Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Tsunami observations in the open ocean

  • Published:
Izvestiya, Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Deep-sea tsunami measurements play a major role in understanding the physics of tsunami wave generation and propagation, and in the creation of an effective tsunami warning system. The paper provides an overview of the history of tsunami recording in the open ocean from the beginning (about 50 years ago) to the present day. It describes modern tsunami monitoring systems, including the Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART), innovative Japanese bottom cable projects, and the NEPTUNE-Canada geophysical bottom observatory. The specific peculiarities of seafloor longwave observations in the deep ocean are discussed and compared with those recorded in coastal regions. Tsunami detection in bottom presure observations is exemplified based on analysis of distant (22000 km) records of the 2004 Sumatra tsunami in the northeastern Pacific.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. D. T. Pugh, Tides, Surges and Mean Sea-Level (J. Wiley, Chichester, 1987).

    Google Scholar 

  2. J. F. Lander, P. A. Lockridge, and M. J. Kozuch, Tsunamis Affecting the West Coast of the United States, 1806–1992 (National Geophysical Data Center, Boulder, Colorado, 1993).

    Google Scholar 

  3. S. L. Soloviev and Ch. N. Go, Catalogue of Tsunamis on the Western Shore of the Pacific Ocean (Nauka, Moscow, 1974) [in Russian; English Traslation: Canadian Transl. Fish. Acuatic Sci., No. 5078, Ottawa, 1984].

    Google Scholar 

  4. A. B. Rabinovich, Long Ocean Gravity Waves: Trapping, Resonance, and Leaking (Gidrometeoizdat, Leningrad, 1993) [in Russian].

    Google Scholar 

  5. N. T. Filatov, Open Sea Tide Gauges (VNIIGMI-MCD, Obninsk, 1978) [in Russian].

    Google Scholar 

  6. H. O. Mofjeld, “Tsunami measurements,” in The Sea, Vol. 15: Tsunamis, Ed. by A. Robinson and E. Bernard (Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, 2009), pp. 201–235.

    Google Scholar 

  7. S. L. Soloviev, “The tsunami problem and its significance for Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands,” in The Tsunami Problem (Nauka, Moscow, 1968), pp. 7–50 [in Russian].

    Google Scholar 

  8. V. M. Jaque and S. L. Soloviev, “Remote registration of tsunami-type weak waves on the shelf of the Kuril Islands,” Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR 198(4), 816–817 (1971) [in Russian].

    Google Scholar 

  9. M. J. Vitousek and G. R. Miller, “An instrumentation system for measuring tsunamis in the deep ocean,” in Tsunamis in the Pacific Ocean (East-West Center Press, Honolulu, 1970), pp. 239–252.

    Google Scholar 

  10. S. S. Lappo and S. L. Soloviev, “The First Soviet-American Open-Ocean Tsunami Expedition”, Oceanology 16(4), 412–413 (1976).

    Google Scholar 

  11. E. A. Kulikov, V. G. Pavlenko, S. S. Lappo, and A. B. Rabinovich, “The Second Soviet-American Expedition to Study Tsunamis in the Open Ocean”, Oceanology 19(2), 235–236 (1979).

    Google Scholar 

  12. V. V. Efimov, E. A. Kulikov, A. B. Rabinovich, and I. V. Fine, Ocean Waves in Boundary Regions (Gidrometeoizdat, Leningrad, 1985) [in Russian].

    Google Scholar 

  13. E. A. Kulikov, A. B. Rabinovich, A. I. Spirin, S. L. Poole, S. L. Soloviev, “Measurements of tsunamis in the open ocean,” Mar. Geod. 6, 311–329 (1983).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. B. D. Dykhan, V. M. Jaque, E. A. Kulikov, et al., “The first registration of tsunamis in the open ocean,” Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR 257(5), 1088–1092 (1981).

    Google Scholar 

  15. B. D. Dykhan and V. M. Jaque, E. A. Kulikov et al., “Registration of tsunamis in the open ocean,” Mar. Geod. 6, 303–310 (1983).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. J. H. Filloux, “Tsunami recorded on the open ocean floor,” Geophys. Res. Lett. 9(1), 25–28 (1982).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. A. B. Rabinovich, R. E. Thomson, and I. V. Fine, “The 2010 Chilean tsunami off the west coast of Canada and the northwest coast of the United States,” Pure Appl. Geophys. 170, 1529–1565 (2013). doi 10.1007/s00024-012-0541-1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. A. Zielinski and N. Saxena, “Rationale for measurement of midocean tsunami signature,” Mar. Geod. 6(3–4), 331–337 (1983).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. A. Zielinski and N. Saxena, “Tsunami detectability using open-ocean bottom pressure fluctuations,” IEEE J. Ocean. Eng. 8(4), 272–280 (1983).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. A. A. Poplavsky, E. A. Kulikov, and L. N. Poplavskaya, “Methods and Algorithms for the Automated Tsunami Forecast” (Nauka, Moscow, 1988) [in Russian].

