Spatial Statistics of Tsunami Overland Flow Properties
Publication: Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering
Volume 143, Issue 2
Abstract
Numerical models are a key component of methodologies used to estimate tsunami risk, and model predictions are essential for the development of tsunami hazard assessments (THAs). By better understanding model bias and variability and, if possible, minimizing them, more reliable THAs will result. In this study, the authors compare run-up height, inundation lines, and flow-velocity field measurements between an open-source tsunami model and the method of splitting tsunami (MOST) model predictions in the Sendai Plain in Japan. Run-up elevation and average inundation distance are, in general, overpredicted by the models. However, both models agree relatively well with each other when predicting maximum sea surface elevations and maximum flow velocities. Furthermore, to explore the variability in numerical models, MOST is used to compare predictions from six different grid resolutions (90, 60, 30, 20, 15, and 10 m). Results of this work show that predictions of statistically stable products (run-up, inundation lines, and flow velocities) do not require the use of high-resolution (<30-m) digital elevation maps at this particular location. When predicting run-up heights, inundation lines, and flow velocities, numerical convergence was achieved by using the 30-m resolution grid. In addition, the Froude number variation in overland flow and a MOST sensitivity analysis are presented. Also, run-up height measurements and elevations from the digital elevation map were used to estimate model bias. The results provided in this paper will help provide an understanding of the bias and variability in model predictions and locate possible sources of errors within a model.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
2011 Tohoku Earthquake Tsunami Joint Survey Group. (2011). “Field survey of 2011 Tohoku earthquake tsunami by the Nationwide Tsunami Survey.” Jpn. Soc. Civ. Eng.
Arcos, M. E. M., and LeVeque, R. J. (2015). “Validating velocities in the GeoClaw tsunami model using observations near Hawaii from the 2011 Tohoku tsunami.” Pure Appl. Geophys., 172(3–4), 849–867.
Berger, M. J., George, D. L., LeVeque, R. J, and Mandli, K. T. (2011). “The GeoClaw software for depth-averaged flows with adaptive refinement.” Adv. Water Res., 34(9), 1195–1206.
George, D. L. (2004). “Numerical approximation of the nonlinear shallow water equations: A Godunov-type scheme.” Master’s thesis, Univ. of Washington, Seattle.
George, D. L. (2008). “Augmented Riemann solvers for the shallow water equations over variable topography with steady states and inundation.” J. Comput. Phys, 227(6), 3089–3113.
Gonzalez, F. I., LeVeque, R. J., Chamberlain, P., Hirai, B., Varkovitzky, J., and George, D. L. (2011). “GeoClaw results for the NTHMP tsunami benchmark problems.” Proceedings and results of the 2011 NTHMP model benchmarking workshop, NOAA Special Report, U.S. Dept. of Commerce/NOAA/NTHMP, Boulder, CO.
Koshimura, S., and Hayashi, S. (2012). “Tsunami flow measurement using the video recorded during the 2011 Tohoku tsunami attack.” Proc., Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symp. (IGARSS), Vol. 22−27, IEEE, New York, 6693–6696.
LeVeque, R. J. (1997). “Wave propagation algorithms for multidimensional hyperbolic systems.” J. Comput. Phys., 131(2), 327–353.
LeVeque, R. J. (2002). Finite volume methods for hyperbolic problems, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England.
LeVeque, R. J., and George, D. L. (2008). “High-resolution finite volume methods for the shallow water equations with bathymetry and dry states.” Advances in coastal and ocean engineering, Vol. 10: Advanced numerical models for simulating tsunami waves and runup, P. L. Liu, C. Synolakis, and H. Yeh, eds., World Scientific, Singapore, 43–73.
LeVeque, R. J., George, D. L., and Berger, M. J. (2011). “Tsunami modelling with adaptively refined finite volume methods.” Acta Numerica, 211–289.
Lynett, P., Borrero, J., Son, S., Wilson, R., and Miller, K. (2014). “Assessment of the tsunami-induced current hazard.” Geophys. Res. Lett., 41(6), 2048–2055.
Lynett, P., Borrero, J., Weiss, R., Son, S., Greer, D., and Renteria, W. (2012). “Observations and modeling of tsunami-induced currents in ports and harbors.” Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 327–328, 68–74.
MacInnes, B. T., Gusman, A. R., LeVeque, R. J., and Tanioka, Y. (2013). “Comparison of earthquake source models for the 2011 Tohoku event using tsunami simulations and near-field observations.” Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am., 103(2B), 1256–1274.
Mori, N., Takahashi, T., Yasuda, T., and Yanagisawa, H. (2011). “Survey of 2011 Tohoku earthquake tsunami inundation and run-up.” Geophys. Res. Lett., 38(7), L00G14.
Synolakis, C. E. (1987). “The runup of solitary waves.” J. Fluid Mech., 185(1), 523–545.
Synolakis, C. E. (2004). “Tsunami and seiche.” Earth-quake engineering handbook, W. F. Chen, and C. Scawthorn, Eds., CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 9-1–9-90.
Synolakis, C. E., Berbabrd, E. N., Titov, V. V., Kanoglu, U., and Gonzalez, F. I. (2007). “Standards, criteria, and procedures for NOAA evaluation of tsunami numerical models.” NOAA Tech. Memo OAR PMEL-135, NOAA/Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, Seattle, WA.
Titov, V. V. (2009). “In the sea.” Tsunamis, Vol. 15: Tsunami forecasting, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 371–400.
Titov, V. V., and Gonzalez, F. I. (1997). “Implementation and testing of the method of splitting tsunami (MOST) model.” Technical Rep., NOAA Tech. Memo ERLPMEL-112 (PB98-122773), NOAA/Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, Seattle, WA.
Titov, V. V., and Synolakis, C. E. (1995). “Modeling of breaking and nonbreaking long wave evolution and runup using VTSC-2.” J. Waterw. Port Coastal Ocean Eng., 308–316.
Titov, V. V., and Synolakis, C. E. (1998). “Numerical modeling of tidal wave runup.” J. Waterw. Port Coastal Ocean Eng., 157–171.
Wei, Y., Chamberlin, C., Titov, V. V., Tang, L., and Bernanrd, E. N. (2013). “Modeling of the 2011 Japan tsunami: Lessons for near-field forecast.” Pure Appl. Geophys., 170(6−8), 1309–1331.
Yokota, Y., et al. (2011). “Joint inversion of strong motion, teleseismic, geodetic, and tsunami datasets for the rupture process of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake.” Geophys. Res. Lett., 38(7).
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering
Volume 143 • Issue 2 • March 2017
Copyright
© 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 24, 2015
Accepted: Jun 8, 2016
Published online: Aug 17, 2016
Discussion open until: Jan 17, 2017
Published in print: Mar 1, 2017
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.