Satellite images reveal how Earth's surface moved during deadly Myanmar earthquake
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.
Earth-observing satellites reveal significant ground shift in central Myanmar following the devastating earthquakes that ravaged the area in March.
The European Space Agency's (ESA) Copernicus Sentinel-1A satellite captured radar images of the country just one day before a powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck on March 28. The Sentinel-1C satellite revisited the site a few days later, capturing the aftermath of the seismic event.
"Using satellite radar images, scientists can map the extent of ruptures and identify areas of increased seismic risk," ESA officials said in a statement.
ESA's Sentinel-1 mission includes two satellites positioned 180 degrees apart in orbit above Earth, enabling them to collectively scan the entire globe every six days. Sentinel-1's advanced radar imaging capabilities, including Terrain Observation with Progressive Scans and burst overlap interferometry, allow for precise measurement of ground motion in both east-west and north-south directions.
By comparing the satellite data collected before and after the Myanmar earthquake (a method called synthetic aperture radar interferometry), scientists were able to create a detailed map illustrating ground movement, also known as an interferogram, along the Sagaing Fault — one of the most active strike-slip faults in Southeast Asia, running north to south through the center of Myanmar.
RELATED STORIES:
— Turkey earthquake opened 190-mile-long fissure, satellite images show
— Satellites reveal how deadly Morocco earthquake moved ground (photos)
— Earthquakes seem more intense after cosmic ray strikes. Scientists say this is why.
The earthquake rupture, which is the sudden break and movement along a fault, extended approximately 342 miles (550 kilometers) along the Sagaing Fault — one of the longest documented surface ruptures ever recorded for a strike-slip fault.
The interferogram revealed 63 inches (160 centimeters) of ground displacement along the fault line, indicating significant movement on either side of the fault. This data provides critical insight on the earthquake, which can aid in disaster response efforts.
"These data are a game-changer," Dirk Geudtner, ESA's Sentinel-1 System Manager, said in the statement. "They enable faster, more accurate assessments after disasters, and help us to improve earthquake models globally."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Forbes
a day ago
- Forbes
ESA's Solar Orbiter Should Solve Mystery Of Sun's Outermost Atmosphere
ESA's Solar Orbiter mission will face the Sun from within the orbit of Mercury at its closest ... More approach. The European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter mission recently stunned the world with the first-ever full images of our Sun's South pole, proving that this was going to be a mission like no other. Using an orbital gravity assist from the planet Venus, the Solar Orbiter mission spacecraft was able to maneuver into an orbit that has taken it to an angle 17 degrees below the Sun's equator. Over the coming years, the spacecraft will tilt its orbit even further, so the best views are yet to come, says ESA. The 1.2-billion-euro Solar Orbiter mission, with NASA participation, should finally help us understand the origin of the Sun's solar winds as well as our understanding of the Sun's poles. And arguably most importantly, it should solve the puzzle of why our star's outermost atmosphere, or corona, is heated to millions of degrees Kelvin and is thus so much hotter than the Sun's own surface. By contrast, our Sun's visible photosphere, or surface, averages only 5,500 degrees K. With Solar Orbiter, we are clearly seeing energy releases on the nano-flare scale, Daniel Mueller, a solar physicist and ESA project scientist for both ESA's SOHO and Solar Orbiter missions to the Sun, tells me in his office in The Netherlands. But the question is, would these nano-flares continue like that infinitely, or is there a certain lower limit to the production of these nano-flares, Mueller wonders. The puzzle is whether these nano-flares are enough to heat up the Sun's corona to the temperatures with which it is routinely measured. A Unique View Launched in 2020, from its highly elliptical orbit just inside Mercury's perihelion, the closest point in our innermost planet's solar orbit, the ESA spacecraft offers the best views yet of our own yellow dwarf star. We can see on scales down to about 200 kilometers on the Sun, which shows us a lot of dynamics of our star, says Mueller. And thanks to its newly tilted orbit around the Sun, the European Space Agency-led Solar Orbiter spacecraft is the first to image the Sun's poles from outside the ecliptic plane (the imaginary geometric plane in which our Earth orbits the Sun), says ESA. We observed the Sun's North pole at the end of this past April, says Mueller. But we passed the Southern pole first and then the Northern pole six weeks later, he says. At the moment, as seen from Earth, the Solar Orbiter is almost behind the Sun, so the data downlink has slowed to a trickle. But by early October, Mueller expects to have downloaded all the data from Solar Orbiter's Spring polar observations of the Sun. And within a matter of two to three months after the data is on the ground, the first scientific results