Shingo Watada

Seismic Evidence for Deep-Water Transportation in the Mantle

We report seismic evidence for the transportation of water into the deep mantle in the subduction zone beneath northeastern Japan. Our data indicate that water is released from the hydrated oceanic crust at shallow depths (<∼100 kilometers) and then forms a channel of hydrated mantle material on top of the subducting plate that is the pathway for water into the deep mantle. Our result provides direct evidence that shows how water is transported from the ocean to the deep mantle in a cold subduction zone environment.

Traveltime delay and initial phase reversal of distant tsunamis coupled with the self‐gravitating elastic Earth

Systematic tsunami traveltime delays of up to 15 min relative to the numerically simulated long waves from the 2010 Chilean and 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquakes were widely observed at deep ocean tsunamimeters. Enigmatic small negative phases appearing before the main peak were commonly found only at the trans-oceanic locations. The frequency dependence of the measured tsunami phase velocities shows reverse dispersions at long periods, i.e., the tsunami speed becomes slower at periods beyond 1000 s. This is consistent with the phase velocities of a tsunami mode coupled with a self-gravitating elastic Earth, suggesting that the effects of compression and dilatation of seawater, elastic tsunami loadings on a solid Earth, and the geopotential variations associated with the motion of mass during tsunami propagation are responsible for the traveltime delays and the initial negative phases. Simple 1-D tsunami propagation tests confirm that the reverse dispersion creates a small negative phase that precedes the main peak at large distances. A new method to simulate tsunami waveforms on real ocean bathymetry that takes into account seawater compressibility, the elasticity of the Earth, and geopotential perturbations has been developed by applying a phase correction to the simulated long waves. The simulated waveforms, in which phase corrections are applied for the dispersion effects, accurately reproduce the observed waveforms, including a small initial negative phase that appears at distant locations. The traveltime difference between the observed and simulated waveforms has been decreased to less than 5 min and the waveform difference between them remarkably diminishes.

Fault slip distribution of the 2014 Iquique, Chile, earthquake estimated from ocean‐wide tsunami waveforms and GPS data

We applied a new method to compute tsunami Greens functions for slip inversion of the 1 April 2014 Iquique earthquake using both near-field and far-field tsunami waveforms. Inclusion of the effects of the elastic loading of seafloor, compressibility of seawater, and the geopotential variation in the computed Greens functions reproduced the tsunami traveltime delay relative to long-wave simulation and allowed us to use far-field records in tsunami waveform inversion. Multiple time window inversion was applied to tsunami waveforms iteratively until the result resembles the stable moment rate function from teleseismic inversion. We also used GPS data for a joint inversion of tsunami waveforms and coseismic crustal deformation. The major slip region with a size of 100 km × 40 km is located downdip the epicenter at depth ~28 km, regardless of assumed rupture velocities. The total seismic moment estimated from the slip distribution is 1.24 × 1021 N m (Mw 8.0).

Acoustic resonant oscillations between the atmosphere and the solid earth during the 1991 Mt. Pinatubo eruption

Long-period harmonic Rayleigh waves were observed on seismometers during the 1991 Mt. Pinatubo eruption in the Philippines. The amplitude spectrum of the Rayleigh waves shows two distinct peaks at periods of about 230 and 270 s. In the Earth’s atmosphere, long-wavelength standing acoustic waves are bounded in a low-sound-velocity channel between the thermosphere and the ground. The Rayleigh waves and the fundamental and first overtone of atmospheric acoustic waves trapped in the low-sound-velocity channels have approximately the same horizontal wavelength and frequency at periods of 230 and 270 s, respectively, i.e., the atmosphere and the solid earth satisfy the condition for acoustic resonant oscillations. The standing atmospheric long-wavelength acoustic waves set off by the eruption selectively excited seismic spheroidal modes near the resonant period through acoustic resonant coupling and resulted in harmonic Rayleigh waves. In contrast, gravity waves and Lamb waves (atmospheric boundary waves) do not couple to the ground efficiently and are not easily observed as ground disturbance on seismograms during volcanic eruptions.

Atmospheric pressure change associated with the 2003 Tokachi‐Oki earthquake

Clear atmospheric pressure changes associated with the 2003 Tokachi-Oki, Japan, earthquake with Mw 8.3 were recorded with the microbarographs distributed in Japan. The pressure change starts at the arrival of seismic waves and reaches its maximum amplitude at the arrival of Rayleigh waves, suggesting that the observed pressure change was driven by the ground motion of seismic waves passing by the site. We computed the seismic-to-pressure transfer function (i.e., the spectral ratio of the pressure change to the vertical ground motion velocity) for periods between 10 to 50 s from the co-located barograph and seismograph records. Comparison of the observed transfer function with the theoretical one including the finite frequency and wavelength effects for a gravitationally stratified isothermal atmosphere confirms that the observed amplitude and phase of the pressure change are explained by the acoustic coupling between the atmosphere and the ground just beneath the sensors.

