Tsunami and Earthquake Research at the USGS

Recent News, Events, and Research

• USGS PCMSC Project, "Coastal and Marine Earthquake, Tsunami, and Landslide Active Margin Field Studies"
• USGS PCMSC Project, "Tsunami Hazards, Modeling, and the Sedimentary Record"
• Alaska Earthquakes Pose U.S. Tsunami Risk (Huffington Post)
• Giant earthquakes off Alaska pose big US tsunami risk:
  Scientists concentrate on Alaskan-Aleutian subduction zone, which could cause deadly waves (MSNBC)
• The March 11th, 2011 Tsunami
  • Preliminary simulation of the tsunami
  • Pre- and post-tsunami Japan
    Photos from the 3rd International Tsunami Field Symposium in Japan, April, 2010, and comparisons to the same locations following the March 11th, 2011 tsunami
  • Initial field observations from central California and Hawaii

Starting Points

• About tsunami and earthquake research at the USGS
• Could It Happen Here? likelihood of a tsunami happening where you live
• The Basics: Life of a Tsunami
• Tsunami and Earthquake Links

Research Studies, Past Events

• Animations of the 25 October 2010 Indonesian Tsunami: Indian Ocean
• Animations of the 27 February 2010 Chilean Tsunami: Southeast Pacific Ocean
• Preliminary Analysis of the September 29, 2009 Samoa Tsunami, Southwest Pacific Ocean
• The 29 September 2009 American Samoa Earthquake and Tsunami: Notes From the Field
• Preliminary Analysis of the April 2007 Solomon Islands Tsunami
• About tsunami and earthquake research at the USGS
• News From the Field — International Tsunami Survey Team in Sumatra, 3/30 - 4/26/05
• The 26 December 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami
• Second Tsunami Source Workshop: July 19-20, 2010
• USGS Tsunami Sources Workshop 2006
  "Great Earthquake Tsunami Sources: Empiricism & Beyond Empiricism"
  April 21-22, 2006 -- Menlo Park, CA
• The 1952 and 2003 Tokachi-Oki Earthquakes and Tsunamis (933 kb)
• Pacific Northwest: Phase 1, Phase 2 (155 kb), Phase 3
• Tsunamis in the U.S. Pacific Northwest
• The 1998 Papua New Guinea Tsunami
• Descriptive Model of the 1998 Papua New Guinea Tsunami (255 kb)
• Preliminary Analysis of Sedimentary Deposits from the 1998 Papua New Guinea (PNG) Tsunami (1.8 MB)
• Tsunami Record from the Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake (140 kb)
• Preliminary Analysis of the 23 June 2001 Peru Tsunami (168 kb)

Tsunami Animations

WARNING: QuickTime* movies are very large and may take many minutes (and, sometimes, hours!) to display and/or download, depending on your internet connection speed.

If you do not have QuickTime please download the QuickTime Player here.
*Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

Preliminary simulation of the 2011 Honshu, Japan tsunami

Please note that these Quicktime simulations may take several minutes to load.

• Viewpoint north. The first 2 hours of propagation is shown.
  Small version
  view in web page; or download* .mov file (31.3 MB)
  Large version
  view in web page; or download* .mov file (74.7 MB)
  
  
• Viewpoint south. The first 2 hours of propagation is shown.
  Small version
  view in web page; or download* .mov file (23.3 MB)
  Large version
  view in web page; or download* .mov file (65.9 MB)
  Zoomed-in version
  Small: view in web page; or download* .mov file (21.2 MB)
  Large: view in web page; or download* .mov file (49.6 MB)

*Download: Mac—click and hold mouse button; Windows—right-click

Preliminary simulation of the 2010 Indonesian tsunami

... from the 25 October 2010 M=7.7 subduction zone earthquake, offshore Indonesia (Indian Ocean)
Quicktime animations:

• Small version
  view in web page; or
  download .mov file (9.3 MB; Mac: click and hold mouse button; Windows: right-click)
• Large version
  view in web page; or
  download .mov file (32.9 MB; Mac: click and hold mouse button; Windows: right-click)

