Runup of Tsunami Waves in U-Shaped Bays

The problem of tsunami wave shoaling and runup in U-shaped bays (such as fjords) and underwater canyons is studied in the framework of 1D shallow water theory with the use of an assumption of the uniform current on the cross-section. The wave shoaling in bays, when the depth varies smoothly along the channel axis, is studied with the use of asymptotic approach. In this case a weak reflection provides significant shoaling effects. The existence of traveling (progressive) waves, propagating in bays, when the water depth changes significantly along the channel axis, is studied within rigorous solutions of the shallow water theory. It is shown that traveling waves do exist for certain bay bathymetry configurations and may propagate over large distances without reflection. The tsunami runup in such bays is significantly larger than for a plane beach.     

Can the Waves Generated by Fast Ferries be a Physical Model of Tsunami?

The potential of long ship-induced waves to serve as a physical model for tsunami waves (called simply tsunami below) is examined. Such waves (wavelengths more than 200 m at depths down to 10–20 m) are induced by high-speed ferries sailing at near-critical speeds in semisheltered, relatively shallow areas. It is shown based on experience from Tallinn Bay, Baltic Sea, that for many aspects these waves can model nearshore dynamics and runup of tsunami caused by landslides, including processes of wave refraction, diffraction, and sea-bottom interaction in bays and harbors. Many governing nondimensional parameters (such as the nonlinearity, dispersion, Reynolds and Ursell numbers, surf similarity parameter, breaking parameter, etc.) of the largest ship waves and landslide tsunamis have the same order of magnitude. It is especially important that use of ship waves for wave propagation and runup studies allows their spatial structure to be accounted for adequately. Near-critical ship waves can therefore be used as a natural substitute for tsunami, for study under controlled and safe conditions.     

Tsunami Measurements in Bays of Shikotan Island

Bottom pressure gauges deployed in bays of Shikotan Island (South Kuril Islands) recently recorded two tsunamis: the Simushir (Kuril Islands) tsunami of January 13, 2007 generated by a local earthquake with magnitude M _w = 8.1 and the Peruvian tsunami of August 15, 2007 generated by a distant earthquake, M _w = 8.0. The records enabled us to investigate the properties of these two tsunamis and to estimate the effect of the regional and nearshore topography on arriving tsunami waves. Eigen periods and spatial structure of resonant oscillations in particular bays were examined based on results of numerical modeling. Significant amplification of the fundamental (Helmholtz) resonant modes in Malokurilskaya Bay (19 min) and in Krabovaya Inlet (29 min) and some secondary modes was caused by the Simushir tsunami. The considerably different geometry and bottom topography of these bays, located on the inner coast of the island, determine the differences in their eigen periods; the only mutual peak, which was found in both basins, had a period of 5 min and was probably related to the source features. The Peruvian tsunami was clearly recorded by the bottom pressure gauge in Tserkovnaya Bay on the outer (oceanic) coast of the island. Three dominant periods in the tsunami spectrum at this bay were 60, 30 and 19 min; the latter period was found to be related to the fundamental mode of the bay, while the other two periods appear to be associated with the shelf resonant amplification of tsunami waves arriving in the region of the South Kuril Islands. The prevalence of low-frequency components in the observed tsunami spectrum is probably associated with the large extension of the initial source area and faster decay of short period waves during the long trans-oceanic tsunami propagation.     

Some Aspects of Energy Balance and Tsunami Generation by Earthquakes and Landslides

