Close to the sea is a nest of giant earthquakes.

Also this week, in a hole dug in the seabed depth of 1900 m near the Nankai Trough off the Kii Peninsula, such as the Organization for Marine-Earth Science and Technology research team began a study to capture slight crustal movements, such as distortion of the rock. It is aimed to understand the crustal activity in this area is a nest of large earthquakes, earthquake prediction to find the clues.
Continues until the hole is 980 m below the seafloor, "Earth" riser drilling vessel of the same mechanism dug. Instrument can be seen installed seismometers that can detect even very small earthquakes there, and the strain of the rock slope, a thermometer you know the movement of the water temperature changes. So that data is sent in real time to a base station.
Have continued to measure the change in water pressure and seismic instrument 20 has already been equipped with the surrounding seabed, this time, to thin to "nest" by digging a hole to install. By all means, I want to collect a core data leading to earthquake prediction.


海洋研究開発機構などの研究チームは今週にも、紀伊半島南東沖の南海トラフに近い水深１９００メートルの海底に掘った穴で、岩盤のひずみなどわずかな地殻変動をとらえる研究を始める。巨大地震の巣であるこの海域の地殻活動を把握し、地震予測の手がかりを見つける狙いだ。
　海底下９８０メートルまで続く穴は、同機構の地球深部探査船「ちきゅう」が掘った。そこに微小な地震も検知できる地震計、岩盤のひずみや傾きがわかる計器、温度変化で水の動きがわかる温度計を設置。基地局にリアルタイムでデータを送るようになっている。
　周囲の海底にはすでに２０個の計器が備え付けられていて水圧の変化や地震の計測を続けているが、今回、穴を掘って設置することで「巣」に肉薄する。 ぜひ、地震予知につながる核心的データを収集して欲しいですね。