Nice Write-Up

Caltech grad student Aron Meltzner used satellite imagery for his
research on the Aceh earthquake and resultant tsunami.  Not
only did this result in a nice publication, he
got a nice write-up featured at NASA's Earth Observatory site.
 

href="http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/Aceh/">Rise and
Fall: Satellites Reveal Full Length of Tsunami-Generating Earthquake



On December 24, 2004, Caltech geology student Aron Meltzner was on
winter break in Australia. Yes, he was technically on
vacation—snorkeling, seeing a coral reef for the first
time—but he was also trying to make an important decision. He
had just wrapped up the first phase of his Ph.D. program, and now it
was time for him to pick the research topic that would be the
centerpiece of his doctorate degree. He had just about made up his mind
that he would study coral and sediments near the Mentawai Islands off
the coast of Sumatra to help extend the historical record of
earthquakes and tsunamis there.



But on December 26, 2004, his plans changed...

He ended up comparing before and after images in 160 separate
locations.  He found that the quake had ruptured a slice of
Earth 1,600 kilometers long.  

Previously, it had been thought that the rupture was only about 600
kilometers long.  It was an impressive piece of work.
 He ended up getting a coujple of decent publications out of
it:

• Meltzner, A. J., Sieh, K., Abrams, M., Agnew, D.C., Hudnut,
  K.W., Avouac, J.-P., and Natawidjaja, D.H. (2006) Uplift and subsidence
  associated with the great Aceh-Andaman earthquake of 2004. Journal of
  Geophysical Research, 111, B02407, doi:10.1029/2005JB003891.
• Subarya, C., Chlieh, M., Prawirodirdjo, L., Avouac, J.-P.,
  Bock, Y., Sieh, K., Meltzner, A.J., Natawidjaja,D.H., and McCaffrey, R.
  (2006) Plate-boundary deformation associated with the great
  Sumatra-Andaman earthquake. Nature, 440, 46-51, doi:10.1038/nature04522.