    Google Scholar 

  21. F. I. González, C. L. Mader, M. C. Eble, and E. N. Bernard, “The 1987–88 Alaskan Bight tsunamis: Deep ocean data and model comparisons,” Nat. Hazards 4(1/2), 119–139 (1991).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. F. I. González and E. A. Kulikov, “Tsunami dispersion observed in the deep ocean,” in Tsunamis in the World, Ed. by S. Tinti (Kluwer, Dordrecht, 1993), pp. 7–16.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  23. V. V. Titov, F. I. González, E. N. Bernard, et al., “Realtime tsunami forecasting: Challenges and solutions,” Nat. Hazards 35(1), 41–58.

  24. F. I. González, E. N. Bernard, C. Meinig, et al., “The NTHMP tsunameter network,” Nat. Hazards 35(1), 25–39 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. P. D. Kovalev, A. B. Rabinovich, and G. V. Shevchenko, “Investigation of long waves in the tsunami frequency band on the southwestern shelf of Kamchatka,” Nat. Hazards 1(2/3), 141–159 (1991).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. G. Shevchenko, T. Ivelskaya, A. Loskutov, and A. Shishkin, “The 2009 Samoan and 2010 Chilean tsunamis recorded on the Pacific coast of Russia,” Pure Appl. Geophys. 170, 1511–1527 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. G. V. Shevchenko, T. N. Ivelskaya, and A. V. Loskutov, “Instrumental measurements of 2009–2011 tsunamis on the Russian Pacific coast,” Izv. Atmos. Ocean. Phys. 50(5) (2014).

    Google Scholar 

  28. K. Taira, T. Teramoto, and S. Kitagawa, “Measurements of ocean bottom pressure with quartz sensor,” J. Oceanogr. Soc. Jpn. 41(3), 181–192 (1985).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. M. Okada, “Tsunami observation by ocean bottom pressure gauge,” in Tsunami: Progress in Prediction, Disaster Prevention and Warning, Ed. by Y. Tsuchiya and N. Shuto (Kluwer, Dordrecht, 1995), pp. 287–303.

    Google Scholar 

  30. K. Hirata, M. Aoyagi, H. Mikada, et al., “Realtime geophysical measurements on the deep seafloor using submarine cable in the Southern Kurile Subduction Zone,” IEEE J. Ocean. Eng 27, 170–181 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. K. Satake, T. Baba, K. Hirata, et al., “Tsunami source of the 2004 off the Kii Peninsula earthquakes inferred from offshore tsunami and coastal tide gauges,” Earth, Planets Space 57, 173–178 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. T. Saito, Y. Ito, D. Inazu, and R. Hino, “Tsunami source of the 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake, Japan: Inversion analysis based on dispersive tsunami simulations,” Geophys. Res. Lett. 38 (2011). doi 10.1029/2011GL049089.

  33. A. B. Rabinovich, E. A. Kulikov, and T. N. Ivelskaya, “Longterm and operational tsunami forecast. The catastrophic tsunami of 26 December 2004,” in The World Ocean (Nauchniy mir, Moscow, 2013), pp. 403–458 [in Russian].

    Google Scholar 

  34. V. V. Titov, “Tsunami forecasting,” in The Sea, Vol.15: Tsunamis, Ed. by A. Robinson and E. Bernard (Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge. 2009), pp. 371–400.

    Google Scholar 

  35. B. Levin and M. Nosov, Physics of Tsunamis (Springer, Dordrecht, 2009).

    Google Scholar 

  36. A. Joseph, Tsunamis: Detection, Monitoring and Early-Warning Technologies (Elsevier, Amsterdam, 2011).

    Google Scholar 

  37. K. Satake, Y. Fujii, T. Harada, and Y. Namegaya, “Time and space distribution of coseismic slip of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake as inferred from tsunami waveform data,” Bull. Seism. Soc. Am. 103, 1473–1492 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Y. Kaneda, “Advanced ocean floor network system for mega thrust earthquakes and tsunamis,” in Underwater Technology, 2011 IEEE Symposium, Tokyo (IEEE, 2011), pp. 1–6. doi 10.1109/UT.2011.5774149

    Google Scholar 

  39. K. Kawaguchi, Y. Kaneda, E. Araki, et al., “Reinforcement of seafloor surveillance infrastructure for earthquake and tsunami monitoring in western Japan,” in OCEANS2012, Yeosu, Korea (IEEE, 2012), pp. 1–5.

