Analysis of the far-field crustal displacements caused by the 2011 Great Tohoku earthquake inferred from continuous GPS observations

Abstract Small coseismic offsets detectable using GPS techniques were found more than 2300 km away from the Great Tohoku 2011 earthquake epicenter. Area of the most intense far-field co- and postseismic deformations with the maximum offset values exceeding 40 and 18 mm, respectively, extends westward from Honshu Island to the Korean Peninsula, northeastern China and southern Far East Russia. Sakhalin Island does not exhibit notable displacements caused by the earthquake, in contrast to the adjacent territories. A rectangular fault model with uniform slip was developed based on the GPS-detected far-field coseismic displacements using the spherically layered Earth assumption. Both far- and near-field coseismic deformations are generally well described by a single-segment rupture of 200 × 96 km 2 , characterized by thrust slip with minor strike-slip component of about 33 m and by the seismic moment value of 1.9·10 22  N·m (Mw = 8.8), which roughly constrains the major slip area. The resultant compact fault geometry revealed that the main portion of the seismic moment had been realized in a relatively small-sized rupture segment. The sensitivity of far-field GPS data to the major slip area might also be used in the development of a seismically generated giant tsunami warning system.