Congratulations to Dr. Kelin Wang for being elected a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), an international organization dedicated to advancing Earth and space sciences for the benefit of humanity.  Becoming a fellow of AGU is an honour provided to only 0.1% of AGU’s 62,000 plus members from over 140 countries.

Kelin and his students are studying the geodynamics of subduction zones, especially processes related to the generation of large earthquakes and tsunamis around the world. His models for earthquakes inform building codes, risk assessments, and tsunami preparedness along the Pacific coast of North America. This work is relevant to the tsunami research being done at Ocean Networks Canada (ONC).

Dr. Kelin Wang, senior scientist with Natural Resources Canada and adjunct professor at the University of Victoria

ONC recently collaborated with Kelin and his student, Dawei Gao, whose research on rupture scenarios along the Cascasdia fault, together with ONC’s work on Digital Elevation Models, will provide the necessary pieces to develop tsunami inundation maps and tools for preparedness for British Columbia coastal communities.

ONC’s tsunami research will continue to advance with instrument development and more detailed propagation models in collaboration with world-class scientists and organizations such as IBM Canada, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council’s Collaborative Research and Development Grant, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Emergency Management BC, Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District, NOAA, and GeoBC.

Kelin Wang is a senior scientist with Natural Resources Canada and adjunct professor at the University of Victoria who has published more than 200 publications and nearly 10,000 citations.

Some of his recent publications linked to ONC include:

Nykolaishen, L., H. Dragert, K. Wang, T. S. James, and M. Schmidt (2015), GPS Observations of Crustal Deformation Associated with the 2012 Mw 7.8 Haida Gwaii Earthquake, Bull Seismol Soc Am, 0120140177–, doi:10.1785/0120140177.

Obana, K., M. Scherwath, Y. Yamamoto, S. Kodaira, K. Wang, G. Spence, M. Riedel, and H. Kao (2015), Earthquake Activity in Northern Cascadia Subduction Zone Off Vancouver Island Revealed by Ocean-Bottom Seismograph Observations, Bull Seismol Soc Am, 0120140095–, doi:10.1785/0120140095.

Insua, T. L. et al. (2015), Advancing Tsunami Detection: The Ocean Networks Canada Tsunami Project, in 11th Canadian Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Canadian Association for Earthquake Engineering, Victoria.

Insua, T. L. et al. (2015), Preliminary tsunami hazard assessment in British Columbia, Canada, in Fall Meeting, AGU, American Geophysical Union, San Francisco.

Gao, D., K. Wang, M. Riedel, T. Sun, T. L. Insua, C. Goldfinger, and G. R. Priest (2015), On the Possibility of Slip-to-trench Rupture in Cascadia Megathrust Earthquakes, in Fall Meeting, AGU, American Geophysical Union, San Francisco.