The New Zealand Tsunami Database: historical and modern records
Abstract
A database of historical (pre-instrumental) and modern (instrumentally recorded)tsunamis that have impacted or been observed in New Zealand has been compiled andpublished online. New Zealand's tectonic setting, astride an obliquely convergenttectonic boundary on the Pacific Rim, means that it is vulnerable to local, regional andcircum-Pacific tsunamis. Despite New Zealand's comparatively short written historicalrecord of c. 200 years there is a wealth of information about the impact of past tsunamis.The New Zealand Tsunami Database currently has 800+ entries that describe >50 highvaliditytsunamis. Sources of historical information include witness reports recorded indiaries, notes, newspapers, books, and photographs. Information on recent events comesfrom tide gauges and other instrumental recordings such as DART® buoys, and media ofgreater variety, for example, video and online surveys. The New Zealand TsunamiDatabase is an ongoing project with information added as further historical records cometo light. Modern tsunamis are also added to the database once the relevant data for anevent has been collated and edited. This paper briefly overviews the procedures and toolsused in the recording and analysis of New Zealand's historical tsunamis, with emphasison database content.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2016
- Bibcode:
- 2016AGUFMNH43A1810B
- Keywords:
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- 3225 Numerical approximations and analysis;
- MATHEMATICAL GEOPHYSICSDE: 4332 Disaster resilience;
- NATURAL HAZARDSDE: 4341 Early warning systems;
- NATURAL HAZARDSDE: 4564 Tsunamis and storm surges;
- OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL