Detecting and Analyzing the Displacement of a Small-Magnitude Earthquake Cluster in Rong County, China by the GACOS Based InSAR Technology

A series of small-magnitude earthquakes (M-w 2.9 similar to M-w 4.9) occurred in Rong County, Sichuan Province, China between 30 March 2018 and December 2020, which threatened the safety of local residents. Determining the surface displacement and estimating the damage caused by these earthquakes are significant for earthquake relief, post-earthquake disaster assessment and hazard elimination. This paper integrates the Generic Atmospheric Correction Online Service (GACOS) with interferometry synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) to accurately detect the displacement of the series of small-magnitude earthquakes in Rong County based on 45 Sentinel-1 ascending/descending images acquired from January 2018 to December 2020. We analyze the influence of some factors involved in surface displacement, including earthquake magnitude, focal depth and the distance from the epicenter to the fault. The above measurement for small-magnitude earthquakes and statistics analysis for the displacement have not been performed before, so this can help better understand the displacement features of small-magnitude earthquakes, which are important for post-earthquake hazard assessment and disaster prevention.