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Zhen Liu

Photo of Zhen Liu

Address:

4800 Oak Grove Drive
M/S 300-323

Pasadena, CA 91109

Phone:

818.393.7506

Fax:

818.354.9476

Member of:

Earth Surface and Interior

Employed By

Caltech/JPL

Education

  • PhD in Geophysics and Space Physics, University of California at Los Angeles (2003)

Research Interests

  • Investigating plate boundary deformation at different spatial and temporal scales using GNSS and InSAR
  • Understanding neotectonics and lithosphere dynamics through the combination of numerical modeling approaches with data from seismology, geodesy, and geology
  • Estimating seismic hazard from tectonics and understanding earthquake dynamics
  • Satellite remote sensing of groundwater and subsidence

Selected Awards

  • JPL Earth Science Team Award (2016)
  • California Department of Water Resources Remote Sensing and Drought Science Service Award (2015)
  • NASA Group Achievement Award (2014, 2016)
  • AGU Outstanding Student Paper, Tectonophysics Section (2003)

Selected Publications

  1. Lundgren, P., Z. Liu, S. T. Ali, 2022, San Andreas fault stress change due to groundwater withdrawal in California's Central Valley, 1860-2010. Geophysical Research Letters, 49, e2021GL095975. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL095975.
  2. Gualandi, A., & Z. Liu, 2021, Variational Bayesian independent component analysis for InSAR displacement time-series with application to central California, USA, Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 126, e2020JB020845. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JB020845
  3. Luo Y., Z. Liu, 2021. Fault zone heterogeneities explain depth- dependent pattern and evolution of slow earthquakes in Cascadia. Nature Communications, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22232-x.
  4. Massoud, E., Z. Liu, A. Shaban, M. El Hage, 2021, Groundwater depletion signals in the Beqaa Plain, Lebanon: evidence from GRACE and Sentinel-1 data, Remote Sensing, 13(5), DOI:10.3390/rs13050915.
  5. Kim, K. H., Z. Liu, M. Rodell, H. K. Beaudoing, E. Massoud, J. Kitchens, M. Dudek, P. Saylor, F. Corcoran, J. T. Reager, 2021, An evaluation of remotely sensed and in situ data sufficiency for SGMA-scale groundwater studies in the Central Valley, California, Journal of the American Water Resources Association, doi: 10.1111/1752-1688.12898.
  6. Shen, Z.‐K., Z. Liu , 2020, Integration of GPS and InSAR data for resolving 3‐dimensional crustal deformation. Earth and Space Science,7, e2019EA001036. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019EA001036.
  7. Fielding, E., Z. Liu , O. L. Stephenson, M. Zhong, C. Liang, A. Moore, S-H. Yun, M. Simons, 2020, Surface deformation related to the 2019 Mw7.1 and 6.4 Ridgecrest earthquakes in California from GPS, SAR Interferometry, and SAR Pixel Offsets, Seismological Research Letters, doi:10.1785/0220190302.
  8. Massoud, E., M. Turmon, J. Reager, J. Hobbs, Z. Liu , Cedric H. David, 2020, Cascading Dynamics of the Hydrologic Cycle in California Explored through Observations and Model Simulations, Geosciences, 10, 71, doi:10.3390/geosciences10020071.
  9. Gualandi, A., Z. Liu , C. Rollins, 2020, Post-large earthquake seismic activities mediated by aseismic deformation processes, Earth and Planet. Sci. Lett., 530, 115870, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2019.115870.
  10. Liu, Z. , P.W. Liu, E. Massoud, T. G. Farr, P. Lundgren, J. S. Famiglietti, 2019, Monitoring Groundwater Change in California's Central Valley Using Sentinel-1 and GRACE Observations, Geosciences, 9, 436; doi:10.3390/geosciences9100436.
  11. Ross, Z., B. Idini, Z. Jia, O. L. Stephenson, M. Y. Zhong, X. Wang, Z. W. Zhan, M. Simons, E. J. Fielding, S. H. Yun, E. Hauksson, A. W. Moore, Z. Liu , J. K. Jung, 2019, Hierarchical interlocked orthogonal faulting in the 2019 Ridgecrest earthquake sequence, Science, 366(6463), 346-351, doi:10.1126/science.aaz0109.
