Shoreline changes and vertical displacement of the 2 April 2007 Solomon Islands earthquake Mw 8.1 revealed by ALOS PALSAR images

The Solomon Islands earthquake with magnitude Mw = 8.1 occurred on 2 April 2007 at 7:39 local time. We used six L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images acquired by the Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) Array L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) data to roughly estimate the shoreline and vertical displacements associated with this earthquake. We processed the raw SAR data with the SIGMA-SAR software package, produced by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Our measurements showed good agreement with field observations performed by Japanese scientists just a few weeks after the earthquake. We estimated the dislocation related to this earthquake between Ranongga Island and Simbo Island. Moreover, we compared the radar imagery analysis data with Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) data and found that the SAR images were more efficient for investigating vertical displacements than similar techniques based on data from optical sensors. Measurements of offset cross-correlation intensities in SAR images indicated about 1.4 m of uplift on southwestern New Georgia Island.