SPACE GEODESY Research Section

Research activities

In this research section, we perform scientific investigation of the Earth and planets with space geodetic approaches, and engineering studies of space geodetic techniques. These techniques includes Global Positioning System (GPS), Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR), Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Ladar (InSAR), and gravimetry through tracking artificial satellites.flier

Stuff

Prof. Kosuke Heki(hp)



heki@mail.sci.hokudai.ac.jp

Prof. Masato Furuya(hp)



furuya@mail.sci.hokudai.ac.jp

members in 2007 September
back row from left to right, Ryoko Ogawa, Mamoru Sugawara and Takeshi Kataoka
middle E.I. Astafyeva
front row from left to right、Yu Morishita and Koji Matsuo

members in 2009 March

back row from left to right, Takeshi Kataoka, Masaru Ozeki, Koji Matsuo

middle E.I. Astafyeva, Mamoru Sugawara

front row, Kiyoto Yoshida, Ryoko Ogawa

members in 2009 December

back row from left to right, Youhei Kinoshita, Kiyoto Yoshida, Takatoshi Yasuda, Masato Furuya

left row from back, Masaru Ozeki, Kosuke Heki

right row from back, Mamoru Sugawara, Ryoko Ogawa, Nobutaka Serizawa, Koji Matsuo, Ikuya Okazaki

Postdoctoral Fellow

Dr. Yuta Mitsui (2011 Apr. - )

Dr. Youichiro Takada (2007 Oct. - 2009 Jul., Now at DPRI, Kyoto Univ.)

JSPS Fellow

Dr. Elvira I. Astafyeva (Russian Academy of Sciences, Now at IPGP, Paris) (2007 Jun. - 2009 Jun.)
home page

Postgraduates in 2012

Koji Matsuo (JSPS fellow, now at Academia Sinica, Taipei) D3 (award)

Kiyoto Yoshida D2

Yohei Kinoshita D2

Mokhamad Nur Cahyadi D2

Jun Maeda D1

Takatoshi Yasuda D1 (award)

Sun, Shuoshuai M2.5

Takahiro Abe M2

Minami Muto M2

Tatsuhiko Ogawa M2

Deasy Arisa M1.5

Hiromu Kitazaki M1

Yusaku Tanaka M1

Doctor Theses

Ryoko Ogawa (2010 DSc Thesis, JSPS fellow) "Transient, seasonal and inter-annual gravity changes from GRACE data: Geophysical modelings" (pdf)

Master Theses

Ikuya Okazaki (2012 MSc Thesis) "Instantaneous and localized temperature changes in atmosphere associated with volcanic eruption observed by GPS radio occultation: 2010 Icelandic and 2011 Chilean cases" (pdf)

Takatoshi Yasuda (2012 MSc Thesis) "Diverse glacier surface velocity fields in the West Kunlun Shan, NW Tibet, detected by Synthetic Aperture Radar" (pdf)

Yuta Kobayashi (2012 MSc Thesis) "On the polar motion excitations by recent mega-thrust earthquakes and movements of tectonic plates" (pdf)

Nobutaka Serizawa (2012 MSc Thesis) "Co-seismic deformation of the two earthquakes at Laos (May 2007, Mw6.3) and Yunnan (Jun 2007, Mw6.1)" (pdf)

Yohei Kinoshita (2011 MSc Thesis) "Tropospheric propagation delay in InSAR : case studies of noise and signal" (pdf)

Masaru Ozeki (2011 MSc Thesis) "Measurements of Snow Depths Using the Geometry-free Linear Combinations of the two L-band Phases from GPS Satellites" (pdf)

Kiyoto Yoshida (2011 MSc Thesis) "GPS Climatology：Climatological signals from long term behaviors of atmospheric zenith delays and their gradients from the Japanese dense GPS array" (pdf)

Mamoru Sugawara (2010 MSc Thesis) "Ionospheric disturbances preceding inland earthquakes: An examination with GPS" (pdf)

Koji Matsuo (2010 MSc Thesis) "Seasonal and inter-annual changes of snow and ice in the terrestrial and planetary cryosphere from time-variable gravity field" (pdf)

Takeshi Kataoka (2009 MSc Thesis) "On the biannually repeating slow slip events beneath the Iriomote Island" (pdf)

Ryoko Ogawa (2007 MSc Thesis) "A study of non-seasonal gravity changes from GRACE" (pdf)

