Comparison between the two triggered landslides in Mid-Niigata, Japan by July 13 heavy rainfall and October 23 intensive earthquakes in 2004

On July 13, 2004, heavy rainfalls because of the intensive activities of the rain front occurred in the Mid-Niigata Region, Japan. They were as much as 400 mm in 24 h, bringing about serious flooding by breaking the river banks. The heavy rainfalls also triggered more than 3,500 landslides. Three months later, the southern region of Mid-Niigata was attacked by an earthquake of magnitude 6.8 on the Richter scale on October 23, 2004. The main earthquakes were followed by intensive aftershocks, which continued until December 2004. By these earthquakes, variable landslides of more than 4,400 also occurred in the hilly and mountainous areas. Namely, different triggers brought about the variable landslides in the hilly mountains whose features are very similar in geological and geomorphological points of view. Therefore, these two events are very useful for clearing the difference in features of the landslides between the two. We have been researching on both landslides in the field just after both occurred and later analyzing air photographs using the geographic information system (GIS). In this paper, we describe the comparison in the distribution features using GIS analytical data between the heavy rainfall-induced and the intensive earthquake-induced landslides.     

Hastening of occurrences of earthquakes due to dynamic triggering: The observation at Matsushiro, central Japan

Dynamic stress/strain changes associated with the passage of seismic waves perturb the state of stress of a fault.We hypothesize that this perturbation increases the instability of the fault and that it hastens the occurrence of an earthquake that would otherwise occur somewhat later.To test this hypothesis, we investigate a time interval defined as a time difference between the occurrence of a dynamic strain change and the origin time of the first subsequent earthquake.If the occurrence of an earthquake is hastened by the strain change, the time interval would be shortened, compared with a case of a random occurrence.Here we used two datasets: 1) origin times of earthquakes at Matsushiro, Nagano Prefecture, central Japan, with magnitudes of 1.6 or greater, between November 1984 and December 1994; and 2) strainmeter records of remote earthquakes at the Matsushiro Seismological Observatory over the same period.We applied a statistical test to the distribution of the observed time intervals between dynamic strain changes due to remote earthquakes and the first earthquakes at Matsushiro subsequent to the strain changes, in order to compare it to the distribution of expected time intervals generated by a random (Monte Carlo) simulation.Because of limitations of the statistical test, we could not establish the quantitative relationship between the degree of hastening and the amplitude of the strain changes, but we found a statistically significant decrease of the observed time intervals.We also investigated the number of the earthquakes before and after the strain changes, and found that dynamic triggering has little significant impact on the occurrences of earthquakes at Matsushiro.Therefore, we conclude that dynamic triggering at Matsushiro is weaker than those reported in previous studies and that the time interval might be an important parameter for a statistical study of weak dynamic triggering.     

The influence of increased jet airline traffic on the amountof high level cloudiness in Alaska

Summary  The high level cloudiness has increased over Alaska during the second half of this century, a period for which reliable data exist. This increase is most pronounced in areas close to the much traveled air routes from Europe to Anchorage which could be demonstrated by a comparison with two remote stations in western Alaska. This might be taken as an indication that the observed high cloudiness increase is caused by jet contrails. Seasonally, summer and spring give the greatest increases. Cloudiness is, of course, an important parameter for climatic change, and increased high level cloud amount in arctic and subarctic areas would lead to warmer temperature; these have been observed in Alaska. Received May 11, 2000 Revised November 17, 2000     

Livestock wastes as a source of estrogens and their effects on wildlife of Manko tidal flat,Okinawa

The Manko tidal flat in the southern part of Okinawa Island is an important visiting and wintering area for migratory birds and was added to the Ramsar Convention Register of Wetlands in 1999. This area used to be an inlet extending to the inner part of Naha Port, but recent reclamation projects have restricted its connection to the East China Sea. As is typical in rural regions of subtropical islands, the inhabitants in the Manko basin raise livestock, especially pigs, without employing sufficient waste treatment methods. As sewage treatment works are considered to be one of the main sources of environmental estrogens in urban areas, the significance of livestock farming as a source of estrogens in rural area is examined in this study. In the present study, total estrogenic activities in water and sediment samples from the Manko tidal flat and its basin were measured using a recombinant yeast screen method. Estrogenic activities (equivalent to 17beta-estradiol, E2) were around 10 ng l(-1) in water samples and more than 10 microg kg(-1) in some sediment samples. In addition, the concentrations of estrone (E1) and E2 in water samples measured using LC/MS/MS indicated a high contribution of environmental estrogens from livestock wastes.