Preliminary simulations of the 2010 Chilean tsunami

... from the 27 February 2010 M=8.8 subduction zone earthquake, offshore Chile—
QuickTime animations:

• Viewpoint looking east
  view in web page; or
  download .mov file (Mac: click and hold mouse button; Windows: right-click)
• Viewpoint looking southwest
  view in web page; or
  download .mov file (Mac: click and hold mouse button; Windows: right-click)
• Viewpoint looking west
  view in web page; or
  download .mov file (Mac: click and hold mouse button; Windows: right-click)

Animations of the 29 September 2009 Samoan Tsunami

QuickTime animations:

• Initial tsunami wavefield. Regional view to the east.
  See the animation, 5.2 MB:
  view in web page; or
  download .mov file (Mac: click and hold mouse button; Windows: right-click)
• Tsunami wavefield at 2.9 minutes. Regional view to the northwest.
  See the animation, 7.7 MB:
  view in web page; or
  download .mov file (Mac: click and hold mouse button; Windows: right-click)
• Initial tsunami wavefield. Regional view to the northwest.
  See the animation, 5.5 MB:
  view in web page; or
  download .mov file (Mac: click and hold mouse button; Windows: right-click)

Animation of the 26 December 2004 Indian Ocean Local Tsunami

• Please see "Tsunami Generation from the 2004 M=9.2 Sumatra-Andaman Earthquake"

Panoramas of Damage in Sri Lanka after the 26 December 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami

Panorama of Kalmunai (QuickTime VR) 1.5 MB

• view in web page; or
• download .mov file (Mac: click and hold mouse button; Windows: right-click)

Panorama at Nalaveli Hotel (QuickTime VR) 1.9 MB

• view in web page; or
• download .mov file (Mac: click and hold mouse button; Windows: right-click)

Hypothetical Tsunami along the Pacific Northwest Coast: Phase 1

QuickTime animation

• view in web page; or
• download .mov file (Mac: click and hold mouse button; Windows: right-click)

Animated GIF

• view in web page; or
• download .gif file (Mac: click and hold mouse button; Windows: right-click)

Hypothetical Tsunami along the Pacific Northwest Coast: Phase 2

Low Resolution (QuickTime) 2.2 MB

• view in web page; or
• download .mov file (Mac: click and hold mouse button; Windows: right-click)

High Resolution (QuickTime) 11.3 MB

• view in web page; or
• download .mov file (Mac: click and hold mouse button; Windows: right-click)

1998 Papua New Guinea Tsunami: Earthquake Source

Low Resolution (QuickTime) 1.3 MB

• view in web page; or
• download .mov file (Mac: click and hold mouse button; Windows: right-click)

Medium Resolution (QuickTime) 4.7 MB

• view in web page; or
• download .mov file (Mac: click and hold mouse button; Windows: right-click)

High Resolution (QuickTime) 16.8 MB

• view in web page; or
• download .mov file (Mac: click and hold mouse button; Windows: right-click)

Animation of the Tsunami from the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake

Small Scale (QuickTime) 10 MB

• view in web page; or
• download .mov file (Mac: click and hold mouse button; Windows: right-click)

Large Scale (QuickTime) 17 MB

• view in web page; or
• download .mov file (Mac: click and hold mouse button; Windows: right-click)

Preliminary Animation of the 23 June 2001 Peru Tsunami

Medium Resolution (QuickTime) 4.3 MB

• view in web page; or
• download .mov file (Mac: click and hold mouse button; Windows: right-click)

High Resolution (QuickTime) 24.0 MB

• view in web page; or
• download .mov file (Mac: click and hold mouse button; Windows: right-click)

VRML Models

A VRML browser or plugin is needed to view these models
For information on Virtual Reality Modeling Language, see the VRML page sponsored by the Web3D Consortium

• Initial Wavefield for the 1998 Papua New Guinea Tsunami
  VRML Model (PC) 2.8MB
  VRML Model (Unix) 2.8MB
• Initial Wavefield for Hypothetical Pacific Northwest Tsunami
  VRML Model 2.8MB