EAPSI: Analyzing recent earthquakes in Japan using high resolution topographic data

受地震影响的社会向受地震地质研究提供信息的社会灌输政策，以保护生命和资源。美国西部和日本是最近发生严重地震活动的两个地区。这两个地区拥有独特的构造环境，并正在积极研究沿断裂带“表征”地震的方法，以细化地震风险。该项目将调查日本近期发生的地震事件，重点是日本本州岛的Itoigawana Shizuoka构造线。这项研究将与日本广岛大学著名地震地质专家大村幸二博士合作进行。地震的地表表达对于理解破裂事件和断裂带的特征至关重要。与地震有关的陆地的破裂、隆起和下沉表明了断裂带上部脆弱部分的过程。在过去的十年里，来自卫星和航空平台的遥感图像的周期性和分辨率得到了提高，可以用来“量化”地表，并用于研究地震引起的地表变形。地震、地表变形和地表侵蚀之间的复杂相互作用被广泛地称为构造地貌学。科学调查的目的是通过客观绘制断层图、定量描述地表变形以及了解断层力学和运动学的过程来评估Itoigawana Shizuoka构造线的地震危险性。这项研究将评估断裂带地貌作为不同气候、滑动速率、大地测量(GPS站位置变化)速率和时间约束的函数。该NSF EAPSI奖是与日本科学促进会合作资助的。

Societies affected by earthquakes instill policies informed by studies of earthquake geology in order to preserve life and resources. The Western United States and Japan are two areas that have seen recent and severe earthquake activity. These two areas have unique tectonic settings and are actively researching ways to "characterize" earthquakes along fault zones in order to refine seismic hazard. This project will investigate recent seismic events in Japan, focusing on the Itoigawana Shizuoka Tectonic Line, Honshu Island, Japan. This research will be conducted in collaboration with Dr. Koji Okumura a noted expert on earthquake geology, at Hiroshima University in Japan. The surface expression of an earthquake can be critical to understanding the characteristics of a rupture event and a fault zone. The cracking, raising, and subsidence of land associated with earthquakes are indicative of processes in the upper, brittle portion of a fault zone. In the last decade, the periodicity and resolution of remotely sensed images from satellite and aerial platforms that can be used to "quantify" the surface have been advanced and applied to studying surface deformation by earthquakes. The complex interplay between earthquakes, surface deformation and surface erosion is broadly known as tectonic geomorphology. The goal of the scientific investigation is to assess seismic risk of the Itoigawana Shizuoka Tectonic Line through the process of objectively mapping faults, quantitatively depicting surface deformation, and understanding fault mechanics and kinematics. The study will assess the fault zone landscape as a function of varying climate, slip rate, geodetic (changing location of GPS stations) rates, and temporal constrains. This NSF EAPSI award is funded in collaboration with the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.