— Tsunamis are generated by displacement or motion of large volumes of water. While there are several documented cases of tsunami generation by volcanic eruptions and landslides, most observed tsunamis are attributed to earthquakes. Kinematic models of tsunami generation by earthquakes — where specified fault size and slip determine seafloor and sea-surface vertical motion — quantitatively explain far-field tsunami wave records. On the other hand, submarine landslides in subduction zones and other tectonic settings can generate large tsunamis that are hazardous along near-source coasts. Furthermore, the ongoing exploration of the oceans has found evidence for large paleo-landslides in many places, not just subduction zones. Thus, we want to know the relative contribution of faulting and landslides to tsunami generation. For earthquakes, only a small fraction of the minimum earthquake energy (less than 1% for typical parameter choices for shallow underthrusting earthquakes) can be converted into tsunami wave energy; yet, this is enough energy to generate terrible tsunamis. For submarine landslides, tsunami wave generation and landslide motion interact in a dynamic coupling. The dynamic problem of a 2-D translational slider block on a constant-angle slope can be solved using a Green's function approach for the wave transients. The key result is that the largest waves are generated when the ratio of initial water depth above the block to downslope vertical drop of the block H ₀ /W sin δ is less than 1. The conversion factor of gravitational energy into tsunami wave energy varies from 0% for a slow-velocity slide in deep water, to about 50% for a fast-velocity slide in shallow water and a motion abruptly truncated. To compare maximum tsunami wave amplitudes in the source region, great earthquakes produce amplitudes of a few meters at a wavelength fixed by the fault width of 100 km or so. For submarine landslides, tsunami wave heights — as measured by b, block height — are small for most of the parameter regime. However, for low initial dynamic friction and values of H ₀ /W sin δ less than 1, tsunami wave heights in the downslope and upslope directions reach b and b/4, respectively.Wavelengths of these large waves scale with block width. For significant submarine slides, the value of b can range from meters up to the kilometer scale. Thus, the extreme case of efficient tsunami generation by landslides produces dramatic hazards scenarios.     

Combined Effects of Tectonic and Landslide-Generated Tsunami Runup at Seward, Alaska During the M W 9.2 1964 Earthquake

We apply a recently developed and validated numerical model of tsunami propagation and runup to study the inundation of Resurrection Bay and the town of Seward by the 1964 Alaska tsunami. Seward was hit by both tectonic and landslide-generated tsunami waves during the $M_{\rm W}$ 9.2 1964 megathrust earthquake. The earthquake triggered a series of submarine mass failures around the fjord, which resulted in landsliding of part of the coastline into the water, along with the loss of the port facilities. These submarine mass failures generated local waves in the bay within 5?min of the beginning of strong ground motion. Recent studies estimate the total volume of underwater slide material that moved in Resurrection Bay to be about 211?million m³ (Haeussler et?al. in Submarine mass movements and their consequences, pp 269?C278, 2007). The first tectonic tsunami wave arrived in Resurrection Bay about 30?min after the main shock and was about the same height as the local landslide-generated waves. Our previous numerical study, which focused only on the local landslide-generated waves in Resurrection Bay, demonstrated that they were produced by a number of different slope failures, and estimated relative contributions of different submarine slide complexes into tsunami amplitudes (Suleimani et?al. in Pure Appl Geophys 166:131?C152, 2009). This work extends the previous study by calculating tsunami inundation in Resurrection Bay caused by the combined impact of landslide-generated waves and the tectonic tsunami, and comparing the composite inundation area with observations. To simulate landslide tsunami runup in Seward, we use a viscous slide model of Jiang and LeBlond (J Phys Oceanogr 24(3):559?C572, 1994) coupled with nonlinear shallow water equations. The input data set includes a high resolution multibeam bathymetry and LIDAR topography grid of Resurrection Bay, and an initial thickness of slide material based on pre- and post-earthquake bathymetry difference maps. For simulation of tectonic tsunami runup, we derive the 1964 coseismic deformations from detailed slip distribution in the rupture area, and use them as an initial condition for propagation of the tectonic tsunami. The numerical model employs nonlinear shallow water equations formulated for depth-averaged water fluxes, and calculates a temporal position of the shoreline using a free-surface moving boundary algorithm. We find that the calculated tsunami runup in Seward caused first by local submarine landslide-generated waves, and later by a tectonic tsunami, is in good agreement with observations of the inundation zone. The analysis of inundation caused by two different tsunami sources improves our understanding of their relative contributions, and supports tsunami risk mitigation in south-central Alaska. The record of the 1964 earthquake, tsunami, and submarine landslides, combined with the high-resolution topography and bathymetry of Resurrection Bay make it an ideal location for studying tectonic tsunamis in coastal regions susceptible to underwater landslides.     

Application of Analytical Modeling to the Far-field Investigation of Tsunami and Oceanic Rayleigh Waves from the 1998 Papua New Guinea Earthquake

We analyze far-field Rayleigh and tsunami waves generated by the 1998 Papua New Guinea (PNG) earthquake. Using the normal mode theory and Thomson-Haskell matrix formalism we calculate synthetic mareograms of oceanic surface waves excited by finite-dimensional line source and propagated in a flat, multilayered oceanic structure. Assuming that the source of destructive sea waves was the main shock of the PNG event and based on the expression for seismic wave displacement in the far-field zone, we compute the energy of the seismic and tsunami waves and the E_z /E_ts ratio. The results of our modeling are generally consistent with those obtained empirically for events with magnitude 7. Also, treating the results of a submarine slide as a single solitary wave and using the theoretical arguments of Striem and Miloh (1976) we estimate the energy of the tsunami induced by a landslide. The difference between the energy of the seismic tsunami and of the aseismic one is about one order of magnitude.The results of our theoretical modeling show that surface sea waves in the far-field zone account well for seismic origin, although additional tsunami energy from a landslide source could be required to explain the local massive tsunami in the Sissano Lagoon.     

