Dr Athanassios Ganas

Dr Athanassios Ganas

Dr. Athanassios Ganas, Research Director, NOA aganas@noa.gr
During the last twenty-five years I have been engaged in a variety of research activities in Solid Earth sciences. My principal interest is active tectonics, where I made use of a series of interdisciplinary tools and technologies to advance scientific knowledge. I list below the main topics I delivered original contributions to basic science research, always leading or being part of a team of fellow experts.
1. Crustal deformation due to earthquakes and tectonic strain. I have worked in the quantification of the deformation and the comparative use of strain metrics (dilatation, second invariant etc.) in understanding strain patterns. I founded the NOANET GNSS network in Greece in 2005. Since then, I have used GPS observations and InSAR maps to quantify strain rates in Greece.
2. Tectonic geomorphology and in particular the relation of erosional platforms (such as triangular facets) to fault slip rates. I have used a combination of methods such as field geology, space geodesy and digital morphometry on global DEMs (ASTER, SRTM). I have advanced methods to process DEMs for identifying active faults.
3. Seismology with emphasis on static stress transfer following large earthquakes in Greece, Slovenia, Romania and other countries. I also published papers on relocation of earthquake sequences for fault mapping, on b-value distributions across the earthquake cycle (inter-, co-, post seismic) to map stress levels, using software such as Z-map and Okada-type modeling.
4. Microzonation studies with emphasis on mapping active faults and/or subsiding areas so as to contribute to safe urban planning and construction of important buildings, schools, bridges etc. I have used a combination of field geology, seismology, applied geophysics and space geodesy. Since 1999 I have also mapped ground effects after several strong earthquakes in Greece including earthquake-induced landslides and liquefaction.
5. Mineral exploration using satellite and airborne data from multispectral (and hyperspectral) sensors. I have used image processing software to map clay minerals and pathfinder minerals in regions with well-exposed volcanic alterations. In the previous decade I also worked on image processing of thermal images in order to map heat flux from active volcanoes in the Aegean.
Current research activities also include: a) testing and operation of warning systems for earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis based on GNSS technology. We have been operating a platform that uses BNC/BKG and CNES software to process real-time GNSS signals from dual-frequency geodetic receivers along the Hellenic Arc b) operation of local GPS networks to map crustal deformation (including subsidence) using static observations from both permanent and campaign stations c) continuation of the Greek active faults project NOAFAULTs http://194.177.194.115/panearth/noafaultsv2.html .