Source Constraints and Model Simulation of the December 26, 2004, Indian Ocean Tsunami
Publication: Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering
Volume 133, Issue 6
Abstract
The December 26, 2004 tsunami was perhaps the most devastating tsunami in recorded history, causing over 200,000 fatalities and widespread destruction in countries bordering the Indian Ocean. It was generated by the third largest earthquake on record and was a truly global event, with significant wave action felt around the world. Many measurements of this event were made with seismometers, tide gauges, global positioning system stations, and a few satellite overpasses. There were numerous eyewitness observations and video digital recordings of coastal tsunami impact, as well as subsequent coastal field surveys of runup and flooding. A few ship-based expeditions also took place in the months following the event, to measure and map seafloor disturbances in the epicenter area. Based on these various data sets, recent seismic analysis estimates of rupture propagation speed, and other seismological and geological constraints, we develop a calibrated tsunami source, in terms of coseismic seafloor displacement and rupture timing along of the Andaman–Sunda trench. This source is used to build a numerical model of tsunami generation, propagation, and coastal flooding for the December 26, 2004 event. Frequency dispersion effects having been identified in the deep water tsunami wavetrain, we simulate tsunami propagation and coastal impact with a fully nonlinear and dispersive Boussinesq model (FUNWAVE). The tsunami source is specified in this model as a series of discrete, properly parameterized, dislocation source segments [Okada, 1985, Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am., 75(4), 1135–1154], triggered in a time sequence spanning about . ETOPO2’s bottom bathymetry and land topography are specified in the modeled ocean basin, supplemented by more accurate and denser data in selected coastal areas (e.g., Thailand). A grid is used for tsunami simulations over the Indian Ocean basin, which is fine enough to model tsunami generation and propagation to nearshore areas. Surface elevations simulated in the model agree well, in both amplitude and timing, with measurements at tide gauges, one satellite transect, and ranges of runup values. These results validate our tsunami source and simulations of the December 26, 2004 event and indicate these can be used to conduct more detailed case studies, for specific coastal areas. In fact, part of the development of our proposed source already benefitted from such regional simulations performed on a finer grid , as part of a Thailand case study, in which higher frequency waves could be modeled (Ioualalen et al. 2007, J. Geophys. Res., 122, C07024). Finally, by running a non-dispersive version of FUNWAVE, we estimate dispersive effects on maximum deep water elevations to be more than 20% in some areas. We believe that work such as this, in which we achieve a better understanding through modeling of the catastrophic December 26, 2004 event, will help the scientific community better predict and mitigate any such future disaster. This will be achieved through a combination of forecasting models with adequate warning systems, and proper education of the local populations. Such work must be urgently done in light of the certitude that large, potentially tsunamogenic, earthquakes occur along all similar megathrust faults, with a periodicity of a few centuries.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The writers would like to gratefully acknowledge the following organizations in Thailand: the NECTEC center (Bangkok) for the use of their computer cluster and the Chulalongkorn University Tsunami Center, through Dr. P. Charusiri, for providing us with useful field survey data, and the Marine Department, through Dr. A. Sanitawong, for providing them with digitalized topography and bathymetry data sets. M. Vallee from GSA is acknowledged for discussions on seismology and M. Merrifield from UHSLC for kindly providing them with the tide gauge records. S. T. Grilli, J. T. Kirby, and F. Shi acknowledge continuing support from the Office of Naval Research, Coastal Geosciences Program. M. Ioualalen gratefully acknowledges IRD for granting him a 4-month visit to Chulalongkorn University, Math Department, and AVIC colleagues for having hosted him. He also gratefully acknowledges the Agence Nationale pour la Recherche (ANR) for supporting this work through TSUMOD Grant No. UNSPECIFIEDANR-05-CATT-016-02ONR.
References
Ammon, C. J., et al. (2005). “Rupture process of the 2004 Sumatra–Andaman Earthquake.” Science, 308, 1133–1139.
Bilham, R. (2005). “A flying start, then a slow slip.” Science, 308, 1126–1127.
Chen, Q., Kirby, J. T., Dalrymple, R. A., Kennedy, A. B., and Chawla, A., (2000). “Boussinesq modeling of wave transformation, breaking, and runup. II: 2D.” J. Waterway, Port, Coastal, Ocean Eng., 126(1), 48–56.
Chen, Q., Kirby, J. T., Dalrymple, R. A., Shi, F., and Thornton, E. B. (2003). “Boussinesq modeling of longshore currents.” J. Geophys. Res., 108(C11), 3362.
