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USGS Groundwater and Seismic Studies Seek Common Ground through InSAR

USGS earthquake program researcher and post doc, Gerald Bawden, caused a small stir in the press on August 23, 2001, with an article in the scientific journal, Nature. Using a satellite imaging process known as Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR), Bawden focused on the Los Angeles Basin to look for movement in the earth’s surface that might expose seismic processes underneath. Inadvertently, Bawden mapped uplift and subsidence, of nearly 4 inches in some cases, caused by LA’s intensely engineered groundwater injection and pumping practices. While the press focused on how this discovery exposed problems for earthquake researchers attempting to monitor seismic ground movements using continuous GPS, the article caused an even greater impact in the groundwater community, particularly among groundwater experts within the USGS.

InSAR Image of Los Angeles Basin
InSAR image of Los Angeles Basin showing 3.2 cm of uplift between October 18 and December 27, 1997.

On August 30, 2001, Dale A. Cox, USGS Public Affairs Specialist, organized a meeting for Michael Shulters, USGS Director’s Representative and California District Chief, between Bawden, who was working with the earthquake program in Menlo Park, Lucy Jones, Scientist in Charge of USGS Earthquake Hazards Team in Pasadena, Kenneth Hudnut, Chair of the Southern California Integrated GPS Network (SCIGN) in Pasadena, Devin Galloway, USGS Western Regional Groundwater Specialist and InSAR expert in Sacramento, and two USGS hydrogeologists with extensive expertise in Southern California, Peter Martin and Eric Reichard, both from San Diego. The meeting was a chance to seek opportunities to collaborate and integrate future USGS science programs – perhaps to use groundwater to better understand earthquakes and earthquake to better understand groundwater.

- Dale Alan Cox, Public Affairs, Sep. 4, 2001

Related to the subject above, the following are some sites of interest: Skip past Related links

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