港湾中海啸流的模拟及其时空演变特征对输入条件不确定性的响应分析

一直以来,海啸波特征作为表征海啸潜在破坏性的参数指标得到了广泛应用,特别是针对近场极端海啸事件造成的灾害来说,这种表征具有较好的适用性.然而总结分析历史海啸事件造成的损失发现：在远场近岸及港湾系统中,海啸诱导的强流却是造成损失的主要原因.陆架或港湾振荡导致海啸波幅快速升降诱发强流,可能促使港工设施受到威胁及损害,进而对海啸预警服务及海事应急管理提出了新的挑战.因此,全面理解与评估海啸在港湾中诱发的灾害特征,探索港湾中海啸流的数值模拟方法,发展针对港湾尺度的海啸预警服务指导产品尤为迫切.受限于海啸流验证数据的缺乏及准确模拟海啸流技术方法的诸多不确定性,大部分海啸数值模拟研究工作主要是针对水位特征的研究及验证,可能导致对港湾中海啸灾害危险性认识的曲解与低估.本研究基于非线性浅水方程,针对夏威夷群岛三个典型港湾建立了精细化海啸数值模型（空间分辨率达到10 m）,并联合有限断层破裂模型计算分析了日本东北地震海啸在三个港湾及其邻近区域的海啸特征,波、流计算结果与实测结果吻合较好,精细化的海啸港湾模型模拟结果可信.模拟发现港湾中较小的波幅,同样可以产生强流.综合分析日本东北地震海啸波、流特征对输入条件不确定性的响应结果发现：港湾中海啸波-流能量的空间分布特征差异较大,这与港湾系统中海啸波的驻波特性相关;相比海啸波幅空间特征,海啸流特征具有更强的空间敏感性;海啸流时空分布特征对输入条件的不确定性响应比海啸波幅对这些不确定性的响应更强,海啸流的模拟与预报更有挑战性;不确定性对海啸流计算精度的影响会进一步传导放大港湾海啸流危险性的评估及对港工设施产生的应力作用的误差,合理的输入条件对海啸流的精确模拟至关重要.最后,希望通过本文的研究可以从海啸波-流特征角度更加全面认识近岸海啸灾害特征,拓展海啸预警服务的广度与深度,从而为灾害应急管理部门提供更加科学合理的辅助决策产品.     

Coastal Sedimentation Associated with the Tohoku Tsunami of 11 March 2011 in South Kuril Islands, NW Pacific Ocean

Sediment deposited by the Tohoku tsunami of March 11, 2011 in the Southern Kurils (Kunashir, Shikotan, Zeleniy, Yuri, Tanfiliev islands) was radically different from sedimentation during local strong storms and from tsunamis with larger runup at the same location. Sediments from the 2011 Tohoku tsunami were surveyed in the field, immediately and 6 months after the event, and analyzed in the laboratory for sediment granulometry, benthos Foraminifa assemblages, and diatom algae. Run-up elevation and inundation distance were calculated from the wrackline (accumulations of driftwood, woody debris, grass, and seaweed) marking the distal edge of tsunami inundation. Run-up of the tsunami was 5 m at maximum, and 3–4 m on average. Maximum distance of inundation was recorded in river mouths (up to 630 m), but was generally in the range of 50–80 m. Although similar to the local strong storms in runup height, the tsunami generally did not erode the coast, nor leave a deposit. However, deposits uncharacteristic of tsunami, described as brown aleuropelitic (silty and clayey) mud rich in organic matter, were found in closed bays facing the South Kuril Strait. These closed bays were covered with sea ice at the time of tsunami. As the tsunami waves broke the ice, the ice floes enhanced the bottom erosion on shoals and destruction of low-lying coastal peatland even at modest ranges of runup. In the muddy tsunami deposits, silt comprised up to 64 % and clay up to 41.5 %. The Foraminifera assemblages displayed features characteristic of benthic microfauna in the near-shore zone. Deep-sea diatoms recovered from tsunami deposits in two closely situated bays, namely Krabovaya and Otradnaya bays, had different requirements for environmental temperature, suggesting these different diatoms were brought to the bays by the tsunami wave entraining various water masses when skirting the island from the north and from the south.     

