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Watada Lab (Earth and Planetary Dynamics)
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The lab studies earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis as phenomena of an Earth that is connected all the way through the atmosphere and the ocean.
AboutAbout the lab
Finding unknown phenomena in a connected Earth.
The Watada Lab studies solid Earth phenomena, including earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis.
Using data from satellites and from land-based and seafloor instruments, the lab aims to explain, from first principles, Earth phenomena that are still not understood.
The lab treats the atmosphere, the ocean, and the Earth's interior as a single system linked by forces, and investigates atmospheric waves and tsunamis generated by earthquakes and eruptions.
Key terms
- Far-field tsunami
- A tsunami that travels across the ocean from an earthquake or other source that occurred far away
- Ionosphere
- A layer of the atmosphere, located tens to hundreds of kilometers above the ground, that contains many electrically charged particles
- Waveform interferometry
- An analysis method that compares and combines wave records made at separate locations to extract how waves propagate
NewsLab news
Fault slip of the Kamchatka earthquake estimated from a tsunami captured by the SWOT satellite
A master's student won the Outstanding Student Presentation Award from the Seismological Society of Japan
Assistant Professor Mitabata won the Young Researcher Encouragement Award from the Seismological Society of Japan
Assistant Professor Mitabata won the Research Encouragement Award from the Volcanological Society of Japan
Repeated fault ruptures in a submarine caldera uncovered from a tiny tsunami with an amplitude of 1 mm
ResearchResearch themes
The lab views the atmosphere, the ocean, and the Earth's interior as a single dynamical system coupled by elastic and gravitational forces. Through theory, observation, and data analysis, it studies the crustal deformation, atmospheric waves, and tsunamis that appear during earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, aiming to get at the essence of phenomena that span multiple geospheres.
*Illustrative imageHow the atmosphere and the solid Earth resonate in large volcanic eruptions
The lab has clarified how the atmosphere and the ground resonate with each other, like sound, during huge volcanic eruptions. It also studies the atmospheric waves generated by the 2022 volcanic eruption in Tonga.
*Illustrative imageDelay and distortion of tsunamis crossing the ocean
The lab has clarified why tsunamis that cross the open ocean (far-field tsunamis) arrive later than predicted and why the first wave appears with reversed polarity. It continues to study tsunamis traveling across the ocean.
*Illustrative imageSynthesizing tsunamis from seafloor pressure records
The lab is pursuing research that uses waveform interferometry to synthesize tsunami waveforms from pressure data recorded continuously on the seafloor.
*Illustrative imageAtmospheric waves and ionospheric disturbances caused by earthquakes and eruptions
The lab studies atmospheric waves (acoustic waves and gravity waves) triggered by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, as well as the resulting disturbances in the ionosphere above.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Watada Lab are faculty, project researchers, and doctoral and master's students.As of 2026
- ProfessorShingo WatadaPublications ↗
- Assistant ProfessorOsamu Mitabata
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “SWOT Satellite Measures Pacific Tsunami (PIA26652)” NASA/JPL-Caltech / Public domain (cropped)
- How the atmosphere and the solid Earth resonate in large volcanic eruptions: “ISS-66 Atmospheric plume from 2022 Hunga Tonga eruption - edited” NASA / Kayla Barron / Public domain (cropped)
- Delay and distortion of tsunamis crossing the ocean: “2011Sendai-NOAA-Energylhvpd9-05” West Coast & Alaska Tsunami Warning Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration / Public domain (cropped)
- Synthesizing tsunamis from seafloor pressure records: “Ocean Bottom Seismometer - Hongo Campus, the University of Tokyo - DSC04878” Daderot / CC0 (cropped)
- Atmospheric waves and ionospheric disturbances caused by earthquakes and eruptions: “Aurora Seen From Space by NASA” NASA / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Kano Lab): “Kawaraban-of-1855-Ansei-Edo-earthquake” A news broadsheet “Kawaraban”, 1855 / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Miyake Lab (Earthquake Research Institute, Division of Earthquake and Volcano Disaster Research)): “Aso house damaged by the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake 2” hanonimas / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Furumura Lab): “Skyscrapers of Nishi Shinjuku over Kanda River from Nakano, Tokyo, Japan, 2024 May” Ximonic (Simo Räsänen) / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Ishiyama Lab): “Arakura Fault of the Itoigawa-Shizuoka Tectonic Line” Sakaori (talk) / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
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