FY 1987

A program to acquire deep ocean tsunami measurements in the North Pacific

González, F.I., E.N. Bernard, and H.B. Milburn

In Proceedings of Coastal Zone 87, WW Div., ASCE, Seattle, WA, 26–29 May 1987, 3373–3381 (1987)

Deep ocean tsunami measurements are needed to provide open ocean boundary conditions for testing numerical models in hindcast studies, and for improving our understanding of tsunami generation and propagation. Jacob (1984) has identified a portion of the Aleutian Trench which includes the Shumagin Island group as a seismic gap (the Shumagin Gap); he has computed estimates which indicate that the probability of a great earthquake occurrence (M > 7.8) is significantly higher for this region than any other in the U.S. Because tsunamigenic earthquakes along a major portion of the seismically active Aleutian trench threaten Hawaii and the U.S. west coast, and because a large tsunami is possible in the event of a great earthquake in the Shumagin Gap, this region has become the focus of a long-term monitoring program by the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).