Numerical simulation of the landslide-induced tsunami of 1988 on Vulcano Island, Italy

 On 20 April 1988 a landslide of approximately 200,000 m³ occurred on the northeastern flank of the volcano La Fossa on the island of Vulcano. The landslide fell into the sea, producing a small tsunami in the bay between Punte Nere and Punta Luccia that was observed locally in the neighbouring harbour called Porto Levante. The slide occurred during a period of unrest at the volcano that was monitored very accurately. The study of this event is composed of two parts, the simulation of the landslide and the simulation of the ensuing tsunami; the former is studied by means of a Lagrangian-type numerical model in which the landslide is seen as a multibody system, an ensemble of material-deforming blocks interacting together during their motion; the latter is simulated according to the Eulerian view by solving the shallow-water approximation to Navier-Stokes equations of fluid dynamics, with the incorporation of a forcing term depending on the slide motion. Technically, the slide evolution is computed first, and this result is then used to evaluate the excitation term of the hydraulic equations and to calculate the tsunami propagation. Computed wave fronts radiate both toward the open sea, with rapid amplitude decay, and along the shore, in the form of edge waves that lose energy slowly. Comparison between model outputs and observations can be carried out only in a qualitative way owing to the absence of tide-gauge records, and results are satisfactory. Received: 14 September 1998 / Accepted: 18 December 1998     

Runup Characteristics of Symmetrical Solitary Tsunami Waves of “Unknown” Shapes

The problem of tsunami wave runup on a beach is discussed in the framework of the rigorous solutions of the nonlinear shallow-water theory. We present an analysis of the runup characteristics for various shapes of the incoming symmetrical solitary tsunami waves. It will be demonstrated that the extreme (maximal) wave characteristics on a beach (runup and draw-down heights, runup and draw-down velocities and breaking parameter) are weakly dependent on the shape of incident wave if the definition of the “significant” wavelength determined on the 2/3 level of the maximum height is used. The universal analytical expressions for the extreme wave characteristics are derived for the runup of the solitary pulses. They can be directly applicable for tsunami warning because in many cases the shape of the incident tsunami wave is unknown.     

The landslides and tsunamis of the 30th of December 2002 in Stromboli analysed through numerical simulations

On the 30th of December 2002 two tsunamis were generated only 7 min apart in Stromboli, southern Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy. They represented the peak of a volcanic crisis that started 2 days before with a large emission of lava flows from a lateral vent that opened some hundreds of meters below the summit craters. Both tsunamis were produced by landslides that detached from the Sciara del Fuoco. This is a morphological scar and is the result of the last collapse of the northwestern flank of the volcanic edifice, that occurred less than 5 ka b.p. The first tsunami was due to a submarine mass movement that started very close to the coastline and that involved about 20×10⁶ m³ of material. The second tsunami was engendered by a subaerial landslide that detached at about 500 m above sea level and that involved a volume estimated at 4–9×10⁶ m³. The latter landslide can be seen as the retrogressive continuation of the first failure. The tsunamis were not perceived as distinct events by most people. They attacked all the coasts of Stromboli within a few minutes and arrived at the neighbouring island of Panarea, 20 km SSW of Stromboli, in less than 5 min. The tsunamis caused severe damage at Stromboli.In this work, the two tsunamis are studied by means of numerical simulations that use two distinct models, one for the landslides and one for the water waves. The motion of the sliding bodies is computed by means of a Lagrangian approach that partitions the mass into a set of blocks: we use both one-dimensional and two-dimensional schemes. The landslide model calculates the instantaneous rate of the vertical displacement of the sea surface caused by the motion of the underwater slide. This is included in the governing equations of the tsunami, which are solved by means of a finite-element (FE) technique. The tsunami is computed on two different grids formed by triangular elements, one covering the near-field around Stromboli and the other also including the island of Panarea.The simulations show that the main tsunamigenic potential of the slides is restricted to the first tens of seconds of their motion when they interact with the shallow-water coastal area, and that it diminishes drastically in deep water. The simulations explain how the tsunamis that are generated in the Sciara del Fuoco area, are able to attack the entire coastline of Stromboli with larger effects on the northern coast than on the southern. Strong refraction and bending of the tsunami fronts is due to the large near-shore bathymetric gradient, which is also responsible for the trapping of the waves and for the persistence of the oscillations. Further, the first tsunami produces large waves and runup heights comparable with the observations. The simulated second tsunami is only slightly smaller, though it was induced by a mass that is approximately one third of the first. The arrival of the first tsunami is negative, in accordance with most eyewitness reports. Conversely, the leading wave of the second tsunami is positive.     

