Canadian scientist awarded for exceptional contribution to Earth science!

linzhill@uvic.ca — Tue, 23 Aug 2016 21:22:25 +0000

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.

Award-winning study compares the Cascadia subduction zone to offshore Japan

vkeast@uvic.ca — Sun, 28 Feb 2016 18:34:38 +0000

In January 2016, University of Victoria Master’s student, Dawei Gao, won an Outstanding Student Poster Award at the 2015 American Geophysical Union Fall meeting. His co-authored paper on earthquake dynamics explores the question: What would happen if the Cascadia subduction fault (off the west coast of Canada) ruptured, or broke, in the same way as the 2011 Tohoku earthquake?

Dawei Gao stands ready to answer questions beside his award-winning student poster at the 2015 Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union.

Dawei developed profiles of the Cascadia subduction zone and compared them with those offshore Japan. His award-winning paper demonstrates various rupture scenarios along the Cascadia fault, and uses this knowledge to demonstrate tsunami wave propagation.

Given the complex structure at the leading edge or trench of Cascadia’s fault line, Dawei shows that the slip-to-trench rupture that occurred in Japan is not very likely to happen on North America’s west coast. “But for tsunami hazard assessment, we should still consider all of the scenarios, including the slip-to-trench rupture,” says Dawei.

“The incoming tectonic plate at Cascadia is blanketed by approximately three kilometres of sediment near the deformation front. This is in sharp contrast to the sediment-starved Japan trench where one continuous fault extends all the way to the trench, a configuration that facilitates slip-to-trench rupture.“

Dawei’s work is a vital piece in the development of a comprehensive earthquake and tsunami early warning and response system for the west coast. With funding from Emergency Management BC (March 2015), Ocean Network Canada’s tsunami project is using 75 of Dawei’s simulated tsunami models to help produce earthquake-generated tsunami inundation maps, showing the amount of flooding expected at different areas along the coast.

That information will help people living along the coast respond quickly to future megathrust earthquakes and the tsunamis that follow.

Dawei Gao, Kelin Wang, Michael Riedel, Tianhaozhe Sun, Tania Lado Insua, Chris Goldfinger, and George R. Priest (2015), On the possibility of slip-to-trench rupture in Cascadia megathrust earthquakes, presented at 2015 AGU Fall meeting, San Francisco, California.

Congratulations Dawei! We’ll be following your progress and look forward to working with you in the future.

For more information about research in plate tectonics and earthquake dynamics at Ocean Networks Canada, please contact: Martin Heeseman, staff scientist.

Ocean Networks Canada - Dawei Gao

Canadian scientist awarded for exceptional contribution to Earth science!

Tags:

Categories:

Award-winning study compares the Cascadia subduction zone to offshore Japan

Tags:

Categories: