Data processing and quality for applications to active faulting in California with QUAKES-I Stereo-imagery

Madeline F. Schwarz, Ryan Applegate, Robert Zinke, Ramon Arrowsmith, Andrea Donnellan, Curtis Padgett, Steve DeLong, & Morena Hammer

Submitted September 10, 2023, SCEC Contribution #13272, 2023 SCEC Annual Meeting Poster #067

The Quantifying Uncertainty and Kinematics of Earth Systems Imager (QUAKES-I) is an airborne optical stereo-imaging system. The system is an eight-camera array mounted on a Gulfstream V aircraft and enables rapid, large-scale production of high-resolution topography for active tectonics applications. Maturation of QUAKES-I into an end-to-end operational system has progressed with the development of workflows leveraging commercial photogrammetry software packages and in-house algorithms for data preparation and post-processing of 3D point clouds, digital elevation models (DEMs), and color orthophotographs. Data from 2021 and 2022 flights were collected in California along the San Andreas Fault (SAF) and other elements of the plate boundary system. Initial products from the SAF creeping section yield DEMs of 1.5-1.7 meters per pixel, providing detailed visualization of fault scarps and offset stream channels. Models generated from 2021 and 2022 data show discrepancies in geolocation error, ortho-photograph color, and topographic detail. We continue to evolve QUAKES-I into a streamlined, automated pipeline and to understand data quality in comparison to lidar-derived counterparts. These efforts include refining data pre-processing procedures, utilizing in-house photogrammetry pipelines, addressing geolocation errors, and evaluating three-dimensional data accuracy in comparison to EarthScope and USGS-3DEP products. In future work we plan to extract scientific information regarding fault zone evolution through topographic differencing and geomorphometric mapping to quantify surface deformation and the geomorphic response to tectonic activity.

Citation
Schwarz, M. F., Applegate, R., Zinke, R., Arrowsmith, R., Donnellan, A., Padgett, C., DeLong, S., & Hammer, M. (2023, 09). Data processing and quality for applications to active faulting in California with QUAKES-I Stereo-imagery . Poster Presentation at 2023 SCEC Annual Meeting.

Related Projects & Working Groups
Earthquake Geology