Plate motion, crustal deformation, and earthquake occurrence processes in the northwest Sunda Arc, which includes the Indo-Burmese wedge (IBW) in the forearc and the Sagaing fault in the backarc, are very poorly constrained. Plate reconstruction models and geological structures in the region suggest that subduction in the IBW occurred in the geological past, but whether it is still active and how the plate motion between the India and Sunda plates is partitioned between motion in the IBW and Sagaing fault is largely unknown. Recent GPS measurements of crustal deformation and available long-term rates of motion across the Sagaing fault suggest that ~20 ± 3 mm/yr of the relative plate motion of ~36 mm/yr between the India and Sunda plates is accommodated at the Sagaing fault through dextral strike-slip motion. We report results from a dense GPS network in the IBW that has operated since 2004. Our analysis of these measurements and the seismicity of the IBW suggest that the steeply dipping Churachandpur-Mao fault in the IBW accommodates the remaining motion of ~18 ± 2 mm/yr between the India and Sunda plates through dextral strike-slip motion, and this motion occurs predominantly through velocity strengthening frictional behavior, i.e., aseismic slip. The aseismic motion on this plate boundary fault signifi cantly lowers the seismic hazard due to major and great interplate earthquakes along this plate boundary.

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Collocated measurements of the boundary layer evolution and surface ozone, made for the first time at a tropical rural site (Gadanki 13.5 • N, 79.2 • E, 375 m amsl) in India, are presented here. The boundary layer related observations were made utilizing a lower atmospheric wind profiler and surface ozone observations were made using a UV analyzer simultaneously in April month. Daytime average boundary layer height varied from 1.5 km (on a rainy day) to a maximum of 2.5 km (on a sunny day). Correlated day-today variability in the daytime boundary layer height and ozone mixing ratios is observed. Days of higher ozone mixing ratios are associated with the higher boundary layer height and vice versa. It is shown that higher height of the boundary layer can lead to the mixing of near surface air with the ozone rich air aloft, resulting in the observed enhancements in surface ozone. A chemical box model simulation indicates about 17% reduction in the daytime ozone levels during the conditions of suppressed PBL in comparison with those of higher PBL conditions. On a few occasions, substantially elevated ozone levels (as high as 90 ppbv) were observed during late evening hours, when photochemistry is not intense. These events are shown to be due to southwesterly wind with uplifting and northeasterly winds with downward motions bringing ozone rich air from nearby urban centers. This was further corroborated by backward trajectory simulations.

A 6 day duration earthquakes swarm occurred in the Andaman Sea, 31 days after the giant 2004 Sumatra‐Andaman earthquake (Mw 9.2). The swarm occurred less than 100 km from the eastern edge of the 2004 earthquake rupture and is the most energetic ever recorded in the world. The earthquakes swarm appear to have occurred on en echelon fault system bounded by the two main right‐lateral strike‐slip faults, namely, the Seulimeum Strand of Sumatra Fault system (SEU) and the West Andaman Fault (WAF). At the beginning of the swarm, earthquakes with predominantly strike‐slip focal mechanisms occurred which were followed by earthquakes with predominantly normal faulting focal mechanisms having significant deviatoric component. Highbvalue, presence of double slope in the Gutenberg‐Richter relation, presence of monogenetic submarine volcanoes in the region of the swarm and the earthquake focal mechanisms suggest that the swarm was of volcano‐tectonic origin and fluid flow played an important role in its occurrence. Indeed, our modeling suggests that it was triggered by the 2004 Sumatra‐Andaman earthquake through poroelastic relaxation of the coseismic stresses.