  12. Chen, K., Z. Liu , Y. T. Song, 2019, Automated GNSS and teleseismic earthquake inversion (AutoQuake Inversion) for tsunami early warning: retrospective and real-time results, Pure Appl. Geophys., https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-019-02252-x.
  13. Luo, Y., Z. Liu , 2019b, Rate-and-state Model Casts New Insight into Episodic Tremor and Slow-slip Variability in Cascadia, Geophysical Research Letters, 46, 6352-6362. https://doi.org/10.1029/ 2019GL082694
  14. Luo, Y., Z. Liu , 2019a, Slow‐slip recurrent pattern changes: Perturbation responding and possible scenarios of precursor toward a megathrust earthquake. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 20. https://doi.org/10.1029/ 2018GC008021
  15. Voss, N., T. H. Dixon, Z. Liu , R. Malservisi, M. Protti, S. Schwartz, 2018, Do slow slip events trigger large and great megathrust earthquakes? Science Advances, 4, eaat8472, doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aat8472.
  16. Liang, C., Z. Liu , E. Fielding, R. Burgmann, 2018, InSAR time series analysis of L-band wide-swath SAR data acquired by ALOS-2, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, doi: 10.1109/TGRS.2018.2821150.
  17. Yue, H., Z. Ross, C. Liang, S. Michel, H. Fattahi, E. Fielding, A. Moore, Z. Liu, B. Jia, 2017, The 2016 Kumamoto Mw = 7.0 earthquake: A significant event in a fault-volcano system. J. Geophys. Res.: Solid Earth, 122, 9166-9183. https://doi.org/10.1002/ 2017JB014525.
  18. Y. Jiang, Z. Liu, E. Davis, S. Schwartz, T. Dixon, N. Voss, R. Malservisi, M. Protti, 2017, Strain release at trench during shallow slow slip: The example of Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica, Geophysical Research Letter, 44, doi:10.1002/2017GL072803.
  19. Crowell, B., Y. Bock, Z. Liu, 2016, Single-station automated detection of transient deformation in GPS time series with the relative strength index: A case study of Cascadian slow-slip, J. Geophys. Res., 121, doi:10.1002/2016JB013542.
  20. Daout, S., S. Barbot, G. Peltzer, M. P. Doin, Z. Liu, R. Jolivet, 2016, Constraining the kinematics of metropolitan Los Angeles faults with a slip-partitioning model, Geophysical Research Letter, 43, 11,192-11,201, doi:10.1002/2016GL071061.
  21. Liu, Z., A. Moore, S. Owen, 2015, Recurrent slow slip event reveals the interaction with seismic slow earthquakes and disruption from large earthquake, Geophys. J. Int., 202, 1555-1565, doi: 10.1093/gji/ggv238.
  22. Fu, Y., Z. Liu, J. Freymueller, 2015, Spatiotemporal variations of the slow slip event between 2008 and 2013 in the southcentral Alaska subduction zone, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 2450-2461, doi: 10.1002/2015GC005904.
  23. Xue, L., S. Schwartz, Z. Liu, and L. Feng, 2015, Interseismic megathrust coupling beneath the Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica, from the joint inversion of InSAR and GPS data, J. Geophys. Res. Solid Earth, 120, doi:10.1002/2014JB011844.
  24. Farr, T., Z. Liu, 2015, Monitoring Groundwater in the Central Valley of California with Interferometric Radar, AGU Chapman Monograph for remote sensing, 397-406, doi:10.1002/9781118872086.ch24.
  25. Liu, Z., S. Owen, A. Moore, 2014, Rapid estimate and modeling of permanent coseismic displacements for large earthquakes using high-rate GPS data, Seism. Res. Lett., 85(2), 284-294, doi:10.1785/0220130174.
  26. Liu, Z., H. S. Jung, Z. Lu, 2014, Joint correction of ionosphere noise and orbital error in L-band SAR interferometry of interseismic deformation in southern California, IEEE Transactions on Geosciences and Remote Sensing, 52(6), 3421-3427, doi: 10.1109/TGRS.2013.2272791.
  27. Lundgren, P., M. Poland, A. Miklius, T. Orr, S.-H. Yun, E. Fielding, Z. Liu, A. Tanaka, W. Szeliga, S. Hensley, and S. Owen (2013), Evolution of dike opening during the March 2011 Kamoamoa fissure eruption, Kılauea Volcano, Hawaii, J.  Geophys. Res. Solid Earth, 118, 897–914, doi:10.1002/jgrb.50108
