The National Science Foundation Division of Earth Sciences awarded Michigan State University $187,925 on January 1, 2027, under the Geosciences program (CFDA 47.050) to conduct collaborative research on seismic phenomena in the Eastern Aleutian Subduction Zone. The award, classified as a Project Grant, runs through December 31, 2030, with place of performance in East Lansing, Michigan.
The project will deploy broadband ocean bottom seismographs in the Eastern Aleutian Subduction Zone to augment permanent land stations and study the region extending from the volcanic arc to seaward of the trench. Research activities will produce a high-precision earthquake catalog, a tectonic tremor catalog, a high-resolution regional seismic velocity model, and constraints on plate interface depth. These data will improve earthquake and tsunami hazard assessment in Alaska and test the hypothesis that variability associated with the contrast between overriding continental and oceanic plate composition drives along-strike variability in megathrust earthquake rupture, background seismicity, plate coupling, and tectonic tremor. The principal investigators will partner with museums in Alaska and Hawaiʻi to design and implement education and outreach programs focusing on earthquake and tsunami hazards at subduction zones. No subawards are planned for this award. The project is jointly funded by the Marine Geology and Geophysics Program and the Structure and Physics of the Solid Earth Program within NSF's Division of Earth Sciences.