Chlieh, M., et al. (2005). “Coseismic slip and afterslip associated to the Mw 9.14 Aceh–Andaman Earthquake.” EOS Trans. Am. Geophys. Union, 86(52), Fall Meeting Suppl., Abstract U21C-01.
Davis, D., Suppe, J., and Dahlen, F. A. (1983). “Mechanics of fold-and-thrust belts and accretionary wedges.” J. Geophys. Res., 88, 1153–1172.
Day, S. J., Watts, P., Grilli, S. T., and Kirby, J. T. (2005). “Mechanical models of the 1975 Kalapana, Hawaii earthquake and tsunami.” Mar. Geol., 215(1–2), 59–92.
de Groot-Hedlin, C. D. (2005). “Estimation of the rupture length and velocity of the Great Sumatra earthquake of Dec. 26, 2004 using hydroacoustic signals.” Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L11303.
Fritz, H. M., and Borrero, J. C. (2006). “Somalia field after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.” Earthquake Spectra, 22(S3), S219–S233.
Fritz, H. M., and Synolakis, C. E. (2005). “Field survey of the Indian Ocean tsunami in the Maldives.” Proc., 5th Int. Conf. on Ocean Wave Meas. and Analysis, WAVES 2005, Madrid, Spain, Paper No. 219.
Fujii, Y., and Satake, K. (2007). “Tsunami Source of the 2004 Sumatra–Andaman earthquake inferred from tide gauge and satellite data.” Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am., 97(1a), 192–207.
Gower, J. (2005). “JASON 1 detects the Dec. 26, 2004 tsunami.” EOS (Wash. D.C.), 86(3), 37–38.
Gusiakov, V. K. (2005). “Basic list of measurements made in Sibolga and Nias Islands.” ⟨http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tsunami/indo20041226/sibolga_nias.htm⟩.
Heaton, T. H. (1990). “Evidence for and implications of self-healing pulses of slip in earthquake rupture.” Phys. Earth Planet. Inter., 64, 1–20.
Henstock, T., McNeill, L., and Tappin, D. (2006). “Seafloor morphology of the Sumatran subduction zone: Surface rupture during megathrust earthquakes.” Geology, 34(5), 485–488.
Ioualalen, M., Asavanant, J. Kaewbanjak, N., Grilli, S. T., Kirby, J. T., and Watts, P. (2007). “Modeling the 26th December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami: Case study of impact in Thailand.” J. Geophys. Res., 112, C07024.
Ioualalen, M., Pelletier, J., Watts, P., and Regnier, M. (2006). “Numerical modeling of the 26th November 1999 Vanuatu tsunami.” J. Geophys. Res., 111, C06030.
Kawata, T., et al. (2005). “Comprehensive analysis of the damage and its impact on coastal zones by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami disaster.” Disaster Prevention Research Institute, ⟨http://www.tsunami.civil.tohoku.ac.jp/sumatra2004/report.html⟩.
Kayanne, H., Ikeda, Y., Echigo, T., Shishikura, M., and Kamataki, T. (2005). “Coseismic uplift of the Andaman Islands associated with the Sumatra-Andaman Earthquake of 2004 and the recurrence history of gigantic earthquakes.” Proc., Memorial Conf. on the 2004 Giant Earthquake and Tsunami in the Indian Ocean, Programs and Abstracts, P1-2-1-2.
Kennedy, A. B., Chen, Q., Kirby, J. T., and Dalrymple, R. A., (2000). “Boussinesq modeling of wave transformation, breaking, and runup. I: 1D.” J. Waterway, Port, Coastal, Ocean Eng., 126(1), 39–47.
Kirby, J. T. (2003). “Boussinesq models and applications to nearshore wave propagation, surf zone processes and wave-induced currents.” Advances in coastal modeling, V. C. Lakhan, ed., Elsevier Oceanography Series Vol. 67, Elsevier, New York, 1–41.
Kirby, J. T., Shi, F., Watts, P., and Grilli, S. (2004). “Propagation of short dispersive tsunami waves in ocean basins.” EOS Trans. Am. Geophys. Union, 85(47), Fall Meeting Suppl., Abstract OS21E-02.
Kramer, S. L. (1996). Geotechnical earthquake engineering, Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, N.J., 232–238.
