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.