Numerical Study of Tsunami Generated by Multiple Submarine Slope Failures in Resurrection Bay, Alaska, during the M W 9.2 1964 Earthquake

We use a viscous slide model of Jiang and LeBlond (1994) coupled with nonlinear shallow water equations to study tsunami waves in Resurrection Bay, in south-central Alaska. The town of Seward, located at the head of Resurrection Bay, was hit hard by both tectonic and local landslide-generated tsunami waves during the M _W 9.2 1964 earthquake with an epicenter located about 150 km northeast of Seward. Recent studies have estimated the total volume of underwater slide material that moved in Resurrection Bay during the earthquake to be about 211 million m³. Resurrection Bay is a glacial fjord with large tidal ranges and sediments accumulating on steep underwater slopes at a high rate. Also, it is located in a seismically active region above the Aleutian megathrust. All these factors make the town vulnerable to locally generated waves produced by underwater slope failures. Therefore it is crucial to assess the tsunami hazard related to local landslide-generated tsunamis in Resurrection Bay in order to conduct comprehensive tsunami inundation mapping at Seward. We use numerical modeling to recreate the landslides and tsunami waves of the 1964 earthquake to test the hypothesis that the local tsunami in Resurrection Bay has been produced by a number of different slope failures. We find that numerical results are in good agreement with the observational data, and the model could be employed to evaluate landslide tsunami hazard in Alaska fjords for the purposes of tsunami hazard mitigation.     

日本东北M_W9.0地震海啸在港池及邻近区域诱发的涡流危险性计算与评估分析

海啸造成的灾害与损失并非都与淹没有关,特别是港口中海啸诱导的强流会对船只及海事设施产生重要的影响及损害.由于海啸流观测数据稀缺及海啸诱导涡流机制的不确定性,过去60年海啸科学主要集中于对海啸波特征及淹没过程的研究与分析,海啸流模拟及验证工作开展较少,导致对海啸流基本特征及其造成灾害现象的曲解.开展海啸诱导的涡流研究及预警服务显得尤为重要及紧迫.考虑快速海啸预警需要,综合对比海啸诱导涡流的物理框架及模型方法,探索兼顾效率与计算精度的海啸流模拟方法是本文的核心工作及出发点.通过分析浅层湍流相干结构(TCS)产生的主要物理耗散机制,确定了考虑2D水平耗散机制的非线性浅水方程可用于海啸涡流的模拟分析.基于高精、高分辨率有限体积模型Geoclaw建立了三个精细化的港口海啸流模型,模型分辨率为5m.利用基于海啸浮标反演的海啸源模型作为初始条件,模拟分析了日本东北地震海啸在远场的海啸波流特征.海啸波流特征模拟结果与观测吻合较好,结果可信.对比发现:波驱动的自由表面流,小的位相或波幅误差就会导致大的流速误差,流的模拟和预报相对波幅来说更具挑战性.研究了海啸波流能量在港池中的分布特征,得到:港池入口及防波堤两端常被强流控制,具有极高的危险性;相对于波幅的空间变化,海啸流具有更强的空间敏感性;所建立的高分辨率海啸模型模拟再现了日本海啸在近场的涡旋结构,给出了与观测基本一致的涡流特征.最后,引入海啸流危险等级标准,分析了港口海啸流危险性等级分布、船只疏散的安全深度及回港的时间周期.针对港口、海湾同时考虑海啸波流特征的海啸预警与评估对于港口应急管理者科学决策具有重要意义.     

