Japan Geoscience Union Meeting 2016

Presentation information

Poster

Symbol M (Multidisciplinary and Interdisciplinary) » M-IS Intersection

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

Thu. May 26, 2016 3:30 PM - 4:45 PM Poster Hall (International Exhibition Hall HALL6)

5:15 PM - 6:30 PM

[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.