Abstract
On 11 March 2011, a magnitude 9.0 Mw earthquake occurred near the east coast of Honshu Island, Japan. The earthquake generated a tsunami with wave heights up to 40 m triggering a response from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NOAA is the lead federal agency responsible for tsunami warnings issuance, technology innovation, research, and mitigation for the United States. These activities are matrixed across several closely integrated bureaus, including the National Weather Service National Data Buoy Center, Tsunami Warning Centers, and UNESCO/IOC – NOAA International Tsunami Information Center; the National Ocean Service Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services, the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory; and the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC). Each of these bureaus work together to improve tsunami forecasting and thereby protect lives. Immediately following the March 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami, all NOAA offices were involved in complimentary tsunami activities. In this paper, we describe the status of data associated with this tsunami event, review the processing and availability of tide gauge and tsunameter data, including Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART®) and discuss the uses of these data in tsunami models. The basic data in the NGDC historical event databases include: date, time, event location, magnitude of the phenomenon, and socio-economic information such as the total number of fatalities and dollar damage estimates. The tsunami database includes additional information on runups (locations where tsunami waves were observed by eyewitnesses, post-tsunami field surveys, tide gauges, or deep ocean sensors). Therefore, an introduction and summary of the effects of the earthquake and tsunami is also included.
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Acknowledgments
The authors wish to acknowledge the partner agencies whose continued collaboration ensures the success of the United States’ efforts to provide real-time tsunami warning to coastal communities during a tsunami event. NOAA’s two Tsunami Warning Centers, the National Ocean Service, the National Data Buoy Center, the UNESCO/IOC – NOAA International Tsunami Information Center, the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, and the National Geophysical Data Center each provide critical expertise. We also wish to acknowledge the invaluable work of the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program (NTHMP). The NTHMP is a partnership between NOAA, the United States Geological Survey, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the National Science Foundation, and the 28 U.S. Coastal States, Territories, and Commonwealths. The NTHMP is designed to reduce the impact of tsunamis through hazard assessment, warning guidance, and mitigation. The authors also wish to acknowledge Dr. Alexander Rabinovich, of the Institute of Ocean Sciences, Canada, Russian Academy of Sciences, for his valuable comments on the manuscript.
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Dunbar, P., Eblé, M., Mungov, G., McCullough, H., Harris, E. (2014). NOAA’s Historical Tsunami Event Database, Raw and Processed Water Level Data, and Model Output Relevant to the 11 March 2011 Tohoku, Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. In: Kontar, Y., Santiago-Fandiño, V., Takahashi, T. (eds) Tsunami Events and Lessons Learned. Advances in Natural and Technological Hazards Research, vol 35. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7269-4_5
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