Left in the wake of the 2011 Japan tsunami

Author(s):  
Erin Scott
Keyword(s):  
Author(s):  
Utku Kânoğlu ◽  
Vasily V. Titov ◽  
Baran Aydın ◽  
Christopher Moore ◽  
Themistoklis S. Stefanakis ◽  
...  

Tsunamis are long waves that evolve substantially, through spatial and temporal spreading from their source region. Here, we introduce a new analytical solution to study the propagation of a finite strip source over constant depth using linear shallow-water wave theory. This solution is not only exact, but also general and allows the use of realistic initial waveforms such as N -waves. We show the existence of focusing points for N -wave-type initial displacements, i.e. points where unexpectedly large wave heights may be observed. We explain the effect of focusing from a strip source analytically, and explore it numerically. We observe focusing points using linear non-dispersive and linear dispersive theories, analytically; and nonlinear non-dispersive and weakly nonlinear weakly dispersive theories, numerically. We discuss geophysical implications of our solutions using the 17 July 1998 Papua New Guinea and the 17 July 2006 Java tsunamis as examples. Our results may also help to explain high run-up values observed during the 11 March 2011 Japan tsunami, which are otherwise not consistent with existing scaling relationships. We conclude that N -waves generated by tectonic displacements feature focusing points, which may significantly amplify run-up beyond what is often assumed from widely used scaling relationships.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1804 ◽  
Author(s):  
Minyoung Jung ◽  
Junho Yeom ◽  
Yongil Kim

Combining pre-disaster optical and post-disaster synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite data is essential for the timely damage investigation because the availability of data in a disaster area is usually limited. This article proposes a novel method to assess damage in urban areas by analyzing combined pre-disaster very high resolution (VHR) optical data and post-disaster polarimetric SAR (PolSAR) data, which has rarely been used in previous research because the two data have extremely different characteristics. To overcome these differences and effectively compare VHR optical data and PolSAR data, a technique to simulate polarization orientation angles (POAs) in built-up areas was developed using building orientations extracted from VHR optical data. The POA is an intrinsic parameter of PolSAR data and has a physical relationship with building orientation. A damage level indicator was also proposed, based on the consideration of diminished homogeneity of POA values by damaged buildings. The indicator is the difference between directional dispersions of the pre and post-disaster POA values. Damage assessment in urban areas was conducted by using the indicator calculated with the simulated pre-disaster POAs from VHR optical data and the derived post-disaster PolSAR POAs. The proposed method was validated on the case study of the 2011 tsunami in Japan using pre-disaster KOMPSAT-2 data and post-disaster ALOS/PALSAR-1 data. The experimental results demonstrated that the proposed method accurately simulated the POAs with a root mean square error (RMSE) value of 2.761° and successfully measured the level of damage in built-up areas. The proposed method can facilitate efficient and fast damage assessment in built-up areas by comparing pre-disaster VHR optical data and post-disaster PolSAR data.


2016 ◽  
Vol 47 (6) ◽  
pp. 1002-1008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masahide Usami ◽  
Yoshitaka Iwadare ◽  
Kyota Watanabe ◽  
Masaki Kodaira ◽  
Hirokage Ushijima ◽  
...  

2016 ◽  
Vol 121 (6) ◽  
pp. 4483-4505 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Dettmer ◽  
Rhys Hawkins ◽  
Phil R. Cummins ◽  
Jakir Hossen ◽  
Malcolm Sambridge ◽  
...  

2012 ◽  
Vol 39 (7) ◽  
pp. n/a-n/a ◽  
Author(s):  
Hermann M. Fritz ◽  
David A. Phillips ◽  
Akio Okayasu ◽  
Takenori Shimozono ◽  
Haijiang Liu ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 1272-1287
Author(s):  
Kwanchai Pakoksung ◽  
Anawat Suppasri ◽  
Panon Latcharote ◽  
Abdul Muhari ◽  
Fumihiko Imamura ◽  
...  

