Earth Observatory of Singapore

Spotlight: Indonesia

Testing the Potential of Wave Gliders for Ocean Exploration and Seafloor Geodesy in SE Asia

Barbot's team is developing geophysical marine robots to probe the deformation of the seafloor. The end goal is to extend geodetic measurements offshore to better understand earthquakes, tectonic processes and tsunami hazards.

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.

Testing the Potential of Wave Gliders for Ocean Exploration and Seafloor Geodesy in SE Asia

Annual Report 2016
Nepal is the home to stunning landscapes and the tallest mountain range in the world. It is also the site of the largest active continental thrust fault called the Main Frontal Thrust. The collision of the Indian subcontinent and the Eurasian plate, which began about 50 million years ago, is still building the tallest mountains in the world and has produced many large, catastrophic earthquakes along the way.

A View from the Trenches: The 2017 Earthquake Geology Training and Field Camp in Myanmar and Thailand

"One of the things that first made me interested in geology was hearing about the number of places that geologists travel to for work." Tim Dawson, a Senior Engineering Geologist at California Geological Survey, reflects on the perks of being a geologist, and describes his most recent adventure in the trenches in northern Myanmar and Thailand during an earthquake geology...

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.

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,...

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.

Sumatran Fault Monitoring (SuMo) Campaign GPS project

Studies focused on tectonic activity along the Sumatran Fault zone (SFZ), which traverses the entire 1900-km length of Sumatra, are still lacking. The SFZ is segmented and the slip rate varies for each segment, but rates are poorly known, particularly at the southern end of the SFZ.