Observation and numerical prediction of 2011 East Japan Tsunami in Pacific Ocean

Abstract

A numerical simulation of transoceanic propagation of tsunamis is conducted by solving the linear shallow-water equations with the leap-frog in the staggered grid system. When a tsunami propagates a long distance, the dispersion effects may play an important role and should be considered in numerical simulation. Recently, Cho et al. (2007) developed a practical dispersion-correction scheme to consider the dispersion effects by adjusting the numerical dispersion. The developed scheme is verified by comparing numerical results with available analytical solution. In this study, the propagation of the East Japan Tsunami occurred on March 2011 is simulated and predicted free surface profiles are compared with measurements at DART buoys. The LSWE with dispersioncorrection scheme model results, such as the arrival time and the leading wave elevation at tidal stations, are more agreeable than the LSWE model with the observed data recorded at several DART buoys.