Receiver function images of the central Chugoku region in the Japanese islands using Hi-net data

Crustal configuration of the central Chugoku region with disposition of the Philippine Sea Plate (PHS) in this area are investigated through the receiver function approach using short-period Hi-net data. Images of the upper mantle discontinuities are also obtained. Restituted short-period receiver functions bring out discernible variations in average composition of the crust and its thickness in the study region. The Vp/Vs values in the study area are generally high, reaching values in excess of 1.85 at a few places. The central part of the study region showing the highest Vp/Vs values is coincidentally a subregion of least seismicity, possibly bestowed with special subsurface structure. Migrated receiver function images, both Ps and Pps images, unambiguously trace the NW subducting PHS taking a steeper plunge in the northwest part of the Chugoku region reaching depths of 70 km from its low dip disposition in the southeast. An excellent correlation of the subducting PHS with the hypocenters is also seen. We demonstrate that short-period data after restitution and application of appropriate low pass filters can indeed detect presence of the global 410-km and 660-km discontinuities and map their disposition reasonably well. Our migrated receiver functions image the deflections in the 410-km and 660-km discontinuities in an anti-correlated fashion on expected lines of Clapeyron slope predictions induced by subduction of the Pacific plate (PAC) beneath Japanese islands, though PAC itself is feebly traced but shows good correlation with slab seismicity.

Radiation of acoustic and gravity waves and propagation of boundary waves in the stratified fluid from a time-varying bottom boundary

Energy flow and radiation of linearized acoustic–gravity waves and propagation of boundary waves in a gravitationally stratified isothermal compressible inviscid semi-infinite fluid from a time-varying bottom boundary are investigated in the frequency–wavenumber domain. Impedance Z , the ratio of the bottom vertical displacement to the fluid pressure above it, is a function of the frequency and horizontal wavenumber (ω, k ) of the bottom boundary undulation. The amplitude and phase of Z at the bottom boundary divide the (ω, k ) coordinates into wave-type regimes. In contrast to the pure acoustic or gravity wave case, the phase of Z is continuous but changes quickly across the regime boundaries between the propagating waves and trapped waves at the bottom, except for the Lamb wave branch along which the amplitude is infinite and across which the phase jumps by π. The phase of Z determines the efficiency of the work against the fluid by the deforming bottom boundary, showing reduced upward wave-energy flow from the bottom near the regime boundaries in which the phase of Z approaches ±π/2. For precise modelling of pressure waves and the energy flow of acoustic and gravity waves in the fluid originating from a time-dependent bottom-surface deformation with an apparent phase velocity comparable to the speed of sound in the fluid, it is necessary to include the dependency on (ω, k ) of impedance Z .

Source estimate and tsunami forecast from far-field deep-ocean tsunami waveforms—The 27 February 2010 Mw 8.8 Maule earthquake

We inverted the 2010 Maule earthquake tsunami waveforms recorded at DART (Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting Tsunamis) stations in the Pacific Ocean by taking into account the effects of the seawater compressibility, elasticity of the solid Earth, and gravitational potential change. These effects slow down the tsunami speed and consequently move the slip offshore or updip direction, consistent with the slip distribution obtained by a joint inversion of DART, tide gauge, GPS, and coastal geodetic data. Separate inversions of only near-field DART data and only far-field DART data produce similar slip distributions. The former demonstrates that accurate tsunami arrival times and waveforms of trans-Pacific tsunamis can be forecast in real time. The latter indicates that if the tsunami source area is as large as the 2010 Maule earthquake, the tsunami source can be accurately estimated from the far-field deep-ocean tsunami records without near-field data.

Geographical variations of the 0S0 normal mode amplitude: predictions and observations after the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake

The radial seismic normal mode 0S0 was strongly excited by the 2004 Mw = 9.3 Sumatra-Andaman earthquake at a period of 20.5 min. In a spherically symmetric Earth model, 0S0 amplitude is the same everywhere on the Earth’s surface. However, when the ellipticity and rotation of the Earth are taken into consideration, theoretical computations predict an amplitude of 0S0 1% higher at the pole than at the equator. Based on a realistic three-dimensional heterogeneous rotating elliptic Earth model, our predictions indicate that the amplitude of 0S0 is 2% higher at the pole than at the equator. A longitude dependency of 0S0 amplitude is also shown. The analysis of 13 superconducting gravimeter (SG) records of the 2004 Sumatra-Andaman earthquake supports the predicted geographical variations of 0S0 amplitude. We have also obtained new estimates for the frequency and Q of 0S0: 0.8146566±1.6 10−6 mHz and 5506±19.

Estimate of tsunami source using optimized unit sources and including dispersion effects during tsunami propagation: The 2012 Haida Gwaii earthquake

We apply a genetic algorithm (GA) to find the optimized unit sources using dispersive tsunami synthetics to estimate the tsunami source of the 2012 Haida Gwaii earthquake. The optimal number and distribution of unit sources gives the sea surface elevation similar to that from our previous slip distribution on a fault using tsunami data, but different from that using seismic data. The difference is possibly due to submarine mass failure in the source region. Dispersion effects during tsunami propagation reduce the maximum amplitudes by up to 20% of conventional linear long wave propagation model. Dispersion effects also increase tsunami travel time by approximately 1 min per 1,300 km on average. The dispersion effects on amplitudes depend on the azimuth from the tsunami source reflecting the directivity of tsunami source, while the effects on travel times depend only on the distance from the source.