Earth Observatory of Singapore

Spotlight: Southeast Asia

EOS and CVGHM Celebrate a Decade of Collaboration

Last December, the Earth Observatory of Singapore (EOS) celebrated the 10th anniversary of its collaboration with the Centre for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (CVGHM).

Nepal Seismotectonics

One major issue addressed here is to know whether the recent great earthquakes on the MFT ruptured the surface or not. EOS confirmed with 14C dating that the rupture of the 1934 Bihar-Nepal earthquake (Mw 8.2) reached the surface. It is a major breakthrough as the hitherto entrenched consensus had been that the 20th century catastrophic events along the Himalayan Frontal Thrust were blind.

Annual Report 2017
This annual report marks the end of the Earth Observatory’s first decade. At the onset, we conceived of a regional research and educational institution aimed at conducting basic geohazards research, headquartered on the campus of an up-and-coming university, NTU Singapore. Did we move significantly toward these goals during our first ten years? Are we contributing to making Southeast Asian societies safer and more sustainable? Are we likely, through the remainder of the century, to play a premier role in meeting the challenges...

Continuous Haze Monitoring in Sumatra

This project will be the first to continuously monitor haze at its source in Indonesia and will provide a jumping-off point to investigate the impacts of haze on local and global environments.

Geometry and Kinematics of the Main Frontal Thrust, Himalaya

This project aims to study the MFT and its associated fault splays by acquiring a densely-spaced set of high-resolution seismic reflection profiles across the fault tip in order to assess the geometry and kinematics of the fault.

Where Should We Rebuild After a Disaster?

In 2004, a devastating tsunami struck coastlines around the Indian Ocean. In a study of the long-term recovery of the city of Banda Aceh, Indonesia, we found that reconstruction aid provided mostly near the coast, combined with many people's preferences to move to safer areas instead, has had the unintended consequence whereby the poor have become disproportionately exposed to coastal hazards.

Sumatran Tectonic Geodesy (SuGAr)

SuGAr has been observing surface deformation in Sumatra since 2002. The long time series are now a treasure trove of interesting signals and questions, and are providing us with a great opportunity to examine changes in time and space in deformation patterns related to the Sumatra subduction zone. In the last few years we have installed a large number of new stations, all with various scientific questions in mind.

Reducing Natural Disaster Risk Across Asia

Asia and the Pacific are most at risk from natural disasters, according to a report from the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. More than 90 million people worldwide were affected by natural disasters in 2015. Asia is the world’s most disaster-prone continent, with 152 out of the 346 reported disasters worldwide. This isn’t surprising, given that it is both geologically active and the most populous region on Earth. In the last few decades, earthquakes,...

Mentawai Gap–Tsunami Earthquake Risk Assessment (MEGA-TERA)

The Mentawai Gap–Tsunami Earthquake Risk Assessment is a joint project between Schmidt Ocean Institute, the Earth Observatory of Singapore, the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, and the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris.

Mentawai Gap—Tsunami Earthquake Risk Assessment (MEGA-TERA) Cruise Log

The Mentawai Gap — Tsunami Earthquake Risk Assessment (MEGA-TERA) project is a scientific expedition that aims to investigate the cause of tsunamis in the seismically active zone west of Siberut Island, near Sumatra.