Numerical Models For 1960 Chilean Tsunami


This animation (2.3 MB), produced by Professor Nobuo Shuto of the Disaster Control Research Center, Tohoku University, Japan, shows the propagation the earthquake-generated 1960 Chilean tsunami across the Pacific. Note the vastness of the area across which the tsunami travels - Japan, which is over 17,000 km away from the tsunami's source off the coast of Chile, lost 200 lives to this tsunami. Also note how the wave crests bend as the tsunami travels - this is called refraction. Wave refraction is caused by segments of the wave moving at different speeds as the water depth along the crest varies. (The QuickTime movie presented here was digitized from a video tape produced from the original computer-generated animation.)


Return to description of 1960 Chilean Tsunami

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