Most of the source areas of huge earthquakes (magnitude larger than eight) locate beneath the seafloor. The mission of this center is the development and realization of a system for monitoring and forecasting such earthquakes. The system continuously and broadly monitors and forecasts 1) the preparation, rupture and deformation processes that occur during pre-, co- and post-earthquake periods associated with the huge earthquakes, and 2) the generation, propagation, and inundation processes of tsunamis that are caused by the earthquake and other origins in real-time.

Three groups, namely, the Research and Development Group for Seafloor Observatory, the Earthquake and Tsunami Monitoring Group, and the Earthquake Forecasting Research Group, unite in tackling this mission by developing instruments, data acquisition, and data analysis methods for monitoring and forecasting in collaboration with domestic and foreign research groups.

We collaborate with the Subduction Dynamics Research Center to construct and upgrade the 3-dimensional crustal structure model that plays a central role in the data analysis. We aim to contribute to disaster reduction measures by providing predictions of disaster and damage based on earthquake and tsunami scenarios, urban digital models, and integrated earthquake simulation together with the Research Institute for Value-Added-Information Generation and organizations such as universities and national research institutes.

Further, we promote the development of the observation methods to monitor marine volcanic activities by collaborating with the Volcanoes and Earth’s Interior Research Center and the Institute for Marine-Earth Exploration and Engineering.

Takane Hori
Director, Research and Development Center for Earthquake and Tsunami Forecasting (FEAT)