We present a method for estimating radar phase delays due to propagation through the troposphere and the ionosphere based on the averaging of redundant interferograms that share a common scene. Estimated atmospheric contributions can then be subtracted from the radar interferograms to improve measurements of surface deformation. Inversions using synthetic data demonstrate that this procedure can considerably reduce scatter in the time series of the line‐of‐sight displacements. We demonstrate the feasibility of this method by comparing the interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) time series derived from ERS‐1/2 and Envisat data to continuous Global Positioning System data from eastern California. We also present results from several sites in the eastern California shear zone where anomalous deformation has been reported by previous studies, including the Blackwater fault, the Hunter Mountain fault, and the Coso geothermal plant.
Observations of shallow fault creep reveal increasingly complex time‐dependent slip histories that include quasi‐steady creep and triggered as well as spontaneous accelerated slip events. Here we report a recent slow slip event on the southern San Andreas fault triggered by the 2017 Mw8.2 Chiapas (Mexico) earthquake that occurred 3,000 km away. Geodetic and geologic observations indicate that surface slip on the order of 10 mm occurred on a 40‐km‐long section of the southern San Andreas fault between the Mecca Hills and Bombay Beach, starting minutes after the Chiapas earthquake and continuing for more than a year. Both the magnitude and the depth extent of creep vary along strike. We derive a high‐resolution map of surface displacements by combining Sentinel‐1 Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar acquisitions from different lines of sight. Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar‐derived displacements are in good agreement with the creepmeter data and field mapping of surface offsets. Inversions of surface displacement data using dislocation models indicate that the highest amplitudes of surface slip are associated with shallow (<1 km) transient slip. We performed 2‐D simulations of shallow creep on a strike‐slip fault obeying rate‐and‐state friction to constrain frictional properties of the top few kilometers of the upper crust that can produce the observed behavior.
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