The effects of land subsidence pose a significant hazard to the environment and infrastructure in the arid, alluvial basins of Phoenix, Arizona. Improving our understanding of the source and mechanisms of subsidence is important for planning and risk management by engineers. Use of multitemporal interferometric analysis of large synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) data sets has characterized three zones of subsidence and a broad zone of uplift in the Phoenix metropolitan area. InSAR data is supplemented by observation wells to provide an in situ, independent data set of hydraulic head levels. The work identifies and compares patterns in InSAR and observation well data to estimate aquifer properties, which are used in groundwater models. The analysis provides a better understanding of aquifer parameters for the ongoing management of groundwater resources.

Megan is a native Arizonan and perpetual Sun Devil. She obtained her BS in Economics from ASU in 2004 and spent several years working as a stock broker before returning to pursue geology. In 2013 she completed a second BS in Geological Sciences and immediately began her PhD research at ASU School of Earth and Space Exploration. Her dissertation research with the RaTLab (Remote Sensing and Tectonic Geodesy Laboratory) focuses on surface deformation due to the anthropogenic influence on groundwater. Primarily using interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) data, she implements complex signal processing and decomposition techniques that lead to the remote estimation of aquifer properties. Her research on the Phoenix metropolitan area aquifer systems was published in a peer reviewed journal and highlighted in the media. Currently, she is developing a time-dependent poroelastic model to analyze the coupled interaction between subsurface flow and deformation in the alluvial basins of Arizona.