In a scientific climate where efficiency and optimization are key, every little update to software quality is pivotal - enter GMTSAR. Improving upon the InSAR processing system, GMTSAR (a portmanteau of “Generic Mapping Tools” and “Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar”) utilizes radar images collected by satellites to monitor the motion of the Earth’s surface with precision of up to ten millimeters. The development of this software allows for superior data processing and results, all as the quantity and quality of collected images is increasing over time. 

“By processing thousands of SAR images together to create a time series, we can greatly reduce the noise that usually obscures the signals we want to see,” said Katherine Guns, a postdoctoral researcher at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego. “With this large dataset, we work to monitor all kinds of surface motion across California and along the San Andreas plate boundary fault system, from earthquake signals, to fault creep, to hydrological processes, to anthropogenic resource extraction, all with high accuracy and high spatial resolution.”