will have been written up and submitted to journals for publication, says Mueller. These observations are also key to understanding the Sun's magnetic field and why it flips roughly every 11 years, coinciding with a peak in solar activity, says ESA. The spacecraft's instruments show that the Sun's South pole is a bit of a magnetic mess now, with both North and South polarity magnetic fields present, ESA notes. Ready To Flip Right now, there is not a clear dominant magnetic polarity, but a mix of the two, says Mueller. And that is exactly what you would expect to find during the maximum of the Sun's activity cycle, when the magnetic field is about to flip, he says. The real applications are for space weather predictions. Case in point, better space weather forecasting may have saved many of Elon Musk's 523 Starlink satellites that reentered Earth's atmosphere between 2020 and 2024. This period coincides with the rising phase of solar cycle 25, which has shown itself to be more intense than the previous solar cycle, the authors of a 2025 paper appearing in the journal Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences write. Our results indisputably show that satellites reenter faster with higher geomagnetic activity, the authors note. There was a big solar storm that caused the earth's upper Earth atmosphere to expand, so, the satellites experienced more drag, and therefore didn't make it to orbit, says Mueller. One option may have been simply to hold off on launches until this increased period of solar activity enabled a less risky geomagnetic environment in Earth's upper atmosphere. The hope is that the Solar Orbiter mission and other missions like it will lead to better and more reliable space weather predictions that could potentially save hundreds of millions of dollars in the commercial satellite industry. Solar Orbiter should do its share in solving both pure solar physics conundrums as well as in more practical applications like space weather. The good news is that the spacecraft still has plenty of fuel left. Our current funding goes until the end of 2026, but because we had a picture-perfect launch provided by United Launch Alliance and NASA, we saved a lot of fuel, says Mueller. So, the onboard fuel reserves are so large that we can keep going for a long time, he says.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Just 1 dose of magic mushroom compound eases depression for at least 5 years in most patients, small study suggests
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. DENVER—Psilocybin, the main psychoactive ingredient in magic mushrooms, can alleviate depression for at least five years after a single dose, a new study finds. The research, presented June 18 at the Psychedelic Science 2025 conference in Denver, focused on patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), which is often called clinical depression. The serious mood disorder causes a persistent feeling of sadness and a loss of interest or pleasure in activities that were once enjoyable. The most common treatments for MDD include talk therapy and medications such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, and both can take a long time to show any benefits. When early studies hinted at psilocybin's potential as an antidepressant, a team of researchers undertook the first-ever randomized clinical trial to explore the use of the psychedelic for treating severe depression. The trial included 24 patients, half of whom received psilocybin at the very start of the trial and half of whom received the same dose eight weeks later—the "waitlist" group. Each patient also received 11 hours of psychotherapy. Even in that short time frame, "there was a significant reduction in depression in the immediate-treatment group compared to those on the waitlist," study co-author Alan Davis, director of the Center for Psychedelic Drug Research and Education at The Ohio State University, told Live Science. Once all of the patients had completed the four-week study, the psilocybin appeared to be four times more effective than traditional antidepressant medications, based on previous research data. One month after the treatment, 17 patients had relieved symptoms, including 14 who were in full remission from depression. Patients also responded much faster to psilocybin than is typical for conventional antidepressants. But do these benefits of psilocybin last? Related: Magic mushrooms temporarily 'dissolve' brain network responsible for sense of self Very few long-term studies of psilocybin for depression have been conducted to date, said Dr. Charles Raison, a professor of human ecology and psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who was not involved in the research. "They are very difficult to do because people drop out," Raison told Live Science in an email. "But also because they go on all sorts of other treatments that obfuscate the degree to which any longer lasting benefits result from the psychedelic or because the participant got therapy or restarted an antidepressant." To investigate whether the benefits for psilocybin lasted and if the patients had experienced any side effects, the researchers contacted the original trial participants several years later to request their enrollment in a follow-up study. Twenty-one patients enrolled, and their clinicians rated any changes in the participants' levels of depression from before the original