Research to quantify hazard from meteotsunamis in real-time

On June 13, 2013, tsunami-like waves crashed upon the New Jersey and southern Massachusetts coasts. In Barnegat Inlet, New Jersey, three people were injured when a six-foot wave swept them off a jetty and into the water. The waves were recorded by many coastal water-level stations from Puerto Rico to New England as well as a Deep-Ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART) buoy 150 miles offshore.

The event of June 13, 2013 demonstrated the hazard from meteotsunamis for the East Coast of the United States. Similar hazard exists for any coastlines with extended areas of relatively shallow depths. Severe weather systems that move rapidly over shallow-depth areas can produce significant waves due to the Proudman resonance effect. Resultant meteotsunami waves can propagate away from generation areas and strike distant coastlines.

A proof-of-concept modeling study has been conducted to investigate the June 13, 2013 event. The preliminary tsunami model based on MOST has been constructed using the radar reflection data as a proxy for pressure field temporal evolution. The tsunami wave generated by the propagating pressure field has been modeled, and simulated time-series were compared with the sea-level coastal gages and DART records. The results of the model study are summarized in the presentation. The model is able to reproduce the recorded sea-level changes in deep ocean and at the coast. The study shows promise for developing meteotsunami model forecast capability based on available measurement data.