Abstract
Ray tracing of seismic surface waves is applied to tsunami propagation to examine bathymetric effect along its propagation path. Computations are made for trans-Pacific tsunamis and for near-field tsunamis in the Japan Sea. For tsunamis across the Pacific Ocean, the comparison to a uniform ocean shows that focusing and defocusing, due to bathymetry, are significant for some combinations of source and receiver. For example, the refraction of rays is predominant at the East Pacific Rise for the tsunami from Chile. The tsunamis in the Japan Sea are strongly affected by the shallow Yamato Rise. The predicted arrival time and amplitude distribution generally agree with the observations from an actual tsunami. Since the computation can be made very quickly, the method is useful for preliminary analysis of tsunami propagation, such as in an operational warning system or in the determination of computational area for finite-difference computation.
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Satake, K. Effects of bathymetry on tsunami propagation: Application of ray tracing to tsunamis. PAGEOPH 126, 27–36 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00876912
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00876912