NASA Scientists and Satellites Make

Sense of Earth’s Subtle Motions

Tiny changes on Earth’s surface may precede big disruptions like
the 2019 Ridgecrest earthquake that left this rupture in the
Mojave Desert in California. NASA scientists are researching data
on Earth’s vital signs in search of patterns of motion that could
herald a major event.
What can hidden motions underground tell us about earthquakes,
eruptions, and even climate change? NASA scientists are using
data gathered 400 miles above Earth to find out.
Creeping, rising, falling, slipping – some parts of Earth are in
perpetual motion. The movements are usually too tiny for human
senses to notice, but they offer clues about more significant
changes happening inside volcanoes, along fault lines, and where
tectonic plates meet and clash. That’s why scientists at NASA’s
Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California are using
advanced tools and creative data analyses to find and monitor
Earth’s moving surfaces. Here are a few things they’ve learned
recently.
Moving Mountains
Geologists once had to go into the field over and over again to
collect data on how Earth moves, using technology like GPS and
plotting each new measurement on topographic maps. In the
1990s, scientists at JPL and elsewhere developed a new data-
processing technique that enabled them to obtain very accurate
images using a radar small enough to be mounted on a plane or
satellite.
As this new data began to accumulate, “it was like you were
seeing maps come to life,” said Paul Lundgren, head of JPL’s
Earth Surface and Interior group. In some cases, he said, “you
could almost intuitively understand the type of mechanism that
was causing a volcanic eruption.”

For decades, NASA researchers have been using airborne InSAR

data to study a wide range of California hazards – not only faults
but groundwater overuse and even oil spills. Here, JPL scientist
Cathleen Jones, right, explains incoming data to NASA pilot
Elizabeth Ruth during a 2021 research flight.
Space agencies worldwide began launching satellite instruments
using the new technology – called interferometric synthetic
aperture radar or InSAR – and discoveries from this new way of
looking at the planet were inevitable. One occurred in 2018 when
Chilean authorities asked Lundgren’s group to assess whether a
volcano called Nevados de Chillán might be about to erupt.
Studying a year’s worth of InSAR images, Lundgren saw no
changes in the Chilean peak. But he did notice that another
Argentinian volcano named Domuyo was rapidly inflating – a sign
of a potential eruption.
Checking earlier data, Lundgren and Társilo Girona (a
postdoctoral fellow at JPL at the time who’s now at the University
of Alaska, Fairbanks) found that Domuyo had actually deflated
between 2008 and 2011. It began inflating in mid-2014, rising
about 20 inches (50 centimeters) by the time Lundgren spotted it.
Domuyo topped out in 2020 and is now deflating again without
having erupted.
After additional analysis of land surface temperature data from
NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer satellite
instruments, Lundgren and Girona concluded that while rising
magma causes Domuyo to inflate, gases from the magma can
dissipate through the rock, reducing the pressure inside the
mountain. The escaping gas occasionally produces a minor
explosion on the slopes, but the volcano eventually deflates
without pressure building into a major explosion.
“Domuyo hasn’t erupted for the past 100,000 years, so this
behavior has probably been occurring throughout time,” Lundgren
said. “All the same, we need to keep watching it.”
The scientists are searching InSAR satellite data for other
volcanos around the world that episodically rise and fall. “There
could be behavior that, if you could understand it, you might be
able to predict when something is going to erupt,” Lundgren said.

