Hastening of occurrences of earthquakes due to dynamic triggering: The observation at Matsushiro, central Japan     

Takaki Iwata  Ichiro Nakanishi 《Journal of Seismology》2004,8(2):165-177

Dynamic stress/strain changes associated with the passage of seismic waves perturb the state of stress of a fault.We hypothesize that this perturbation increases the instability of the fault and that it hastens the occurrence of an earthquake that would otherwise occur somewhat later.To test this hypothesis, we investigate a time interval defined as a time difference between the occurrence of a dynamic strain change and the origin time of the first subsequent earthquake.If the occurrence of an earthquake is hastened by the strain change, the time interval would be shortened, compared with a case of a random occurrence.Here we used two datasets: 1) origin times of earthquakes at Matsushiro, Nagano Prefecture, central Japan, with magnitudes of 1.6 or greater, between November 1984 and December 1994; and 2) strainmeter records of remote earthquakes at the Matsushiro Seismological Observatory over the same period.We applied a statistical test to the distribution of the observed time intervals between dynamic strain changes due to remote earthquakes and the first earthquakes at Matsushiro subsequent to the strain changes, in order to compare it to the distribution of expected time intervals generated by a random (Monte Carlo) simulation.Because of limitations of the statistical test, we could not establish the quantitative relationship between the degree of hastening and the amplitude of the strain changes, but we found a statistically significant decrease of the observed time intervals.We also investigated the number of the earthquakes before and after the strain changes, and found that dynamic triggering has little significant impact on the occurrences of earthquakes at Matsushiro.Therefore, we conclude that dynamic triggering at Matsushiro is weaker than those reported in previous studies and that the time interval might be an important parameter for a statistical study of weak dynamic triggering.  相似文献   

The influence of increased jet airline traffic on the amountof high level cloudiness in Alaska     

S. Nakanishi  J. Curtis  G. Wendler 《Theoretical and Applied Climatology》2001,68(3-4):197-205

Summary  The high level cloudiness has increased over Alaska during the second half of this century, a period for which reliable data exist. This increase is most pronounced in areas close to the much traveled air routes from Europe to Anchorage which could be demonstrated by a comparison with two remote stations in western Alaska. This might be taken as an indication that the observed high cloudiness increase is caused by jet contrails. Seasonally, summer and spring give the greatest increases. Cloudiness is, of course, an important parameter for climatic change, and increased high level cloud amount in arctic and subarctic areas would lead to warmer temperature; these have been observed in Alaska. Received May 11, 2000 Revised November 17, 2000  相似文献   

Formation rate of water masses in the Japan sea     

Hideyuki Kawamura  Jong-Hwan Yoon  Toshimichi Ito 《Journal of Oceanography》2007,63(2):243-253

Water masses in the subsurface and the intermediate layer are actively formed due to strong winter convection in the Japan Sea. It is probable that some fraction of pollution is carried into the layer below the sea surface together with these water masses, so it is important to estimate the formation rate and turnover time of water masses to study the fate of pollutants. The present study estimates the annual formation rate and the turnover time of water masses using a three-dimensional ocean circulation model and a particle chasing method. The total annual formation rate of water masses below the sea surface amounted to about 3.53 ± 0.55 Sv in the Japan Sea. Regarding representative intermediate water masses, the annual formation rate of the Upper portion of the Japan Sea Proper Water (UJSPW) and the Japan Sea Intermediate Water (JSIW) were estimated to be about 0.38 ± 0.11 and 1.43 ± 0.16 Sv, respectively, although there was little evidence of the formation of deeper water masses below a depth of about 1500 m in a numerical experiment. An estimate of turnover time shows that the UJSPW and the JSIW circulate in the intermediate layer of the Japan Sea with timescales of about 22.1 and 2.2 years, respectively.  相似文献   

Livestock wastes as a source of estrogens and their effects on wildlife of Manko tidal flat,Okinawa   总被引：9，自引：0，他引：9  

Tashiro Y  Takemura A  Fujii H  Takahira K  Nakanishi Y 《Marine pollution bulletin》2003,47(1-6):143-147

The Manko tidal flat in the southern part of Okinawa Island is an important visiting and wintering area for migratory birds and was added to the Ramsar Convention Register of Wetlands in 1999. This area used to be an inlet extending to the inner part of Naha Port, but recent reclamation projects have restricted its connection to the East China Sea. As is typical in rural regions of subtropical islands, the inhabitants in the Manko basin raise livestock, especially pigs, without employing sufficient waste treatment methods. As sewage treatment works are considered to be one of the main sources of environmental estrogens in urban areas, the significance of livestock farming as a source of estrogens in rural area is examined in this study. In the present study, total estrogenic activities in water and sediment samples from the Manko tidal flat and its basin were measured using a recombinant yeast screen method. Estrogenic activities (equivalent to 17beta-estradiol, E2) were around 10 ng l(-1) in water samples and more than 10 microg kg(-1) in some sediment samples. In addition, the concentrations of estrone (E1) and E2 in water samples measured using LC/MS/MS indicated a high contribution of environmental estrogens from livestock wastes.  相似文献