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Spectral Analysis of Water Level and Velocity Data from Crescent City Harbor During the April 1, 2014 Chilean Tsunami

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Abstract

Crescent City, California typically records some of the largest waveheights along the US west coast for far-field tsunami sources and has suffered more loss than any North American site over the past century. We installed a Nortek Acoustic Doppler Profiler (ADP) in Crescent City Harbor in 2014 to better understand variations in water level and currents caused by forcing, such as tsunamis, tides, and weather events. A small tsunami was first detected in the harbor on April 2, 2014 and had a maximum peak-to-trough waveheight of 0.37 m. This event was near the ADP limit of detectability, with a peak observed tsunami current on the order of 0.16 m/s. Spectral analysis of water level and velocities before, during and after the tsunami shows well-defined spectral peaks with periods corresponding to roughly 20 and 5.6 min in both water level and velocity; elevated spectral levels also appear around 10 min, although a consistent peak location was less well defined. An additional peak appeared at around 2.5 min in water level but was not consistently observed in velocity. During the tsunami, spectral levels increased by roughly an order of magnitude around the 20-min peak (averaged over 24 h), with reduced levels at shorter periods. Motions around the 20-min period were aligned roughly NE–SW, approximately along the channel leading into the inner boat basin. At 5.6-min periods, the motion was roughly NW–SE, suggesting a higher-frequency modal response of the harbor.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Desert Community Foundation for funding the purchase of the ADP equipment, installation and maintenance costs, Jose Montoya (Humboldt State University) for instrument maintenance, Charlie Helms (Crescent City Harbor District) for assistance in site location and providing Crescent City Harbor access, Richard Alvarez, Steve Monk, Kyle Weis and Roxanne Robertson (Humboldt State University) for diving support, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for providing communication and power access. Several helpful suggestions by the editor, A. Rabinovich, and two anonymous reviewers led to significant improvements of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Ontario Institute of Technology, 2000 Simcoe St. N, Oshawa, ON, L1H 7K4, Canada

    Gregory B. Crawford

  2. Department of Geology, Humboldt State University, #1 Harpst St., Arcata, CA, 95521, USA

    Amanda R. Admire & Lori A. Dengler

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  1. Gregory B. Crawford
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  2. Amanda R. Admire
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  3. Lori A. Dengler
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Correspondence to Gregory B. Crawford.

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Crawford, G.B., Admire, A.R. & Dengler, L.A. Spectral Analysis of Water Level and Velocity Data from Crescent City Harbor During the April 1, 2014 Chilean Tsunami. Pure Appl. Geophys. 174, 2987–3002 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-017-1616-9

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