Tsunami Resources

Gwyneth Jones

(When you find additional good resources, please do email me at
gjones@ups.edu or gwjones@bcc.ctc.edu

Page most recently updated November 9, 2008

3 REQUIRED READINGS FOR MY STUDENTS!

In addition to the TSUNAMI Chapter associated with your textbook

1. One-page diagram comparing tsunami vs. regular (wind) waves from UW:

http://www.ess.washington.edu/tsunami/images/tsunami.pdf

"Tsunamis are often no taller than normal wind waves, but they are much more dangerous. Wind waves come and go without flooding higher areas -- Water flows in a circle. Tsunamis run quickly over the land as a wall of water -- Water flows straight. Even a tsunami that looks small can be dangerous! -- Any time you feel a large earthquake, or see a disturbance in the ocean that might be a tsunami, head to high ground or inland."

&

2. "Surviving a Tsunami--Lessons from Chile, Hawaii, and Japan" from U.S. Geological Survey:

http://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/c1187

&

3. "The Orphan Tsunami of 1700—Japanese Clues to a Parent Earthquake in North America" (Atwater et al, 2005):

http://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/pp1707
* Read Part 1 & Part 3 & at least one section of Part 2 *

Here's how you, too, can sign up to get "real-time" alerts when earthquakes occur and/or when tsunami bulletins are posted:

* Earthquake Notification Service (USGS) - https://sslearthquake.usgs.gov/ens

* TsunamiWatcher (NOAA) - http://wcatwc.arh.noaa.gov/watcher/tsunamiwatcher.php

The December 2004 Sumatran Earthquake & Tsunami

(and the also-huge one there in March 2005)

* EERI Presentation (.ppt) - "The Earthquake Engineering Research Institute is pleased to announce the availablity of The Great Sumatra Earthquake and Indian Ocean Tsunami. ... It was developed to explain the origins of the earthquake and ensuing tsunami and to document the damage caused by the earthquake and tsunami in many countries around the Indian Ocean. It also includes slides on past tsunamis in the USA as well as a discussion of tsunami risk reduction methods."

* McGraw-Hill Site (.html) - "Great Earthquake and Tsunami of 26 December 2004: An Online Resource for Educators and Students - The following pages and other electronic resources were created in an effort to provide educators and students a concise yet accurate depiction of this extraordinary catastrophe - the largest earthquake in 40 years and most devastating tsunami in recorded history."

* The Wave That Shook the World - Transcript and Website for NOVA (PBS) Program on the December 2004 Indian Ocean (Sumatran) Quake. Includes: "Wave of the Future: What will it take to be ready for the next major tsunami? - Ask the Expert: For a week in spring 2005, tsunami expert Lori Dengler answered viewer questions about tsunamis. Check out her comprehensive responses. - Anatomy of a Tsunami: Follow the tsunami from its birth at the seafloor to its devastating collision with coasts around the Indian Ocean. - Once and Future Tsunamis: With this interactive world map, learn about nine tsunamis, and see where the next one could strike."

* "Mitigating the Risk from Coastal Hazards: Strategies & Concepts for Recovery from the December 26, 2004 Tsunami" - In-depth report with excellent diagrams and images, written in December 2005 (a year after the first event), from University of Hawaii's SOEST.

* UW Earth & Space Sciences department webpage about the Sumatran quakes.

Earthquakes & Tsunamis in the Pacific Northwest

(Has it happened here in the past? (YES) -- Will it happen again here? ... )

* Tsunamis in Washington (video to watch online or on UW-TV) - "Interested in learning more about the threat of tsunamis in the Pacific Northwest? This program includes speakers from the UW Pacific Northwest Center for Geologic Mapping Studies (GeoMapNW), the UW Department of Earth and Space Sciences and the U.S. Geological Survey. Also involved is the Washington Division of Geology and Washington Emergency Management, who present new data about past and future tsunamis hitting our region... Produced by: University of Washington, 3/10/05."

* Tsunamis: Can They Happen Here? - "Smithsonian magazine hosted an expert panel discussion on February 8, 2005, on tsunamis, earthquakes and disaster preparedness. Kevin Krajick, a frequent contributor to the magazine, chaired the session. His article "Future Shocks: Modern Science, Ancient Catastrophes and the Endless Quest to Predict Earthquakes" [4 pages] appears in the March, 2005 issue. Six scientists reported on their latest efforts to understand the massive tsunami that struck the Indian Ocean on December 26, 2004; identify regions around the globe that are most endangered by tsunamis and earthquakes; and develop warning and evacuation systems that can save lives."

* Pacific Northwest Seismograph Network (USGS/UW) - Outstanding resource! - Includes "Pacific Northwest Earthquake-Related Hazards" and "Earthquake Hazards in Washington and Oregon" and "Frequently Asked Questions" and "Cascadia Megathrust Earthquakes in Pacific Northwest Indian Legend" - and more!

