Duration - 01/12/2009 - 30/11/2012
Funding - INSPIRE Post-Doctoral Fellowship, co-funded by IRCSET and Marie Curie (EU), to Eoghan Holohan
Research Partner
Basic Aims
Since its development in the 1990s, satellite-based Interferometry of Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) has revolutionised the detection and monitoring of active deformation of the Earths surface, whether driven by ocean currents, glacier flow, tectonic movements, volcanic unrest or human activity. In this transfer-of-knowledge project, run in collaboration with GFZ Potsdam, InSAR will be used to define recent surface deformation at two active (restless) caldera volcanoes: Sierra Negra caldera, Galapagos Islands & Campi Flegrei caldera, Italy. It is then proposed to build the first three dimensional Discrete Element Method (3D-DEM) numerical models to accurately reproduce (invert), and thus help interpret the causes of, the InSAR observations. This will represent the first application of 3D-DEM to the interpretation of InSAR data from actively-deforming calderas. By applying a more realistic modelling technique than the analytical and continuum based methods hitherto used, the project aims to achieve methodological advances in the analysis of InSAR and other geodetic data from areas strongly influenced by faulting. Furthermore, the project will help to confront caldera-related hazard and economic challenges by producing the most realistic 3D constraints on the sub-surface architecture of active calderas to date.
Contact: Eoghan Holohan
Email