SGAT Research

Our group has been mainly investigating the following topic now, but we always seek new ideas, methodology, and technology.

Volcano deformation

Volcanoes deform by various origins. For example, the migration of magma or hydrothermal fluid deforms Earth's surface. Heat transfer also deforms Earth's surface. We observe such deformation mainly with GNSS and SAR and try to understand the mechanics of the observed deformation through physical modeling.

Earthquake deformation

An earthquake is a process to release accumulated stress. Geodetic data is capable of observing the whole process of stress accumulation and release. Also, we observe stress release processes much slower than earthquakes, called "slow earthquakes." Our group seeks to understand the whole seismic cycle through geodetic and other observations and physical modeling.

Broadband Geodesy

Geodesy is a discipline to study slow deformation with a time scale longer than days. On the other hand, seismology is a discipline to study Earth's deformation with a time scale shorter than minutes. Recent technological advances such as kinematic GNSS processing allows us to bridge the gap by measuring deformation with a time scale shorter than hours. Our group seeks to observe deformation of a time scale than conventional geodesy does but longer than seismology can detect. Doing so will gain new insights into how the Earth deforms.

Tectonic deformation

Plate tectonics states that the tectonic is mostly rigid. However, it is not true near the plate boundary. Our group investigates the deformation near the plate boundary by combining observations and physical modeling of the deformation in the Earth's interiors.

Noise as Signal

Deformation measurements by space geodetic techniques always suffer from atmospheric and ionospheric disturbances. These are noise for deformation measurements but signals for atmospheric or ionospheric scientists. Our group makes use of the atmospheric and ionospheric disturbances to investigate lithosphere-atmosphere-ionosphere interactions. We are particularly interested in exploring the mechanics of explosive volcanic eruptions through space geodetic observations and physical modeling.