    Google Scholar 

  40. H. Matsumoto and Y. Kaneda, “Some features of bottom pressure records at the 2011 Tohoku earthquake—interpretation of the far-field DONET data,” in Proceedings of the11th SEGJ Int. Symp., November 18–21, 2013 (Yokohama, 2013), pp. 493–496.

    Google Scholar 

  41. K. Uehira, T. Kanazawa, S. I. Noguchi, et al., “Ocean bottom seismic and tsunami network along the Japan Trench,” in Proceedings of the AGU 2012 Fall Meeting. http://fallmeeting.agu.org/2012/eposters/eposter/os41c-1736/.

  42. C. Barnes, M. Best, F. Johnson, et al., “Transforming the ocean sciences through cabled observatories,” Mar. Technol. Rep. 51(8), 30–36 (2008).

    Google Scholar 

  43. R. Thomson, I. Fine, A. Rabinovich, et al., “Observation of the 2009 Samoa tsunami by the NEPTUNE Canada cabled observatory: Test data for an operational regional tsunami forecast model,” Geophys. Res. Lett. 38, L11701 (2011). doi 10.1029/2011GL046728

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. D. B. Percival, D. W. Denbo, M. C. Eble, et al., “Extraction of tsunami source coefficients via inversion of DART buoy data,” Nat. Hazards 58(1), 567–590 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. A. B. Rabinovich, P. L. Woodworth, and V. V. Titov, “Deep-sea observations and modeling of the 2004 Sumatra tsunami in Drake Passage,” Geophys. Res. Lett. 38, L16604 (2011). doi 10.1029/2011GL048305

    Google Scholar 

  46. Y. Fujii and K. Satake, “Tsunami sources of November 2006 and January 2007 Great Kuril earthquakes,” Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am. 98, 1559–1571 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. E. A. Kulikov and F. I. González, “Recovery of the shape of a tsunami signal at the source from measurements of oscillations in the ocean level by a remote hydrostatic pressure sensor,” Trans. (Doklady) Russ. Acad. Sci., Earth Sci. Sect. 345A(6), 585–591 (1996).

    Google Scholar 

  48. A. B. Rabinovich, R. N. Candella, and R. E. Thomson, “The open ocean energy decay of three recent trans-Pacific tsunamis,” Geophys. Res. Lett. 40 (2013). doi 10.1002/grl.50625

  49. A. B. Rabinovich, K. Stroker, R. E. Thomson, and E. Davis, “DARTs and CORK: High-resolution observations of the 2004 Sumatra tsunami in the abyssal northeast Pacific,” Geophys. Res. Lett. 38, L08502 (2011). doi 10.1029/2011GL047063

    Google Scholar 

  50. A. B. Rabinovich, “Spectral analysis of tsunami waves: Separation of source and topography effects,” J. Geophys. Res. 102(C6), 12663–12676 (1997).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. J. Aucan and F. Ardhuin, “Infragravity waves in the deep ocean: An upward revision,” Geophys. Res. Lett. 40, 3435–3439 (2013). doi 10.1002/grl.50321

    Article  Google Scholar 

  52. A. B. Rabinovich and R. E. Thomson, “The 26 December 2004 Sumatra tsunami: Analysis of tide gauge data from the World Ocean. Part 1. Indian Ocean and South Africa,” Pure Appl. Geophys. 164(2/3), 261–308 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  53. A. B. Rabinovich, R. E. Thomson, and F. E. Stephenson, “The Sumatra tsunami of 26 December 2004 as observed in the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans,” Surv. Geophys. 27(6), 647–677 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  54. W. J. Emery and R. E. Thomson, Data Analysis Methods in Physical Oceanography (Elsevier, Amsterdam, 2003).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Nakhimovsky pr. 36, Moscow, 117997, Russia

    A. B. Rabinovich

Authors
  1. A. B. Rabinovich
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. B. Rabinovich.

Additional information

Original Russian Text © A.B. Rabinovich, 2014, published in Izvestiya AN. Fizika Atmosfery i Okeana, 2014, Vol. 50, No. 5, pp. 508–523.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Rabinovich, A.B. Tsunami observations in the open ocean. Izv. Atmos. Ocean. Phys. 50, 445–458 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0001433814050090

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0001433814050090

Keywords

Search

Navigation