The 2009 Samoan and 2010 Chilean Tsunamis Recorded on the Pacific Coast of Russia

Two remote tsunamis were recorded on the Pacific coast of Russia: a relatively weak Samoan tsunami of September 29, 2009 and a much stronger Chilean tsunami of February 28, 2010. In the area of the South Kuril Islands, records were obtained using autonomous bottom pressure gauges of the Institute of Marine Geology and Geophysics (IMGG). Additionally, for the oceanic coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula, Paramushir, and Bering Islands we used data transmitted from coastal tide gauges of the Russian Tsunami Warning Service (TWS). The maximum trough-to-crest heights of the Samoan tsunami were about 30–40 cm, and were recorded about 3 h after the first tsunami arrival. The maximum Chilean tsunami trough-to-crest wave heights were 218 cm at Severo-Kurilsk, 187 cm at Tserkovnaya Bay (Shikotan Island), and 140 cm at Khodutka Bay (Kamchatka Peninsula). The time between first and maximum waves reached 4 h. Strong sea level oscillations for both events range for a long time: about 15–17 h. The Samoan tsunami induced high-frequency oscillations; a considerable increase in spectral energy in the tsunami spectrum was observed at periods of 4–20 min. In contrast, the Chilean tsunami induced low-frequency oscillations; the dominant periods were 30–80 min. A probable reason for these differences is the different extensions of the source areas (the Chilean source was much larger than the Samoan source) and the different energy radiation directions from the sources. Local topography resonant effects were the main reason of well-expressed peaks in power spectra in different areas: with a period of 10 min (Khodutka Bay), 19–20 min (Malokurilskaya and Tserkovnaya bays), 29 min (Krabovaya Inlet), and 43 min (Avachinskaya Guba and Nikolskoe).     

Energy of Water Waves Induced by Submarine Landslides

—Water waves generated by submarine landslides may constitute a serious hazard for coastal population and environment. These masses may be giant, as documented by several examples in recent history and by numerous geological traces of paleo-events. A theoretical investigation on wave generation and wave energy is performed here by using a model that is based on some simplifying assumptions. The landslide is treated as a rigid body moving underwater according to a prescribed velocity function. Water waves are governed by the shallow-water wave equations, where water velocity is constant through the water layer and vertical velocity is negligibly small. Geometrically simple basins are considered with either constant depth or constant slope, since attention is focused on the fundamental characteristics of the generation process. Analytical 1-D solutions as well as 1-D and 2-D numerical results obtained by means of a finite-element model are used to gain understanding of the energy transfer from a moving body to the water. From the 1-D examples, it is found that if slide duration is sufficiently long, water usually gains energy in the form of waves until a saturation point is reached, when body motion is no longer capable of producing a net transfer of energy from the rigid body to water. Finite-duration motions of a body moving at constant speed along a flat ocean floor can be used as canonical examples, since bottom slopes cannot significantly change the generated wave pattern. Typically, two trough-crest systems are developed that travel in opposite directions, with the leading crest in the direction of the slide and the leading trough toward the other direction. The amplitude of the former is generally higher, with amplitude controlled by the Froude number (ratio of body velocity to long waves phase celerity) and wavelength dictated by landslide length. Generation and propagation of 2-D cases show a more complicated pattern, since lateral radiation plays an important role. Some of the features present in the 1-D models are observed in 2-D wavefields, however substantial differences arise. The most significant difference is that no energy saturation takes place in 2-D, since the body transfers energy to the water as long as it moves.     

Obtaining natural oscillatory modes of bays and harbors via Empirical Orthogonal Function analysis of tsunami wave fields

To a tsunami wave, bays and harbors represent oscillatory systems, whose resonance (normal) modes determine the response to tsunami and consequently the potential hazard. The direct way to obtain the resonance modes of a water reservoir is by solving the boundary problem for the eigenfunctions of the linearized shallow-water wave equation. The principal difficulty of posing such a problem for a basin coupled to an ocean is specifying the boundary between the two. The technique developed in this work allows the normal modes of a semi-enclosed water body to be obtained without a-priori restricting the resonator area. The technique utilizes complex Empirical Orthogonal Function analysis of modeled tsunami wave fields. On the examples of Poverty Bay in New Zealand and Monterey Bay in California (United States), we demonstrate that the normal modes can be identified and isolated using the EOFs of a data set comprised of the concatenated time-series collected from different tsunami scenarios in a basin. The analysis of the modeled tsunami wave fields for the normal modes can also answer the question of how likely and under which conditions the different modes are exited, due to feasible natural events.     

