Elastic rebound following the Kocaeli earthquake, Turkey, recorded using synthetic aperture radar interferometry

A basic model incorporating satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR) interf erometry of the fault;rupture zone that formed during the Kocaeli earthquak e of August 17, 1999, documents the elastic rebound that resulted from the concomitant elastic strain release along the North Anatolian fault, For pur e strike-slip faults, the elastic rebound function derived from SAR interfe rometry is directly invertible from the distribution of elastic strain on t he fault at criticality, just before the critical shear stress was exceeded and the Fault ruptured, The Kocaeli earthquake, which was accompanied by a s much as similar to5 m of surface displacement, distributed strain similar to 110 km around the fault prior to faulting, although most of it was conc entrated in a narrower and asymmetric 10-km-wide zone on either side of the fault. The use of SAR interferometry to document the distribution of elast ic strain at the critical condition for faulting is clearly a valuable tool , both for scientific investigation and for the effective management of ear thquake hazard.