Here we used Sentinel-1 interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) data acquired between November 2014 to January 2019 to map how the basin's surface has deformed in response to fluid injection and extraction. While our stacking approach has low complexity, its accuracy increases with the Sentinel-1 data volume. With an automated outlier removal algorithm, we achieved ∼2 mm/year accuracy across the basin in the presence of up to ±15 cm tropospheric noise. We observed numerous subsidence and uplift features near active production and disposal wells, with the maximum deformation rate occurring in 2018 when production peaked. The most important deformation signatures are linear patterns that extend tens of kilometers near Pecos, TX, where a cluster of increased seismic events was cataloged by the Texas Seismological Network (TexNet). Our elastic modeling results demonstrate that fluid extraction and dip slip along normal faults are potential causes for the observed seismicity and deformation patterns. Plain Language Summary Over the past decade, breakthroughs in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing have made the Permian Basin one of the most productive oil fields in the world. Using spaceborne interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR), we mapped how the Permian Basin's land surface has deformed from oil and gas production activities. We developed a new processing technique to mitigate tropospheric noise associated with turbulent variations, which allows us measure ground changes with millimeter-level accuracy. We observed numerous subsidence and uplift features near active production and disposal wells. The observed deformation rate is the highest in 2018 when the largest volume of oil and gas was produced in the basin. The InSAR-observed subsidence patterns over the Pecos area can be modeled as dip slip over multiple normal faults and discretized cylindrical reservoir compaction. The implication for the scientific community, as well as a broader sector of stakeholders, is that the increase in high-quality satellite-based data now allows us to monitor vast areas for subsurface stress and pore pressure changes in oil-producing regions.

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The Delaware Basin of Texas and New Mexico is experiencing elevated levels of seismicity. There have been more than 130 earthquakes with moment magnitudes of at least 3.0 recorded between 2017 and 2021, with earthquakes occurring in spatiotemporally isolated and diffuse clusters. Many of these events have been linked to oilfield operations such as hydraulic fracturing and wastewater disposal at multiple subsurface levels; however, the identification and characterization of earthquake-hosting faults have remained elusive. There are two distinct levels of faulting in the central region of the basin where most earthquakes have been measured. These fault systems include a contractional basement-rooted fault system and a shallow extensional fault system. Shallow faults trend parallel to and rotate along with, the azimuth of S HMAX, are vertically decoupled from the basement-rooted faults, accommodate dominantly dip-slip motion, and are the product of more recent processes including regional exhumation and anthropogenic influences. The shallow fault system is composed of northwest–southeast-striking, high angle, and parallel trending faults which delineate a series of elongate, narrow, and extensional graben. Although most apparent in 3D seismic reflection data, these narrow elongate graben features also are observed from interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) surface deformation measurements and can be delineated using well-located earthquakes. In contrast to the basin-compartmentalizing basement-rooted fault system, shallow faults do not display any shear movement indicators, and they have small throw displacement given their mapped length, producing an anomalous mean throw-to-length ratio of 1:1000. These characteristics indicate that these features are more segmented than can be mapped with conventional subsurface data. Much of the recent seismicity in the south-central Delaware Basin is associated with these faults and InSAR surface deformation observations find that these faults also may be slipping aseismically.

<p>NASA’s NISAR mission, expected to launch in early 2023, will provide SAR observations of nearly all Earth’s land surfaces and selected ocean and sea ice areas on both ascending and descending orbits at a 12-day orbit repeat interval.  In this talk, mission plans to support both sustained and event-driven observations for hazard assessment are presented.  The NISAR satellite will carry both L- and S-band instruments, with the L-band instrument providing the near-global coverage and the S-band acquisitions concentrated in southern Asia and the polar regions.  In addition, the mission system will be capable of accepting and implementing requests for rapid processing to support disaster response.  Most land observations are part of the standard observation plan, so requested scenes will be marked for rapid processing and delivery, with the goal of providing information within hours of acquisition.  In the event that new acquisitions are needed, e.g., over the ocean as major tropical storms develop, the instrument can be retasked to acquire new scenes.</p><p>In addition, we present information about efforts on the part of the mission to enable realistic simulation of NISAR’s capabilities across a broad range of science and applications topics.  To that end, L-band quad-polarimetric and repeat pass SAR data acquired with the airborne UAVSAR instrument, which has ~3-m single look resolution, has been processed to be ‘NISAR-like,’ with the noise level and spatial resolution of NISAR’s planned acquisition modes.  To date, more than 400 NISAR-like products from 70 different UAVSAR scenes acquired in North America and Greenland have been produced, and the UAVSAR project is continuing to generate more products specifically to support hazard assessment for fires and landslides.  Examples of anticipated NISAR performance will be shown with comparison to results using the full resolution UAVSAR products. </p><p><em>This work was carried out in part at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with NASA. </em></p>