2012-2013 Undergraduates

T. Yamamoto

Y. Shirahata

Y. Nakashima

A. Saito

M. Hashimoto

2011-2012 Undergraduates

A. Kasai "Detection of spatio-temporal variation of crustal deformation using ALOS/PALSAR : Case study of the Izu-Oshima volcano" Poster (pdf) Thesis (pdf)

H. Kitazaki "Search for geoid height changes due to the Tohoku Oki earthquake (Mw9.0) by satellite altimeter Jason-2" Poster (pdf) Thesis (pdf)

Y. Tanaka "Co- and postseismic gravity changes of the 2010 Chile earthquake: Observations with GRACE satellites" Poster (pdf) Thesis (pdf)

2010-2011 Undergraduates

M. Muto "Estimation of 3-D displacement of the Perito Moreno glacier (Patagonia) based on ALOS/PALSAR" Poster (pdf) Thesis (pdf)

T. Ogawa "Mechanical evolution of the Earth-Moon system from global shape of the Moon" Poster (pdf) Thesis (pdf)

T. Abe "Detection of crustal defomation due to the Iwate-Miyagi-Nairiku earthquake with SAR and the estimation of its non-planar fault model" Poster (pdf) Thesis (pdf)

Y. Homma "On the seasonal gravity changes of the Japanese Islands observed by satellite gravimetry and their mechanisms" Poster (pdf) Thesis (pdf)

2009-2010 Undergraduates

I. Okazaki "Ionospheric observations by GPS ratio occultation: Height distributions of electron density increases by the 2006 X9.1 solar flare" Poster (pdf) Thesis (pdf)

T. Yasuda "Detection of co-seismic deformation and mountain glacier fluctuations by ALOS/PALSAR: the Yutian Earthquake (Mw7.1) on March 20, 2008, and the western edge of Kunlun Mountains" Poster (pdf) Thesis (pdf)

2008-2009 Undergraduates

K. Yoshida "Observations of long-term changes in atmospheric water vapor content with GPS and VLBI" Poster (pdf) Thesis (pdf)

M. Ozeki "The Earth's background free oscillations : Observations by GPS-TEC" Poster (pdf) Thesis (pdf)

N. Serizawa "The evolution of a slow earthquake in Afganistan detected by InSAR" Thesis (pdf)

Y. Kinoshita "Detection of crustal movement at Tokachidake volcano by Interferometric SAR" Thesis (pdf)

2007-2008 Undergraduates

Mamoru Sugawara "Crustal deformation by the true polar wander of Mars" Poster (pdf) Thesis (pdf)

Koji Matsuo "Geodetic study of Mars with Mars Global Surveyor" Poster (pdf) Thesis (pdf)

Yu Morishita "Detection of precipitation anomalies of El Nino/La Nina in time-variable gravity fields by GRACE" Poster (pdf) Thesis (pdf)

2006-2007 Undergraduates

T. Kataoka "Correlation between annual variation of ocean bottom pressure and seasonality of great earthquake occurrences along the Nankai and Sagami Troughs" Poster (pdf) Thesis (pdf)

T. Furuya "Observations of local ionospheric holes by launch of H-IIA rocket with GPS" Poster (pdf) Thesis (pdf)

2005-2006 Undergraduates

S. Kuga "Geodetic study of sea level rise from GPS, altimeter and tide gauge data" Poster (pdf) Thesis (pdf)

R. Yoshimi "Shift of the Earth's rotational pole associated with the 2004 Sumatra Earthquake" Poster (pdf) Thesis (pdf)

2004-2005 Undergraduates

Ryoko Ogawa "Detection of the global deformation of non-plate-tectonic origins" Poster (pdf) Thesis (pdf)

Shin'yu Sato "Seismic waves in the ionosphere: observation of ionospheric disturbances by ground movements" Poster (pdf) Thesis (pdf)

Yoshinobu Nihon'yanagi "Quantitative study of ionospheric disturbances by solar flares" Poster (pdf) Thesis (pdf)

Recent commentary

The Earth: A Planet of Wonder (in Japanese) (Video series from National Astronomical Observatory)

The Sumatra earthquake and the Earth (in Japanese)

Why do earthquakes occur？ (in Japanese)

Another way to use GPS (from "Science Explorer COSTEP" in mp3, Japanese）

Plate motion and crustal deformation observed with GPS (from FM Northwave "Frontier Spirit Radio with Hokkaido University" in mp3, Japanese）

Changing earth as shown by gravity (from a journal "Littera Populi" Hokkaido University's public relations magazine)

Recent highlights