Earthquake has shifted land surface in Turkey and Syria by several meters

The severe earthquake in Turkey and Syria has partially shifted the surface by up to six meters, satellite data show.

Bonn – More than 40,000 people died in the severe earthquake in the border region between Turkey and Syria – and the number is likely to continue to rise.

The earthquake is already considered one of the most devastating natural disasters to hit the region.

Satellite data now show the effects of the severe earthquake on Earth.

The German Aerospace Center (DLR) has analyzed data from the European radar satellite Sentinel-1 and found that the faults are up to six meters in places.

According to the DLR, the cracks on the surface can be seen over a length of about 250 kilometers.

Sentinel satellite shows earthquake has shifted land surface by several meters

The research team evaluating the satellite data used images from January 29 and February 10 and compared them.

A visualization of the ground changes that was created from the radar data from the Sentinel satellite shows a crack in the south that, according to DLR information, was caused by the main earthquake on February 6 in the early hours of the morning.

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A satellite image shows houses in Turkey that collapsed as a result of the earthquake.

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© dpa/Pléiades Neo/Airbus DS 2023

A second crack, further north, was created by the severe aftershock on the same day.

On the visualization, blue areas indicate movement in an easterly direction, red areas indicate movement to the west.

The 7.8 magnitude earthquake occurred in the so-called East Anatolian Fault Zone, where the Anatolian and Arabian plates collide.

The tensions in the earth's crust that arise as a result were released by the earthquake.

Esa: "Space is of great importance in natural disasters"

The Sentinel-1 satellite is part of the European Copernicus program.

The satellites send radar pulses to the earth's surface.

The propagation times of the signals are calculated in order to carry out accurate measurements.

In this way, the satellites can deliver recordings regardless of the time of day and the weather conditions.

"Space is of great importance in natural disasters such as the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria," explains Simonetta Cheli, Director of Earth Observation Programs at the European Space Agency ESA.

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