Chao Gao

During my undergraduate study, I worked on projects concerning the mechanism of microseism generation in the ocean and seismic inversion for oceanic lithospheric structure. This experience inspires my interests in mechanism and application of seismic ambient noise. Currently, at University of Maryland, my research involves constraining the anomalous structures in the Earth’s lower mantle, whose sizes are intermediate between the large low shear velocity provinces (LLSVPs) and the patches of ultra low velocities (ULVZs) near the core mantle boundary. By modeling waveforms from deep earthquakes, I will image the mesoscale structure in the lower mantle to better understand what this structure is. Further, I’m also interested in exploring studies that employing varied methods (ambient noise, surface waves, HZ ratio and so on) to constrain the Earth’s crust and upper mantle structure, which will entail a joint inversion approach.

Chao’s main professional webpage can be found at: http://cgumd.weebly.com