New compact ocean bottom cabled seismometer system deployed in the Japan Sea

The Japanese islands are positioned near the subduction zones, and large earthquakes have repeatedly occurred in marine areas around Japan. However, the number of permanent earthquake observatories in the oceans is quite limited. It is important for understanding generation of large earthquakes to observe seismic activities on the seafloor just above these seismogenic zones. An ocean bottom cabled seismometer (OBCS) is the best solution because data can be collected in real-time. We have developed a new compact OBCS system. A developed system is controlled by a microprocessor, and signals from accelerometers are 24-bit digitized. Clock is delivered from the global positioning system receiver on a landing station using a simple dedicated line. Data collected at each cabled seismometer (CS) are transmitted using standard Internet Protocol to landing stations. The network configuration of the system adopts two dual methods. We installed the first practical OBCS system in the Japan Sea, where large earthquakes occurred in past. The first OBCS system has a total length of 25 km and 4 stations with 5 km interval. Installation was carried out in August 2010. The CSs and single armored optical submarine cable were buried 1 m below the seafloor to avoid a conflict with fishing activity. The data are stored on a landing station and sent to Earthquake Research Institute, University of Tokyo by using the Internet. After the installation, data are being collected continuously. According to burial of the CSs, seismic ambient noises are smaller than those observed on seafloor.     

Centrifugal forces estimated from trajectories of drifting buoys in winding paths of the Kuroshio

Radii and angular velocities in the motions of drifting buoys deployed in the Kuroshio are estimated by fitting circles to the trajectories of two drifting buoys, one with a drogue at 300 m depth and the other at 800 m depth. The buoys were deployed in the Kuroshio where it was flowing counter-clockwise around the large cold water mass south of Honshu. The same technique was applied to two drifting buoys with drogues at 300 m depth placed in the Kuroshio where it flowed clockwise around Oshima Island in Sagami Bay. The centrifugal forces were 7% and 6% as large as the Coriolis forces in the Kuroshio around the cold water mass, and they were –56% and –42% as large as the Coriolis forces in the current around the Oshima Island. The temperature gradient observed in the Oshima-West Channel suggested that the pressure gradient there was smaller due to the centrifugal force acting against the Coriolis force than the pressure gradient to be balanced with the Coriolis force.     

Landslide detection based on height and amplitude differences using pre- and post-event airborne X-band SAR data

Natural Hazards - The recognition of landslides and making their inventory map are considered to be urgent tasks not only for damage estimation but also for planning rescue and restoration...     

Field survey report on tsunami disasters caused by the 1993 Southwest Hokkaido earthquake

Detailed field work at Okushiri Island and along the southwest coast of Hokkaido has revealed quantitatively (1) the advancing direction of tsunami on land, (2) the true tsunami height (i.e., height of tsunami, excluding its splashes, as measured from the ground) and (3) the flow velocity of tsunami on land, in heavily damaged areas. When a Japanese wooden house is swept away by tsunami, bolts that tie the house to its concrete foundation resist until the last moment and become bent towards the direction of the house being carried away. The orientations of more than 850 of those bent bolts and iron pipes (all that can be measured, mostly at Okushiri Island) and fell-down direction of about 400 trees clearly display how tsunami behaved on land and caused serious damage at various places. The true tsunami height was estimated by using several indicators, such as broken tree twigs and a window pane. The flow velocity of tsunami on land was determined by estimating the hydrodynamic force exerted on a bent handrail and a bent-down guardrail by the tsunami throughin situ strength tests.Contrary to the wide-spread recognition after the tsunami hazard, our results clearly indicate that only a few residential areas (i.e., Monai, eastern Hamatsumae, and a small portion at northern Aonae, all on Okushiri Island) were hit by a huge tsunami, with true heights reaching 10 m. Southern Aonae was completely swept away by tsunami that came directly from the focal region immediately to the west. The true tsunami height over the western sea wall of southern Aonae was estimated as 3 to 4 m. Northern Aonae also suffered severe damage due to tsunami that invaded from the corner zone of the sand dune (8 m high) and tide embankment at the northern end of the Aonae Harbor. This corner apparently acted as a tsunami amplifier, and tide embankment or breakwater can be quite dangerous when tsunami advances towards the corner it makes with the coast. The nearly complete devastation of Inaho at the northern end of Okushiri Island underscored the danger of tsunami whose propagation direction is parallel to the coast, since such tsunami waves tend to be amplified and tide embankment or breakwater is constructed low towards the coast at many harbors or fishing ports. Tsunami waves mostly of 2 to 4 m in true height swept away Hamatsumae on the southeast site of Okushiri Island where there were no coastal structures. Coastal structures were effective in reducing tsunami hazard at many sites. The maximum flow velocity at northern Aonae was estimated as 10 to 18 m/s (Tsutsumi et al., 1994), and such a high on-land velocity of tsunami near shore is probably due to the rapid shallowing of the deep sea near the epicentral region towards Okushiri Island. If the advancing direction, true height, and flow velocity of tsunami can be predicted by future analyses of tsunami generation and progagation, the analyses will be a powerful tool for future assessment of tsunami disasters, including the identification of blind spots in the tsunami hazard reduction.     

Contamination status and spatial distribution of organochlorine compounds in fishes from Nansei Islands, Japan

Two species of fishes (n=52; tilapia and mullet) from industrialized and urbanized areas of Okinawa Island (Manko-Noha river, Hija river and Shikaza river) and from a remote area of Ishigaki Island (Anparu mudflat), Japan were collected between August 2005 and July 2006, and analyzed for five organochlorine compounds (OCs), viz., DDTs, PCBs, CHLs, HCHs and HCB. Concentrations and the contamination patterns of OCs in fishes varied between locations. Considerable residue levels of OCs, especially CHLs and DDTs were found in both fishes from the main Okinawa Island. These levels were relatively higher than the reported values for seafood from Japanese coasts, indicating that even now pollution sources of these contaminants still exist in this region. On the other hand, lower concentrations of OCs were detected in fishes from Ishigaki Island waters than those of other Japanese coastal waters, suggesting that this region is less contaminated by OC contaminants.