[M-IS34] The 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake and related crustal activities

[MIS34-P95] Surveillance of the Damage Inflicted by the Kumamoto Earthquake Using the Airborne X-band SAR System (Pi-SAR2)

*Minoru Kubota¹, Seiho Uratsuka¹, Syoichiro Kojima¹, Jyunpei Uemoto¹, Akitsugu Nadai¹, Toshihiko Umehara¹, Takeshi Matsuoka¹, Tatsuharu Kobayashi¹, Maiko Mitsumori¹ (1.National Institute of Information and Communications Technology)

Keywords:Kumamoto Earthquake, synthetic aperture radar, SAR

The second generation airborne synthetic aperture radar system, called as Pi-SAR2, has been developed by NICT (National Institute of Information and Communications Technology) in 2009. The system provides high-resolution, X-band, polarimetric and interferometric data. The spatial resolution is 0.3 m in the azimuth and the slant range directions. Using this equipment, areas of over 7 km wide, flying distances of over 50 km can be observed in a single pass from an altitude of about 9,000 m.
NICT conducted urgent Pi-SAR2 observations to survey the damage inflicted by the Kumamoto earthquake the day after the earthquake of M 7.3 occurred on 16 April. The observation areas (flight-paths) and Pi-SAR2 images of the area around Aso-ohashi-bridge are shown in Figure 1. SAR images were processed in flight using the onboard processor, transmitted to NICT via satellite, distributed to headquarters for disaster control, and uploaded onto the website within 10 minutes after the observation. In this paper, we present methods of the Pi-SAR2 observation and results of analyses. We also discuss how airborne SARs should be utilized in times of disaster.