Modelling of deformations occurring in the city of Auckland, New Zealand and observed by Differential Synthetic Aperture Radar

Auckland is the largest city in New Zealand with a current population of over one million. It is situated on a basaltic volcanic field which consist of over 50 individual largely monogenetic volcanoes with a total area of 360 sq. km. The most recent and largest eruption occurred 600 years ago, and was witnessed by local inhabitants. It is anticipated that the chance of reawakening of a past volcano is very low; however, a new volcano could be created at any time in a new location within the field. In this work we present results of modelling of the deformations that occurred in the city of Auckland from 18 July 2003 to 9 November 2007. These deformations were observed by the Differential Synthetic Aperture Radar on ENVISAT satellite (Track 151, Frame 6442, IS2, VV). Stacking, Small Baseline Subset (SBAS) and Permanent Scatterers (PS) processing algorithms where used to determine spatial and temporal patterns of surface deformation as well as average rates. A number of localized deformation regions were consistently observed by all three techniques. Three regions of subsidence are believed to be caused by groundwater extraction. And three source of uplift are modeled here as volcanic sources, however, the volcanic nature of these uplifts has not been confirmed.