Tsunami Excitation by Submarine Slides in Shallow-water Approximation

-- Landslide-induced tsunamis are receiving increased attention since there is evidence that recent large devastating events have been caused by underwater mass failures. Normally, numerical models are used to simulate tsunami excitation, most of which are based on shallow water, known also as long wave, approximation to the full equations of hydrodynamics. Analytical studies may handle only simplified problems, but help understand the basic features of physical processes. This paper is an analytical investigation of long-water waves excited by rigid bodies sliding on the sea bottom, based on the shallow-water approximation, which is here derived by properly scaling Euler equations for an inviscid, incompressible and irrotational ocean. In one-dimensional (1-D) cases (where motion depends only on one horizontal coordinate), under the further assumptions of small-height slide, which permits the recourse to linear theory, and of flat ocean floor, a solution for arbitrary body shape and velocity is deduced by applying the Duhamel theorem. It is also shown that this theorem can be advantageously used to obtain a general solution in case of a non-flat ocean floor, when the sea bottom follows a special power law, that can be adapted to study reasonable bottom profiles. The characteristics of the excited tsunamis are then evaluated by computing solutions in numerous examples, with special focus on wave pattern and wave evolution. The energy of the wave system is shown to depend on time: it grows expectedly in the initial phase of tsunami generation, when the moving body transfers energy to the water, but it may also diminish later, implying that a certain amount of energy may pass back from water waves to the slide.     

Source Fault Model of the 1771 Yaeyama Tsunami, Southern Ryukyu Islands, Japan, Inferred from Numerical Simulation

The 1771 Yaeyama tsunami is successfully reproduced using a simple faulting model without submarine landslide. The Yaeyama tsunami (M 7.4), which struck the southern Ryukyu Islands of Japan, produced unusually high tsunami amplitudes on the southeastern coast of Ishigaki Island and caused significant damage, including 12,000 casualties. Previous tsunami source models for this event have included both seismological faults and submarine landslides. However, no evidence of landslides in the source has been obtained, despite marine surveying of the area. The seismological fault model proposed in this study, describing a fault to the east of Ishigaki Island, successfully reproduces the distribution of tsunami runup on the southern coast of the Ryukyu Islands. The unusual runup heights are found through the numerical simulation attributable to a concentration of tsunami energy toward the southeastern coast of Ishigaki Island by the effect of the shelf to the east. Thus, the unusual runup heights observed on the southeastern coast of Ishigaki Island can be adequately explained by a seismological fault model with wave-ray bending on the adjacent shelf.     

Numerical simulation of the 1992 Flores tsunami: Interpretation of tsunami phenomena in northeastern Flores Island and damage at Babi Island

Numerical analysis of the 1992 Flores Island, Indonesia earthquake tsunami is carried out with the composite fault model consisting of two different slip values. Computed results show good agreement with the measured runup heights in the northeastern part of Flores Island, except for those in the southern shore of Hading Bay and at Riangkroko. The landslides in the southern part of Hading Bay could generate local tsunamis of more than 10 m. The circular-arc slip model proposed in this study for wave generation due to landslides shows better results than the subsidence model, It is, however, difficult to reproduce the tsunami runup height of 26.2 m at Riangkroko, which was extraordinarily high compared to other places. The wave propagation process on a sea bottom with a steep slope, as well as landslides, may be the cause of the amplification of tsunami at Riangkroko. The simulation model demonstrates that the reflected wave along the northeastern shore of Flores Island, accompanying a high hydraulic pressure, could be the main cause of severe damage in the southern coast of Babi Island.     

Eyewitness Accounts of the Impact of the 1998 Aitape Tsunami, and of Other Tsunamis in Living Memory, in the Region from Jayapura, Indonesia, to Vanimo, Papua New Guinea

Field investigations in 1999 confirmed that the tsunami that struck the Aitape coast of Papua New Guinea on 17 July, 1998 caused damage at points as far as 230 km to the west-northwest, particularly at locations where the coast is indented. Eyewitnesses saw the sea withdraw (in most cases), then surge to levels around 2 m higher than normal in a series of three waves. In some cases the time of arrival of the waves is known approximately by reference to the onset of darkness and to felt earthquakes. Seiche waves followed in some bays, notably in Yos Sudarso Bay, Indonesia, where waves persisted for 3–5 days. Damage was caused by the backwash from the waves. Bodies presumed to be those of Aitape victims were seen floating at sea off Jayapura five days after the tsunami. We record the recollections of people in the Yos Sudarso Bay area who experienced a number of tsunamis in the past 60 years; people that we interviewed on the Papua New Guinea side of the border recollected few or none.