Plate deformation

The chapter compares Global Positioning System (GPS), differential interferometry synthetic aperture radar (DInSAR), and GRACE space data to displacements, velocities, and gravity anomalies inferred from geophysical modeling of various geophysical processes, to gain insight into the physics of plate-deformation mode. This chapter shows that the joint use of geophysical modeling and GPS, DInSAR, and space gravity data allows us to unravel the characteristics of plate deformation in a wide range of wavelengths and timescales. At the beginning of the third millennium, the approach to plate-deformation analyses developed in this chapter has become a powerful tool to implement new and modern strategies to safeguard the population and civil and industrial infrastructures from the hazard of natural events.