RAPID - Collaborative Research - Offshore impacts of the Tohoku-Oki earthquake on seafloor deformation, sedimentation, erosion, tsunamigenesis

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Great megathrust earthquakes and the tsumanis they generate are among are the greatest threats to populated coastlines worldwide, such as Chile, Sumatra, Alaska, and Cascadia (the regions extending from southern British Columbia into northern California). The risk of catastrophic consequences and the acute need for improved understanding of these events are underscored by the devastation caused by the 11 March 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake off northern Japan. While the destruction from these events is acute, they also offer important opportunities to gain new insights into the processes that spawn them. In the wake of the earthquake in Japan, the proponents of this project have been invited to collaborate with Japanese scientists at JAMSTEC (Japan Agency for Marine Earth-science and Technology) to investigate and document the effects of the earthquake offshore. The broader impacts of this program include enhanced international collaboration, and a contribution to instruction at the investigators? respective institutions, but by far the greatest broader impact of this activity is the very high societal relevance of studying these catastrophic events.