Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/ 0000-0002-3010-2492

Document Type

Article

Rights

Available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike 4.0 International Licence

Disciplines

Applied mathematics, Oceanography

Publication Details

Procedia IUTAM, 10, 2014

Abstract

While the propagation of tsunamis is well understood and well simulated by numerical models, there are still a number of unanswered questions related to the generation of tsunamis or the subsequent inundation. We review some of the basic generation mechanisms as well as their simulation. In particular, we present a simple and computationally inexpensive model that describes the seabed displacement during an underwater earthquake. This model is based on the finite fault solution for the slip distribution under some assumptions on the kinematics of the rupturing process. We also consider an unusual source for tsunami generation: the sinking of a cruise ship. Then we review some aspects of tsunami run-up. In particular, we explain why the first wave of a tsunami is sometimes less devastating than the subsequent waves. A resonance effect can boost the waves that come later. We also look at a particular feature of the 11 March 2011 tsunami in Japan—the formation of macro-scale vortices—and show that these macro-scale vortices can be captured by the nonlinear shallow water equations.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.piutam.2014.01.029


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