  28. Liu, Z., D. Dong, P. Lundgren, 2011, Constraints on time-dependent volcanic source models at Long Valley Caldera from 1996 to 2009 using InSAR and geodetic measurements, Geophys. J. Int., doi: 10.1111/j.1365-246X.2011.05214.x.
  29. Liu, Z., S. Owen, D. Dong, P. Lundgren, F. Webb, E. Hetland, and M. Simons, 2010, Integration of transient strain events with models of plate coupling and areas of great earthquakes in southwest Japan, 181, 1292-1312, Geophys. J. Int., doi:10.1111/j.1365-246X.2010.04599.x.
  30. Liu, Z., S. Owen, D. Dong, P. Lundgren, F. Webb, E. Hetland, and M. Simons, 2010, Estimation of interplate coupling in the Nankai trough, Japan using GPS data from 1996 to 2006, Geophys. J. Int., 181, 1313-1328, doi: 10.1111/j.1365-246X.2010.04600.x.
  31. Lundgren, P., E. Hetland, Z. Liu, and E. J. Fielding, 2009, Southern San Andreas-San Jacinto fault system slip rates estimated from earthquake cycle models constrained by GPS and interferometric synthetic aperture radar observations, J. Geophys. Res., 114, B02403, doi:10.1029/2008JB005996.
  32. Bird, P., Z. Liu, and W. K. Rucker, 2008, Stresses that drive the plates from below: Definitions, computational path, model optimization, and error analysis, J. Geophys. Res., 113, B11406, doi:10.1029/2007JB005460.
  33. Liu, Z. , and P. Bird, 2008, Kinematic modeling of the neotectonics of the Persia-Tibet-Burma Orogen, Geophys. J. Int., 172(2), 779-797, doi: 10.1111/j.1365-246X.2007.03640.x.
  34. Bird, P., and Z. Liu, 2007, Seismic hazard inferred from tectonics: California, Seismological Research Letter, 78(1), 37-48.
  35. N.E. King, D. Argus, J. Langbein, D.C. Agnew, G. Bawden, R.S. Dollar, Z. Liu, D. Galloway, E. Reichard, A. Yong, F.H. Webb, Y. Bock, K. Stark, and D. Barseghian, 2007, Space geodetic observation of expansion of the San Gabriel Valley, California, aquifer system, during heavy rainfall in winter 2004-2005, Journal of Geophysical Research, 112, B03409, doi:10.1029/2006JB004448, 2007.
  36. Liu, Z. , and P. Bird, 2006, 2-D and 3-D finite element modeling of mantle processes beneath the central South Island, New Zealand, Geophysical Journal of International, 165, 1003-1028 doi: 10.1111/j.1365-246X.2006.02930.x.
  37. Kagan, Y. Y., D. D. Jackson, and Z. Liu, 2005, Stress and earthquakes in southern California, 1850-2004, Journal of Geophysical Research, 110(5), B05S14, doi:10.1029/2004JB003313.
  38. A. Jin, Kei Aki, Z. Liu, V. Keilis-Borok, 2004, Seismological evidence for the brittle-ductile interaction hypothesis on earthquake loading, Earth, Planets and Space, 56, 823-830.
  39. Zaliapin, I., A. Jin, Z. Liu, K. Aki, and V.Keilis-Borok, 2004, Temporal (un)correlations between coda Q and seismicity - multiscale trend analysis, Pure and Applied Geophysics, 162, 827-841.
  40. Liu, Z. , and P. Bird, 2002b, North America plate is driven westward by lower mantle flow, Geophysical Research Letters, 29(24), 2164, doi: 10.1029/2002GL016002.
  41. Liu, Z. , and P. Bird, 2002a, Finite element modeling of neotectonics in New Zealand, Journal of Geophysical Research, 107(B12), 2328, doi:10.1029/2001JB001075.
  42. Zaliapin, I., Z. Liu, G. Zöller, V. Keilis-Borok, and D. Turcotte, 2002, On increase of earthquake correlation length prior to large earthquakes in California, Computational Seismology and Geodynamics, 33, 141-161.
  43. Gao, Y., Z. L. Wu, Z. Liu, H. L. Zhou, 2000, Seismic source characteristics of nine strong earthquakes from 1988 to 1990 and earthquake activity since 1970 in the Sichuan-Qinghai-Xizang (Tibet) zone of China, Pure and Applied Geophysics, 157, 1423-1443.
  44. Bird, P., and Z. Liu, 1999, Global finite-element model makes a small contribution to intraplate seismic hazard estimation, Bulletin of Seismological Society of America, 89, 6, 1642-1647.

Projects

ARIA
NASA-ISRO SAR Mission (NISAR)
UAVSAR