* EERI's Seattle Fault Scenario Website - "The Seattle Fault Scenario was unveiled on February 28, 2005. It projects the effects of a magnitude 6.7 earthquake in the Seattle region. A website containing documents, presentations and contact information related to the scenario has been established."

* CREW's Cascadia Subduction Zone Earthquakes Report - "Cascadia Subduction Zone Earthquakes: A magnitude 9.0 earthquake scenario."

* Seattle Post-Intelligencer's "Northwest Earthquake" series - http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/quake/yearlater.asp - Articles, posters, etc on western Washington earthquakes, on the one-year anniversary of the 2001 Nisqually earthquake

* "The Orphan Tsunami of 1700—Japanese Clues to a Parent Earthquake in North America" (Atwater et al, 2005) - Hugely important compilation of all the evidence... Nicely laid out, lots of beautiful images (photos, diagrams, historical documents, etc etc etc!).

* Cascadia Deep Earthquakes - Why deep earthquakes matter, recent examples in the Pacific Northwest, damage to infrastructure, lessons for the future

For More Information about Earthquakes and Tsunamis

(some for college students, some for K-12 teachers, some more technical...)

ENVR325-FaultsQuakesPART1.pdf and ENVR325-FaultsQuakesPART2.pdf - Slides from my (Gwyn's) PowerPoint presentations for my natural hazards course at the University of Puget Sound

http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/visualization/collections/tsunami.html - Tsunami Visualizations & Animations

http://www.iris.washington.edu/gifs/animations/faults.htm - Fault Motion Animations, to help visualize the different types of fault motions

http://tsunami.geo.ed.ac.uk/local-bin/quakes/mapscript/demo_run.pl - Worldwide Quake Locator (realtime)

http://www.iris.edu/seismon - Seismic Monitor Map - Wondering where quakes have occurred today? Yesterday? Last week? Click on a dot to zoom in. Notice how the little purple squares ("Past 5 Years") outline the plate boundaries (all the mid-ocean ridges, including our own Juan de Fuca system and up in the Aleutians (N. Pacific)). There are clickable buttons for Earthquake Headlines, and Special Events, and Education Links.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov - USGS Earthquake Hazards Program

http://neic.usgs.gov - National Earthquake Information Center

http://www.tsunami.noaa.gov - NOAA's Tsunami pages - Including the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center

http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/informer/infrmr2/infrm2wb.htm - Public Education for Earthquake Hazards

http://www.fema.gov/library/ - FEMA Preparation and Prevention Virtual Library and Electronic Reading Room - Lots of topics and publications (including "Tremor Troops" and "Seismic Sleuths")

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/pacnw - USGS sites on Pacific NW quakes (including "Hazards & Preparedness")

http://www.pnsn.org - Pacific NW Seismograph Network (based at UW)

http://www.gsajournals.org/gsaonline/?request=get-document&issn=1052-5173&volume=013&issue=06&page=0004#i1052-5173-13-6-4-f05 - High-Resolution Lidar Topography of the Puget Lowland, Washington — A Bonanza for Earth Science (html-full-text version or pdf version) - Co-authored by Brian Sherrod

http://pugetsoundlidar.ess.washington.edu/harding.pdf - Fault Scarp Detection Beneath Dense Vegetation Cover: Bainbridge Island, Washington State

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/quake/yearlater.asp - Seattle Post-Intelligencer: "Northwest Earthquake" series - Articles, posters, etc on western Washington earthquakes, on the one-year anniversary of the 2001 Nisqually earthquake

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/59931_quaketech27.shtml - Seattle P-I: Region's Sleuths Turning up More and More Faults

http://www.seattle.gov/emergency/programs/projectimpact - Project Impact: Building a Disaster-Resistant Community (Seattle) - Retrofitting, etc

http://geomaps.wr.usgs.gov/pacnw/lifeline/index.html - Lifelines and Earthquake Hazards in the Greater Seattle area (map and text links)

http://www.ibhs.org/property_protection/default.asp?id=4 - Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) information on protecting your property from quakes

http://www.eeri.org - Earthquake Engineering Research Institute - Including EERI Talking Points

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/4kids and http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learning/teachers.php - For K-12 teachers, parents, etc

http://www.dnr.wa.gov/ResearchScience/Topics/GeologicHazardsMapping/Pages/tsunamis.aspx - Washington State Department of Natural Resources tsunami page

http://dnr.wa.gov --> Search on "LIQUEFACTION" --> Click on "GM-51 [ZIP archive containing 3 PDF files; 5.4 MB]" - Liquefaction Susceptibility of the Greater Tacoma Urban Area, Pierce and King Counties, Washington (WA DNR)

http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/research/parkfield - USGS's The Parkfield, California, Earthquake Experiment - "Parkfield remains the best identified locale to trap an earthquake." - National Earthquake Prediction Evaluation Council, 1994. ... "The Parkfield Experiment is a comprehensive, long-term earthquake research project on the San Andreas fault." - "September 28, 2004—M 6.0 earthquake captured"

And other links you recommend! :)