Damage estimation of the Great East Japan earthquake with airborne SAR (PI-SAR2) data

Abstract

A 9.0-magnitude earthquake occurred off the pacific coast of Tohoku area of Japan, in March 2011. Accompanied with the subsequent tsunami, it caused a lot of casualties and damages in the coast area. We conducted urgent observations of the damaged areas with an airborne X-band SAR system, Pi-SAR2, immediately after the earthquake, on March 12 and the following dates. The Pi-SAR2 is a fully polarimetric airborne radar, with high spatial resolution of 0.3 m. We found the high resolution radar images, with multi-temporal observations, are quite useful to estimate the area flooded by the tsunami and its changes. Also found is capability of the polarimetric radar images to estimate the amount of a pile of debris that is one of the greatest concerns for the residents.