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Longwave Measurements for the Coast of British Columbia and Improvements to the Tsunami Warning Capability

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  • Alexander Rabinovich
  • Fred Stephenson

Abstract

A few years ago the Canadian Hydrographic Service initiated a major upgrade toall tide gauges and tsunami stations on the coast of British Columbia (B.C.). Thisprogram was undertaken to address shortcomings of the earlier digital systems andwas driven by concerns about emergency response continuity in the year 2000. By1999, thirteen tide gauge stations had been installed and were operational. Three ofthese stations (Tofino, Winter Harbour, and Langara) were selected for use as tsunamiwarning stations. Several years of continuous, high quality data have now been collectedat these stations and used for analysis of long waves in the tsunami frequency band.Careful examination of these data revealed two weak tsunamis recorded by severalB.C. stations: a distant tsunami of June 23, 2001 generated by the Peru Earthquake(M w =8.4), and a local tsunami of October 12, 2001 induced by the Queen Charlotte Earthquake (M w =6.3$). Spectral characteristics of these two tsunamis are compared with the spectral characteristics of long waves generated by a strong storm (October, 2000) and of ordinary background oscillations. The topographic admittance functions (frequency responses) constructed for all stations showed that most of them (in particular, Winter Harbour, Tofino, Bamfield, Port Hardy, and Victoria) have strong resonance at periods from 2.5 to 20 min, indicating that these locations are vulnerable to relatively high-frequency tsunamis. The Winter Harbour station also has two strong resonant peaks with periods of 30 and 47 min and with amplification factors of about 7. The estimated source functions show very clear differences between long waves associated with the seismic source (typical periods 10–30 min) and those generated by a storm, which typically have shorter periods and strong energy pumping from high-frequencies due to non-linear interaction of wind waves. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 2004

Suggested Citation

  • Alexander Rabinovich & Fred Stephenson, 2004. "Longwave Measurements for the Coast of British Columbia and Improvements to the Tsunami Warning Capability," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 32(3), pages 313-343, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:nathaz:v:32:y:2004:i:3:p:313-343
    DOI: 10.1023/B:NHAZ.0000035549.26392.c8
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Harold Mofjeld & Frank GonzáLez & Eddie Bernard & Jean Newman, 2000. "Forecasting the Heights of Later Waves in Pacific-Wide Tsunamis," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 22(1), pages 71-89, July.
    2. John Clague & Adam Munro & Tad Murty, 2003. "Tsunami Hazard and Risk in Canada," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 28(2), pages 435-463, March.
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