An advanced slip model for the Umbria-Marche earthquake sequence : coseismic displacements observed by SAR interferometry and model inversion

We report an improved slip model for the 1997 September–October Umbria-Marche earthquake sequence in central Italy. The model is based on coseismic displacements estimated by differential synthetic aperture radar (DInSAR) interferometry using an advanced inverse modelling approach that enables the characteristics of the SAR data, especially their dense spatial sampling, to be fully exploited. The paper first looks at DInSAR analysis using the simplest configuration, that is, a single-image pair that temporally covers the earthquake sequence. Yet, given that this DInSAR configuration is often used for coseismic studies and the limited availability of SAR data, we duly consider the limitations of the DInSAR results and discuss the rigorous DInSAR procedure carried out, highlighting key errors associated with such observations. We then focus on the inversion of the estimated DInSAR displacements and on our advanced heterogeneous slip model for this earthquake sequence's main shocks, emphasizing its most significant features.