Kulikov, E. (2005) “Dispersion of the Sumatra tsunami waves in the Indian Ocean detected by satellite altimetry.” Rep. from P. P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow.
Lay, T., et al. (2005). “The great Sumatra–Andaman earthquake of 26 December 2004.” Science, 308(S728), 1127–1133.
Liu, P. L.-F., et al. (2005). “Observations by the International Tsunami Survey Team in Sri Lanka.” Science, 308, 1595.
Liu, P. L.-F., Yeh, H., Lin, P., Chang, K.-T., and Cho, Y.-S. (1998). “Generation and evolution of edge wave packets.” Phys. Fluids, 10(7), 1635–1657.
Masterlark, T. (2005). “Poroelastic coupling of the recent M9 and M8.7 earthquakes in the Sumatra–Andaman subduction zone.” EOS Trans. Am. Geophys. Union, 86(52), Fall Meeting Suppl., Abstract U11A-0802.
McNeill, L., Henstock, T., and Tappin, D. (2005). “Evidence for seafloor deformation during great subduction zone earthquakes of the Sumatran subduction zone: Results from the first seafloor survey onboard the HMS Scott, 2005.” EOS Trans. Am. Geophys. Union, 86(52), Fall Meeting Suppl., Abstract U14A-02.
Merrifield, M., et al. (2005). “Tide gauge observations of the Indian Ocean tsunami, December 26, 2004.” Geophys. Res. Lett., 32.
Moran, K., Grilli, S. T., and Tappin, D. (2005). “An overview of SEATOS: Sumatra earthquake and tsunami offshore survey.” EOS Trans. Am. Geophys. Union, 86(52), Fall Meeting Suppl., Abstract U14-04.
Moran, K., and Tappin, D. (2006). “SEATOS 2005 cruise report: Sumatra earthquake and tsunami offshore survey.” 92, ⟨http://www.oce.uri.edu/seatos/report.html⟩.
Mosher, D., Austin, J. A., Saustrup, S., Fisher, D., and Moran, K. (2005). “High-resolution seismic reflection images crossing the Sumatran seismogenic zone—Sumatra earthquake and tsunami offshore survey (SEATOS), 2005.” EOS Trans. Am. Geophys. Union, 86(52), Fall Meeting Suppl., Abstract U14A-05.
Okada, Y. (1985). “Surface deformation due to shear and tensile faults in a half-space.” Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am., 75(4), 1135–1154.
Okal, E. A. (1982). “Mode–wave equivalence and other asymptotic problems in tsunami theory.” Phys. Earth Planet. Inter., 30, 1–11.
Park, J., et al. (2005). “Earths free oscillations excited by the 26 December 2004 Sumatra–Andaman earthquake.” Science, 308, 1139–1144.
Rabinovitch, A. B., and Thomson, R. E. (2007). “The 26 December 2004 Sumatra tsunami: Analysis of tide gauge data from the world ocean Part 1: Indian Ocean and South America.” Pure Appl. Geophys., 164(2–3), 261–308.
Sannasiraj, S. A., and Sundar, V. (2005). “Post-tsunami studies along Tamilnadu coast, India.” Proc., 5th Int. Conf. on Ocean Wave Meas. and Analysis, WAVES 2005, Madrid, Spain, Paper No. 214.
Satake, K. (2005). “Tsunami generation from the 2004 Sumatra–Andaman earthquake.” EOS Trans. Am. Geophys. Union 86(52), Fall Meeting Suppl., Abstract U13A-01.
Satake, K., et al. (2005). “Report on post tsunami survey along the Myanmar coast for the December 2004 Sumatra–Andaman earthquake.” ⟨http://unit.aist.go.jp/actfault/english/topics/Myanmar/index.html⟩
Satake, K., et al. (2006). “Tsunami heights and damage along the Myanmar coast from the December 2004 Sumatra–Andaman earthquake.” Earth, Planets Space, 58, 243–252.
Shi, F., Dalrymple, R. A., Kirby, J. T., Chen, Q., and Kennedy, A. (2001). “A fully nonlinear Boussinesq model in generalized curvilinear coordinates.” Coastal Eng., 42, 337–358.
Shibayama, T., et al. (2005). “The December 26, 2004 Sumatra earthquake tsunami, tsunami field survey in Banda Aceh of Indonesia.” ⟨http://www.drs.dpri.kyoto-u.ac.jp/sumatra/indonesia-ynu/indonesiasurveyynue.html⟩.
