The University of Tokyo · Earth and Planetary Sciences
Professor Masanao Shinohara's research lab specializes in marine and solid-Earth geophysics, focusing on seismic observation and earthquake mechanism analysis using advanced ocean-bottom and fiber-optic sensing technologies. The lab conducts extensive seafloor seismic surveys, particularly using Ocean Bottom Seismometers (OBSs) and Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS), to precisely map aftershock distributions and fault geometries in subduction zones. Their work significantly contributes to understanding large interplate earthquakes, such as the 2007 Chuetsu-Oki and 2011 Tohoku earthquakes, by enabling high-resolution, dense seismic monitoring in challenging marine environments. The lab also investigates geomagnetic pulsations and ionospheric effects, especially at equatorial regions, to explore space weather impacts on Earth's upper atmosphere and magnetic field dynamics.
Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.
Recently, the distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) measurement, which utilizes an optical fiber itself as a sensor, becomes popular for various fields and is being applied to seismic observations. The shortest spatial sampling of DAS observations reaches a few meters, and the total measurement distance becomes greater than 50 km. A high temporal sampling rate is achieved. Due to these characteristics, a DAS measurement allows for a dense seismic observation as a linear array. Applying a DAS measur
Abstract The Chuetsu-Oki Earthquake occurred on July 16, 2007. To understand the mechanism of earthquake generation, it is important to obtain a detailed seismic activity. Since the source region of the 2007 Chuetsu-oki Earthquake lies mainly offshore of Chuetsu region, a central part of Niigata Prefecture, it is difficult to estimate the geometry of faults using only the land seismic network data. A precise aftershock distribution is essential to determine the fault geometry of the mainshock. T
Peculiarities of daytime and nighttime Pi 2 pulsations at the dip equator are examined by using multipoint measurements from the 210° magnetic meridian (MM) magnetometer network. We found that during daytime the amplitude of Pi 2 pulsations at the dip equator is enhanced, and the phase lags ∼ 34° behind those at low‐latitude (magnetic latitude Φ = 19.5‐46.2°) stations. On the other hand, during nighttime the amplitude of Pi 2 pulsations at the dip equator is depressed, and the phase lags ∼ 18° b
The 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake occurred at the plate boundary between the Pacific plate and the landward plate on March 11, 2011, and had a magnitude of 9. Many aftershocks occurred following the mainshock. Obtaining a precise aftershock distribution is important for understanding the mechanism of earthquake generation. In order to study the aftershock activity of this event, we carried out extensive sea-floor aftershock observations using more than 100 ocean-bottom seismome
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