Differential synthetic aperture radar interferometry (D-InSAR) is an advanced technique for monitoring large-scale terrain deformation with mm accuracy. This paper described the application of two-pass D-InSAR in mapping the co-seismic surface deformation caused by the Wenchuan earthquake including the interferometric data processing workflow and results. Chengdu region's deformation measures at roughly 140 mm in our study, which is relative rather than absolute. DInSAR applied to a terrain deformation measurement has been proven as an effective tool to detect displacements.