We present outcomes of our collaborative research between tsunami engineering laboratory, Tohoku University and the Willis Research Network (WRN) on global tsunami risk assessment since 2010. First we assessed tsunami hazards in Indian Ocean and west Pacific from major earthquakes based on historical records. After the 2011 Japan tsunami, various kind of fragility functions were developed for human casualty, buildings, marine vessels, etc based on the actual data. Especially, detailed tsunami hazard assessments were performed in many areas using fine bathymetry and topography data all over Japan including hazards from the worst case tsunamigenic earthquakes provided by central government and local governments in Hokkaido, Japan Sea and Nankai Trough. These results from the detailed hazard and vulnerability assessment were used for detailed tsunami risk in Japan. The Willis’s Japan tsunami model was then first released in December 2014. The model have been updating based on the updated or revised tsunami sources model and fragility functions. Detailed tsunami hazards from potential tsunami events in the Bay of Bengal, South China Sea and some parts of Indonesia were also performed in 2014. In October 2016, our contribution on the historical and future tsunami hazard assessment in global scale based on historical records over the last 400 years was conducted as an activity to increase tsunami awareness as part of World Tsunami Awareness Day. The current activities are to extend the target areas in Japan to Okinawa and assessing disaster risk reduction based on the present and planned tsunami countermeasures. We present the outcomes of the collaborative research done since 2010 by the Tsunami Engineering Laboratory of Tohoku University and the Willis Research Network (WRN) on global tsunami risk assessment. First, we assessed, based on historical records, the tsunami hazards in the Indian Ocean and western Pacific from major earthquakes. Since the 2011 Japan tsunami, various kinds of fragility functions have been developed for human casualties, buildings, marine vessels, etc., based on the actual data. Detailed tsunami hazard assessments have been performed in many areas of Japan using fine bathymetry and topography data from all over Japan, including data on hazards from the worst-case tsunamigenic earthquakes. These data have been provided by the Cabinet Office, Japan. The results from the detailed hazard and vulnerability assessments were used for detailed tsunami risk assessments in Japan. The Willis Japan tsunami model was then released in December 2014. The model has been updated based on the updated or revised tsunami source model and fragility functions. Detailed tsunami hazards from potential tsunami events in the Bay of Bengal, South China Sea, and some parts of Indonesia were also performed in 2014. In October 2016, our contribution to the historical and future tsunami hazard assessment on a global scale based on historical records over the last 400 years was conducted as an activity to increase tsunami awareness as part of World Tsunami Awareness Day. The current activities are to extend the target areas in Japan to Okinawa and to assess the disaster risk reduction based on the present and planned tsunami countermeasures.


2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 457-476 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taro Arikawa ◽  
Nobutaka Ishikawa ◽  
Masuhiro Beppu ◽  
Hiroshi Tatesawa

Eos ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 93 (22) ◽  
pp. 210-210
Author(s):  
Randy Showstack

2012 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 665-671 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianfeng He ◽  
Fang Zhang ◽  
Ling Lin ◽  
Minghong Cai ◽  
Haizhen Yang ◽  
...  

AbstractSea level oscillations associated with both the 2010 Chile and 2011 Japan tsunamis were recorded in the coastal waters of King George Island off the west coast of Antarctica with an online coastal mooring system. The Chile tsunami arrived at the detection site within around five hours of the earthquake. The largest wave (84.4 mm) was measured 27 hours after the first arrival. In contrast, the Japan tsunami was detected around 26 hours after the earthquake, and the maximum wave height (180.8 mm) was observed around 11 hours after the initial wave. The energy level of the earthquake and the direction of energy propagation are probably the two most significant causes of the comparatively high amplitudes of the 2011 Japan tsunami, despite the fact that its epicentre was much further away than that of 2010 Chile tsunami. The sea level oscillations associated with the tsunami increased the level of mixing of seawater in the shallow Antarctic coastal waters and influenced the environment temporarily.


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