Christchurch (Lyttelton) earthquake ground movement captured by satellite imagery

This imagery from the Japanese Alos spacecraft data captures the movement of the earth towards or away from the satellite:

(Click on the image to see a huge copy of it; in some browsers you may have to click on the image to enlarge it to it’s full size.)

I’m using this ‘bright shiny thing’ to encourage readers to read an excellent article* on the BBC website describing this and other data on the recent earthquake. The article has extensive input from Dr John Elliott from the Centre for the Observation and Modelling of Earthquakes and Tectonics (Comet) at Oxford University, UK.

Further imagery and background for both the February 22nd, 2011, magnitude 6.3 and the September 4th, 2010, magnitude 7.1 earthquake is also available at the ALOS website.

(* In lieu of me writing tonight. I’ve other work to do. Honest!)

Other articles on Code for Life:

6.3 earthquake in Christchurch

Liquefaction in a barrow

Lyttelton earthquake peak ground acceleration

Sinclair ZX envy

Retrospective–The mythology of bioinformatics