The 2025 Myanmar Earthquake: Crustal deformation detected by ALOS-2 data

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Released: Apr. 2, 2025, update: Apr. 15, 2025Japanese version of this page

Summary

M7.7 (USGS) earthquake occurred in Myanmar on March 28, 2025 (UTC). To measure the crustal deformation caused by this earthquake, we applied interferometric analysis using ALOS-2/PALSAR-2 data. The analysis clearly revealed the spatial distribution of crustal deformation.

Crustal deformation was observed along the Sagaing Fault within the range of 400 km in the north-south direction.
The pixel offset in azimuth direction shows an almost northward displacement on the western side and an almost southward displacement on the eastern side of the Sagaing Fault. The observed crustal deformation was consistent with that expected for a right-lateral fault.
6 m of ground deformation was observed across the Sagaing Fault.

Dataset

Pair	Fig. #	Date	Time (UTC)	Flight Dir.	Beam Dir.	Obs. Mode *1	Incidence Angle (around epicenter)	Bperp
Pair1	2-3	2025-02-16 2025-03-30	05:26	Des.	Right	W-W (350 km)	34.9°	+266.7m
Pair2	4	2025-02-11 2025-04-08	17:41	Asc	Right	W-W (350km)	34.9°	-175.0m

*1 W:ScanSAR(Wide)
(cf. ALOS-2 Project / PALSAR-2 (JAXA))

Result (Pixel offset)

SAR footprint

Fig. 1 SAR footprint [PNG: 3MB]

AzimuthOffset_ALOS2Pair1

Fig. 2 Result of pixel offset (Azimuth direction) (Pair 1: 2025-02-16_2025-03-30) [PNG: 2MB]
Epicenter is from USGS. Fault lines are based on Styron et al. (2020).

RangeOffset_ALOS2Pair1

Fig. 3 Result of pixel offset (Range direction) (Pair 1: 2025-02-16_2025-03-30) [PNG: 2MB]
Epicenter is from USGS. Fault lines are based on Styron et al. (2020).

2025MyanmarEQ_ALOS2Pair2_inSAR

Fig. 4 SAR interferogram (Pair 2: 2025-02-11_2025-04-08). Epicenter is from USGS.
Fault lines are based onStyron et al. (2020). [PNG: 2MB]

Analysis by GSI from ALOS-2 data of JAXA.
These results were obtained through the activity of the SAR analysis working group of the Coordinating Committee for Earthquake Prediction.

The 2025 Myanmar Earthquake

Date-Time	Mar. 28, 2025, 6:20 (UTC)
Hypocenter Location	22.013°N, 95.922°E, Depth:10.0km (USGS, as of Mar. 29, 2025)
Magnitude	M=7.7 (USGS, as of Mar. 29, 2025)

Satellite

ALOS-2 (Advanced Land Observing Satellite 2) launched by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency on May 24, 2014

Copyrights and Credits

Contact

Geography and Crustal Dynamics Research Center
Crustal Deformation Research
MUNEKANE Hiroshi: Head of Division

Update

Apr. 4, 2025: Correction of date of the event in figures.
Apr.15, 2025: Add Figure4.