Stein, S., and Okal, E. (2005). “Speed and size of the Sumatra earthquake.” Nature (London), 434, 581–582.
Synolakis, C. E., Fritz, H. M., and Titov, V. V. (2005). “Field survey of the Indian Ocean tsunami on Sri Lanka’s south coast.” Proc., 5th Int. Conf. on Ocean Wave Measurement and Analysis, WAVES 2005, Madrid, Spain.
Tanioka, Y., et al. (2005). “Rupture process of the 2004 great Sumatra–Andaman earthquake estimated from tsunami waveforms.” EOS Trans. Am. Geophys. Union, 86(52), Fall Meeting Suppl., Abstract U22A-04.
Titov, V. V., Rabinovich, A. B., Mofjeld, H. O., Thomson, R. E., and Gonzalez, F. I. (2005). “The global reach of the 26 December 2004 Sumatra tsunami.” Science, 309, 2045–2048.
Titov, V. V., and Synolakis, C. E. (1998). “Numerical modeling of tidal wave runup.” J. Waterway, Port, Coastal, Ocean Eng., 124(4), 157–171.
Tsuji, Y., Namegaya, Y., Matsumoto, H., Iwasaki, S., Kanbua, W., Sriwichai, M., and Meesuk, V. (2006). “The 2004 Indian tsunami in Thailand: Surveyed runup heights and tide gauge records.” Earth, Planets Space, 58(2), 223–232.
Vatvani, D., Schrama, E. J. O., Kernkamp, H. W. J., and Boon, J. G. (2005). “Hindcast of flooding caused by tsunami in Aceh Sumatra.” Proc., 5th Int. Conf. on Ocean Wave Measurement and Analysis, WAVES 2005, Madrid, Spain, Paper No. 227.
Vigny, C., et al. (2005). “Insight into the 2004 Sumatra Andaman earthquake from GPS measurements in southeast Asia.” Nature (London), 436, 203–206.
Ward, S. N. (1980). “Relationships of tsunami generation and an earthquake source.” J. Phys. Earth, 28, 441–474.
Watts, P. Grilli, S. T., Kirby, J. T., Fryer, G. J., and Tappin, D. R. (2003). “Landslide tsunami case studies using Boussinesq model and a fully nonlinear tsunami generation model.” Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 3, 391–402.
Watts, P., Ioulalen, M., Grilli, S. T., Shi, F., and Kirby, J. T. (2005). “Numerical simulation of the December 26, 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami using a higher-order Boussinesq model.” Proc., 5th Int. Conf. on Ocean Wave Measurement and Analysis, WAVES 2005, Madrid, Spain, Paper No. 221.
Waythomas, C. F., and Watts, P. (2003). “Numerical simulation of tsunami generation by pyroclastic flow at Aniakchak Volcano, Alaska.” Geophys. Res. Lett., 30(14), 1751–1755.
Wei, G., and Kirby, J. T. (1995). “Time-dependent numerical code for extended Boussinesq equations.” J. Waterway, Port, Coastal, Ocean Eng., 121(5), 251–261.
Wei, G., Kirby, J. T., Grilli, S. T., and Subramanya, R. (1995). “A fully nonlinear Boussinesq model for free surface waves. Part 1: Highly nonlinear unsteady waves.” J. Fluid Mech., 294, 71–92.
Yalciner, A. C., Ghazali, N. H., and Wahab, A. K. A. (2005a). “December 26, 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami field survey (July. 09-10, 2005) at North west peninsular Malaysia Coast, Penang and Langkawi Islands.” ⟨http://yalciner.ce.metu.edu.tr/malaysia-survey⟩.
Yalciner, A. C., Perincek, D., Ersoy, S., Presateya, G., Hidayat, R., and McAdoo, B. (2005b). “Report on December 26, 2004, Indian Ocean tsunami, field survey on Jan 21–31 at north of Sumatra.” ITST of UNESCO IOC, ⟨http://yalciner.ce.metu.edu.tr/sumatra/survey⟩.
Yamada, F., Fernandez, H., Goff, J., Higman, B., and Jaffe, B. (2005). “An overview of the ITST expedition to Sri Lanka.” Proc. 5th Int. Conf. on Ocean Wave Measurement and Analysis, WAVES 2005, Madrid, Spain, Paper No. 217.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2007 ASCE.
History
Received: Feb 3, 2006
Accepted: Jul 17, 2006
Published online: Nov 1, 2007
Published in print: Nov 2007
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.