treatment to the present day. The patients also filled out a series of self-reported, online questionnaires and met up with clinicians to document their ability to engage in everyday tasks, their levels of anxiety and their general mental health. The researchers assumed that the three patients that didn't sign up for the follow up, and the three that didn't complete the questionnaires had not remained in remission. Even so, the researchers found that 67% of the participants who had suffered from depression half a decade earlier remained in remission after a single psychedelic therapy session. These patients also reported less anxiety and less difficulty functioning on a daily basis. In general, the two-thirds of the patients who responded well reported lasting positive changes in their mindsets, emotional health and relationships. "I'm excited by these deeper aspects of their lives that really speaks to the importance of these interventions beyond just reduction of depression," Davis said. RELATED STORIES —Psychedelics rapidly change the brain. Here's how. —Australia clears legal use of MDMA and psilocybin to treat PTSD and depression —'Magic mushroom' treatment for depression inches closer to approval Most of the patients shared that, following the original treatment, they'd engaged in self-reflection and therapy to help understand themselves and navigate life's challenges. Davis hypothesizes that the psychedelic experience catalyzes a deeper therapy process and would like to conduct future studies comparing the relative influences of psilocybin and psychotherapy in alleviating depression. "The biggest caveat of this study is the small sample size, and the fact that the original trial showed larger antidepressant effects than subsequent larger multi-site studies seem to be showing," Raison said. In a multi-site clinical trial with 233 participants, 37% of the 79 who received a single 25 mg dose of psilocybin, coupled with psychotherapy, went into remission from major depression. While these trials report less widespread antidepressant effects, they support the idea that psilocybin can effectively treat depression, Davis said, and he is keen to see how the findings of multi-site trials hold up five years post-treatment.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Vera C. Rubin debut images: How to see the groundbreaking space photos from the world's largest camera
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The new Vera C. Rubin Observatory is set to release its debut images — taken with the largest digital camera ever built — on Monday (Jun. 23). The world-first images and videos will be ultra-high-definition and will show off the observatory's highly anticipated, cutting-edge capabilities for the first time. Here's what you need to know. If you want to watch from home, a news conference will be streaming on YouTube in English and Spanish at 11:00 a.m. EDT on Monday. The link to watch is posted on the observatory's website, and is also embedded here. If you'd prefer to bask in the awe of the cosmos with friends, you may be able to attend a watch party near you — or even host one of your own. Groups will gather across the globe in planetariums and universities to admire the highly detailed images and videos as they are released. The observatory has shared links to a map of all registered watch parties, as well as a link to sign up to become a host. During the news conference, the observatory team will introduce the Rubin Observatory before showcasing the new images and discussing their significance. Watch parties may also hear from local scientists and special guests. Be sure to check out the details of a watch party before you attend to learn about any extra programming. The observatory, perched high on a mountain in the Chilean Andes, will peer at interstellar comets and dangerous asteroids, as well as larger objects, like twisting galaxies and exploding supernovas. Related: 'People thought this couldn't be done': Scientists observe light of 'cosmic dawn' with a telescope on Earth for the first time ever Inside Rubin lies the world's largest digital camera and six of the largest optical filters ever produced. Together, they allow researchers to observe different facets of the universe in many wavelengths of light and remarkably high detail. The camera will take a new high-resolution photo of the sky around every 40 seconds. The images will then be transmitted via fiber optic cables to a supercomputer in California, which will analyze the photos. When stitched together, the images can act as a time-lapse video of space, one that is planned to span 10 years. RELATED STORIES —Space photo of the week: Observatory, or alien planet? Boggle your mind with this 360-degree image —Vera C. Rubin Observatory: The groundbreaking mission to make a 10-year, time-lapse movie of the universe —3,200-megapixel camera of the future Vera Rubin Observatory snaps record-breaking 1st photos Using its groundbreaking instruments, the observatory is expected to contribute to current understanding of widely debated phenomena, including dark energy and dark matter — two components that are thought to make up a vast majority of the universe, but remain poorly understood. The new images could be the first of many that vastly improve our understanding of the cosmos. Whether you join a watch party or tune in from the comfort of your couch, these photos are not to be missed.