In these interferometric synthetic aperture radar images of the

Argentinian volcano Domuyo, each change in color correlates
with a change of about 4 inches (10 centimeters) in height. The
solid-color image, left, shows Domuyo’s height was stable
between 2013 and 2014; the multicolor image shows rapid
inflation between 2015 and 2019.
Sticky Faults
Earthquakes occur at places where two sides of a fault line have
become stuck together, or locked. As the tectonic plates below
the fault continue to move, stress builds on the locked area until
the fault rips apart.
However, not all faults are locked. Take the Hayward Fault,
considered one of the two most dangerous faults in California.
Running 75 miles (120 kilometers) along the east side of San
Francisco Bay beneath densely populated land, the fault is now
past its average of 150 years between earthquakes.
“The Hayward Fault is unusual,” said JPL scientist Eric Fielding.
“Parts of the fault are continuously slipping, a motion we call fault
creep.” Creeping faults are less likely to produce large
earthquakes because the motion relieves much of the stress. With
data collected from dozens of NASA airborne InSAR flights since
2009, Fielding and colleagues are mapping where the Hayward
Fault is creeping to better understand how much of it is likely to
slip in the next large earthquake. Such information could help
planners prepare better.
JPL’s Zhen Liu is using InSAR data, GPS measurements, and
numerical models to study a different kind of motion in the
earthquake-prone Pacific Northwest, where the Juan de Fuca
tectonic plate is diving offshore under the North American plate.
The small Juan de Fuca plate snags the land above it and drags
the coastline eastward for about 14 months at a time. Eventually,
the stress becomes too great, and for two weeks the land slowly
slips back westward.
Regularly repeating slow-slip events like this have also been
observed in New Zealand and elsewhere. When these patterns
change, Liu noted, “there’s increasing evidence that slow-slip
events may be harbingers of large earthquakes.” In a recent
study with Yingdi Luo of Caltech, Liu suggested that the 14-month
cycle in the Northwest may speed up before the next big
earthquake.
Fielding and Liu look forward to the 2024 launch of the NASA-
Indian Space Research Organization Synthetic Aperture Radar
(NISAR) mission, which will deliver a trove of new InSAR data.
NISAR will observe every location on Earth every 12 days – better
coverage than existing satellites – increasing the chances of
spotting unusual land motions and improving early warning
capabilities.
Canadian Uplift
Reducing risks from natural hazards isn’t the only motive for
studying the movement of Earth’s surface. Scientists also want to
understand how natural processes interact with human-induced
climate change.
An example of this is how the bending and straightening of the
North American tectonic plate is affecting sea levels from Florida
to the Arctic. During the last ice age, ice sheets several miles
thick accumulated on the northern half of the North American
tectonic plate, squashing it down into the mantle below (30 to 50
miles, or 50 to 80 kilometers, down). The surface of modern
Canada sank as mantle material flowed out from under the extra
weight, and much of the modern United States rose as that
displaced material flowed in.
Although it has been 8,000 years since the ice sheets melted, the
mantle beneath North America is still recovering from the
pressure. Returning mantle material has been lifting the Canadian
land mass higher above the ocean – high enough to outpace
global sea level rise. But the northward flow of mantle material
has been causing the eastern and southern coasts of the U.S. to
sink, compounding the risks from sea level rise that has
accompanied global climate change.
To understand the course of future sea level rise, we need to
know more about this natural process: How long will it continue?
How much farther will the rebounding mantle move? Scientists
are developing computer models of solid Earth processes to help
answer such questions. Recently, JPL scientist Donald Argus has
been using data from the NASA-German Gravity Recovery and
Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites and from GPS and sea
level measurements to start assessing the stickiness (viscosity) of
the mantle, which affects the rate of surface recovery. “We
depend on GRACE for estimates of snow and ice loss and to
understand sea level rise, but you have to get the model right,”
Argus said.
Written by Carol Rasmusse
2023-004
Last Updated: Jan 12, 2023
Reference:
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/nasa-scientists-and-satellites-make-sense-of-earth-s-
subtle-motions

Summary

NASA scientists and satellites have been working together to better

understand the subtle motions of our planet. By using satellite-based
measurements and data from GPS receivers, scientists are able to track
Earth's movements with unprecedented accuracy. This data has enabled
scientists to observe phenomena such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions,
and ice sheet dynamics, providing new insights into Earth's behavior.
The research has also helped scientists to better understand how our
planet interacts with its atmosphere, oceans, and other objects in our
solar system. By understanding Earth's subtle motions, we can better
predict and prepare for future events and make more informed decisions
about how we use and protect our planet's resources.

Reflection

After reading the article about NASA Scientists and Satellites making
sense of Earth's subtle motions, I'm reminded of the incredible power of
modern technology to unlock new discoveries about our natural world.
It's amazing to think that we have the technology to measure and
monitor the smallest changes in our planet's motion to gain a better
understanding of how it works. This research not only has the potential
to provide a better understanding of Earth's physical environment, but
can also help us better prepare for and mitigate natural disasters. It's a
great reminder of the incredible advances that science and technology
have made over the past decades, and how they can be used to better
understand and protect our planet.

Submitted by: John Benedick R. Tan

Grade 11 GUYABANO
Submitted to: Princess Michelle Gabornes