Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Delayed Survey of the 2011 Tohoku Tsunami in the Former Exclusion Zone in Minami-Soma, Fukushima Prefecture

  • Published:
Pure and Applied Geophysics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Post-tsunami field surveys in the Minami-Soma exclusion zone in the Fukushima Prefecture were delayed for 15 months after the 2011 Tohoku tsunami. The area was subject to access restrictions until June 2012 due to high radiation levels caused by the meltdown at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant. The distribution of the measured tsunami heights is presented in combination with observed infrastructure damage. The enhanced tsunami heights in the areas along the shoreline are attributed to wave reflection, funneling and splash-up at cliffs and seawalls, as well as the increased flow resistance as the tsunami plowed through coastal pine-tree forests. Consequently, large tsunami heights exceeding 10 m were limited to areas within 500 m from the shoreline. Onshore profiles of the maximum inundation levels were dependent on inland topography: tsunami heights increased inland in steep V-shaped valleys, while decaying with inundation distance along flat coastal plains. Tsunami flood levels in the coastal plains are affected by the extent of seawall damage: coastal flood levels are higher behind completely destroyed seawalls than behind partially damaged coastal defenses. Remnant seawalls provided valuable lessons to be implemented in future designs of tenacious structures based on the Japanese concept of ‘nebari’ representing resiliency to endure tsunami overflow as the original design height is exceeded.

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

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14
Fig. 15
Fig. 16

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Obama (37°35.5′N, 141°01.5′E); Tsukabara (37°34.5′N, 141°01.5′E); Murakami (37°33.1′N, 141°01.6′E); Tsunobeuchi (37°32.6′N, 141°01.7′E); Idagawa (37°31.8′N, 141°01.8′E).

  2. Tsunami watermarks were measured by the RTK-GPS system with Virtual Reference Station mode with positional accuracy of a few centimeters.

References

  • Fritz, H.M., Phillips, D.A., Okayasu, A., Shimozono, T., Liu, H., Mohammed, F., Skanavis, V., Synolakis, C.E., Takahashi, T. (2012). 2011 Japan tsunami current velocity measurements from survivor videos at Kesennuma Bay using LiDAR, Geophys. Res. Lett., 39, L00G23, doi:10.1029/2011GL050686.

  • Fujii, Y., K. Satake, S. Sakai, M. Shinohara and T. Kanazawa: Tsunami source of the 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake, Earth Planets Space, Vol. 63 (No. 7), pp. 815–820, 2011.

  • Kato, F., Y. Suwa, K. Watanabe and S. Hatogai: Damages to shore protection facilities induced by the Great East Japan Earthquake Tsunami, Journal of Disaster Research, Vol. 8 No. 4, 612–625, 2013.

  • Liu, H., Shimozono, T., Takagawa, T., Okayasu, A., Fritz, H.M., Sato, S., Tajima, Y.: The 11 March 2011 Tohoku Tsunami survey in Rikuzentakata and comparison with historical events. Pure Appl. Geophys., 170(6–8):1033–1046, doi:10.1007/s00024-012-0496-2, 2013.

  • Mori, N., Takahashi, T. and The 2011 Tohoku Earthquake Tsunami Joint Survey Group: Nationwide post event survey and analysis of the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake Tsunami, Coastal Engineering Journal, JSCE, 54(1), 1250001, 2012.

  • Sanuki, H., Y. Tajima, H. Yeh and S. Sato: Dynamics of tsunami flooding to river basin, Proc. Coastal Dynamics, 2013.

  • Sato, S., S. Takewaka, H. Liu and H. Nobuoka: Tsunami damages of Nakoso Coast due to the 2011 Tohoku Tsunami, Proc. 33rd Intl. Conf. on Coastal Engineering, 2012.

  • Sato, S., H. Yeh, M. Isobe, K. Mizuhashi, H. Aizawa and H. Ashino: Coastal and nearshore behaviors of the 2011 Tohoku Tsunami along the central Fukushima Coast, Proc. Coastal Dynamics, 2013.

  • Sato, S.: 2011 Tohoku Tsunami and future directions for tsunami disaster mitigation, Keynote lecture, Proc. of 2013 IAHR Congress, Tsinghua University Press, 2013.

  • Shimozono, T., S. Sato, A. Okayasu, Y. Tajima, H. M. Fritz, H. Liu and T. Takagawa: Propagation and inundation characteristics of the 2011 Tohoku Tsunami on the central Sanriku Coast, Coastal Engineering Journal, JSCE, 54(1), 1250004, 2012.

  • Shimozono, T., H. Cui, J. D. Pietrzak, H. M. Fritz, A. Okayasu and A. J. Hooper: Short wave amplification and extreme runup by the 2011 Tohoku Tsunami, Pure Appl. Geophys., 2014 (submitted).

  • Simons, M., S.E. Minson, A. Sladen, F. Ortega, J. Jiang, S.E. Owen, L. Meng, J.-P. Ampuero, S. Wei, R. Chu, D.V. Helmberger, H. Kanamori, E. Hetland, A.W. Moore, and F.H. Webb: The 2011 Magnitude 9.0 Tohoku-Oki Earthquake: Mosaicking the Megathrust from Seconds to Centuries. Science, 332:1421–1425. doi:10.1126/science.1206731, 2011.

  • Tohoku Tsunami Joint Survey Group (TTSG): Tsunami survey database, http://www.coastal.jp/tsunami2011/, referred on October 2013.

  • Tsunami Joint Survey Group photo Archive: http://grene-city.csis.u-tokyo.ac.jp/, referred on October 2013.

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors of UT and TUMST were supported by Japan Science and Technology Agency through the J-RAPID program. H.Y. and H.M.F. were supported by the US National Science Foundation through the NSF RAPID award CMMI-1135768. The authors also acknowledge field survey assistance by several students of UT and TUMST.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan

    Shinji Sato, Yoshimitsu Tajima & Takenori Shimozono

  2. Department of Ocean Sciences, Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, 4-5-7 Konan, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan

    Akio Okayasu

  3. School of Civil and Construction Engineering, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, 97331-3212, USA

    Harry Yeh

  4. School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA

    Hermann M. Fritz

Authors
  1. Shinji Sato
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Akio Okayasu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Harry Yeh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Hermann M. Fritz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Yoshimitsu Tajima
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Takenori Shimozono
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shinji Sato.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Sato, S., Okayasu, A., Yeh, H. et al. Delayed Survey of the 2011 Tohoku Tsunami in the Former Exclusion Zone in Minami-Soma, Fukushima Prefecture. Pure Appl. Geophys. 171, 3229–3240 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-014-0809-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-014-0809-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation