02/14/2023
The magnitude 7.8 and 7.5 earthquakes that struck southern Türkiye and western Syria on February 6, 2023, caused widespread destruction in both countries. https://go.nasa.gov/40HsemO
The initial earthquake emanated from a fault 18 kilometers (11 miles) below the land surface. The shallow depth meant the earthquake produced violent shaking that affected areas hundreds of kilometers from the epicenter. The first quake was followed by a 7.5 magnitude event about nine hours later, as well as hundreds of smaller aftershocks.
As news of the event spread, scientists at space agencies around the world—including NASA—began processing and analyzing satellite data relevant to the event.
“These were very large and powerful earthquakes that ruptured all the way up to the surface over a long series of fault segments,” said Eric Fielding, a geophysicist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “This generated extremely strong shaking over a very large area that hit many cities and towns full of people. The rupture length and magnitude was similar to the 1906 earthquake that destroyed San Francisco.”
The preliminary damage proxy map shows parts of the cities of Türkoğlu, Kahramanmaraş, and Nurdaği. Dark red pixels represent areas likely to have severe damage to buildings, homes, and infrastructure or changes to the landscape, while orange and yellow areas are moderately or partially damaged. Each pixel measures about 30 meters across (about the size of a baseball infield).
The map is derived from data collected by JAXA(宇宙航空研究開発機構)'s PALSAR-2 radar instrument on the Advanced Land Observing Satellite-2 (ALOS-2) on February 8, 2023. The satellite carries a synthetic aperture radar, a sensor that sends pulses of microwaves toward Earth’s surface and listens for reflections of those waves to map the landscape, including buildings. By comparing the February 8 data to observations made by the same satellite before the earthquake (on April 7, 2021, and April 6, 2022), scientists tracked t
Scientists from NASA and other agencies are using satellites to map damage caused by the devastating earthquake.