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A 7.6 magnitude earthquake occurred in Japan at 04.10 local time on January 1. Authorities issued an emergency order for residents of affected coastal areas to evacuate. Comparison of before and after satellite images of the region shows that: Intense uplift has widened the coastline by 250 meters, more than the length of two football fields.

Images of Japan’s Noto Peninsula show coastal areas where the seabed has risen above the water, creating new open beaches. Photos show changes to the coastline after the earthquake and tsunami receded, with some harbors becoming completely dry and inaccessible to boats.

“The earthquake that struck Japan’s Noto Peninsula on Monday was so strong that the coastline moved 250 meters offshore due to significant upwelling.”.

During field research along the northwestern coast of the Noto Peninsula, we found evidence of coseismic coastal uplift associated with the Noto Peninsula earthquake at 10 locations from Kaiso to Akasaki. The pattern of predicted co-seismic coastal uplift appears to decrease southward from Kaiso to Akasaki.
– said the statement of researchers from the Earthquake Research Institute of the University of Tokyo.

The area near Akasaki port was also affected by the tsunami of about 4.2 metres.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Land Observation Satellite-2 (ALOS-2) also recorded the coastal upwelling caused by the earthquake. Satellite images compare the coastline from June 2023 to January 2, showing how the coastline is shifting seaward in several areas, including Nafune Port, Wajima City, and Minazuki Bay.

View of new terrain along the coast, detected by aerial photographs using data from the ALOS-2 satellite/JAXA photograph

Minazuki Bay / JAXA photo and surroundings comparison

Search efforts on the shore are still continuing.