The meteorological tsunami of 1 November 2010 in the southern Strait of Georgia: a case study

Tsunami-like sea level oscillations recently recorded by tide gauges located along the coasts of British Columbia (Canada) and Washington State (USA) have been identified as meteorological tsunamis. Globally, such events can create hazardous conditions in coastal areas, including the possible loss of life, and need to be taken into account in any assessment of risk to nearshore infrastructure. On 1 November 2010, a significant meteotsunami occurred in the southern Strait of Georgia, British Columbia. To examine this event, we have used all available sea level and air pressure data, including 1-min records from five Canadian Hydrographic Service and five USA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration tide gauges, as well as high-resolution time series from two Ocean Network Canada VENUS bottom pressure recorders and from 132 air pressure sensors within the Victoria School-Based Weather Station Network of southern British Columbia. The oceanic responses to four well-defined atmospheric disturbances (labelled D1–D4) were selected for analysis. Disturbance D3, which propagated toward ~ 100° True (eastward) at a speed of ~ 20 m/s, appears to have been responsible for generating the meteotsunami observed in the southern Strait of Georgia, while disturbance D4 that moved toward ~ 55° True at a speed of 24 m/s appears to have produced the meteotsunami observed in Juan de Fuca Strait that separates Vancouver Island from Washington State. We used the physical parameters derived for the four disturbances to force numerical simulations of the events and compared the results to observations from selected tide gauge sites. The numerical experiments revealed strongly individual sea level responses at each site to changing air pressure disturbance speed, direction and intensity, such that each location has its own set of “site-specific” air pressure characteristics that produce the strongest sea level response. Differences in the local topography and coastline geometry appear to be responsible for the different responses among sites.