Skip to main content
Ocean Networks Canada

Ocean Networks Canada

Search form

Facebook iconTwitter iconLinkedIn iconYouTube iconFlickr iconInstagram icon

Menu

  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Jobs & Opportunities
    • Events & Workshops
    • Contact Us
    • Support Us
    • Annual Report 2019-2020
    • Organization
      • Leadership
      • Staff
      • Boards
      • Committees
    • Funders, Associate Members & Partners
      • Funders
      • Associate Members
      • Partners
  • Science
    • Science
    • Active Research
    • Highlights
    • Science Plan
      • Summary
      • Science Themes
    • Publications
      • General Interest
      • Academic
    • Getting Involved
      • Proposals
  • Innovation Centre
    • Innovation Centre
    • About the Innovation Centre
    • Success Stories
    • Contact Us
    • Smart Ocean™ Systems
      • Sensors and Instruments
      • Technology Demos
      • Ocean Observing Systems
      • Earthquake Early Warning
    • Partners & Networks
      • Industry Network
      • Global Partnerships
      • R&D Support
      • Students in Industry
    • Atlantic Partners
  • Learning
    • Learning
    • Learning Highlights
    • Learning Events
    • Partnerships
    • Contact Us
    • Ocean Sense
      • Community Observatories
        • Cambridge Bay
        • Campbell River
        • Kitamaat Village
        • Prince Rupert
      • Teacher Info
      • Student Info
      • Resources & Lessons
    • Get Involved
      • For Students
        • For Undergrads & Grads
      • For Educators
        • Educator Opportunities
      • For Communities
      • Ship2Shore
      • Citizen Science
        • Coastbuster
        • Digital Fishers
      • Youth Science Ambassador
    • Resources
      • Learning at Home
      • Educator Resources
      • Ocean Alive!
      • Oceanography 101
      • About the Observatories
      • Research Ideas
      • Student Reports
  • Observatories
    • Observatories
    • Arctic
    • Atlantic
    • Pacific
    • Mobile Platforms
    • Infrastructure
      • Data Facilities
      • Platforms
      • Devices & Sensors
      • Cables & Connectors
    • Expeditions
      • Wiring the Abyss
      • Expedition Logs
      • Maintenance Processes
    • Notices
      • Information for Mariners
      • Alerts and System Status
  • Data & Tools
    • Data & Tools
    • Highlights
    • Data Quality
    • Preview & Download
      • Preview & Visualize
      • Data Download Tools
      • State of the Ocean Plots
      • Ocean Report Card
    • Apps & Services
      • Mobile Apps
      • OPeNDAP Web Services
      • Related Sources
      • Earthquake Data Dashboard
    • Data Help
      • Usage Policy
      • Tutorials & Help Pages
      • Request Help
  • Sights & Sounds
    • Sights & Sounds
    • Terms of Use
    • Video
      • Live Video
      • Video Highlights
      • Video Archives
    • Images
      • Maps
    • Audio
      • Audio Highlights
      • Audio Archive
  • News
    • News
    • Stories
    • Newsletters
    • Calendar
    • Media Relations
      • Backgrounders
      • Downloads
      • In the News
      • News Releases
      • Media Contacts

About Us

You are here

  1. Home
Sep 5, 2012

Tale of Two Tsunamis

 

A magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck Chile in February 2010, generating a tsunami that crossed the Pacific, with measurable waves recorded throughout coastal British Columbia.

A recent paper, published in Pure and Applied Geophysics, describes this tsunami in detail and compares it to the Great Chilean earthquake and tsunami of May 1960.

Maximum tsunami amplitudes for the 1960 and 2010 Chilean tsunamis.

After the devastating 2004 Sumatra tsunami, monitoring instrumentation was increased and upgraded by countries around the Pacific, which resulted in an unprecedented amount of data gathered for the 2010 Chilean tsunami. In the northeast Pacific, it was recorded by over 200 high-precision coastal tide gauges, two DART bottom pressure stations and four Ocean Networks Canada bottom pressure recorders. Seismic waves from the earthquake were also recorded by the three NEPTUNE bottom pressure recorders and ocean bottom seismometers. This wealth of data allowed the Canadian researchers at the Fisheries and Oceans Canada to provide a comprehensive analysis of the event.

1960 Chilean tsunami inundates coastal Japan.

The 2010 tsunami claimed 124 lives, but was much smaller and less deadly than 1960 event, which killed 1655 people in Chile and another 235 in Hawaii, Japan and the Philippines. The 1960 Chilean tsunami generated 8 m waves in coastal Japan and 3-4 m waves in California and Alaska. By contrast, the 2010 tsunami, triggered by an earthquake 11 times weaker than the 1960 earthquake, generated estimated maximum wave heights 4.3 m in the Marquesas Islands and up to 2 m in Japan and Hawaii. In coastal British Columbia, maximum wave heights from the 1960 tsunami measured 2.1 m in the Queen Charlotte Islands and 1.26 m in Tofino, while the 2010 tsunami generated maxima of 98 cm in Port Alberni and 68 cm at Winter Harbour on northwestern Vancouver Island.

Destruction caused by 10 m high waves from the 2010 tsunami in Dichato Chile.

NEPTUNE Canada and DART bottom pressure recorders captured detailed information about this tsunami as it crossed the northeast Pacific. Deep-sea wave heights ranged from 6.3 – 10.6 cm. The tsunami reached NEPTUNE’s outermost recorders over 50 minutes before striking the west coast of Vancouver Island at Tofino and Bamfield. By comparing these time gaps with those between NEPTUNE Canada recorders and the Washington coast, scientists may be able to improve coastal warnings for arrival of distant tsunamis in coastal Washington and British Columbia.

Initial arrival of the Chilean tsunami as measured by NEPTUNE Canada bottom pressure recorders and U.S. DART buoys.

Researchers also studied the refraction of the tsunami waves as they approached the coast of Vancouver Island. The direction of the incoming wave fronts rotated clockwise significantly (20 degrees to over 40 degrees) as the waves encountered shallower water. There was also a marked clockwise rotation in the direction of propagation of the second train of incoming tsunami waves that arrived 7 hours after the leading tsunami wave train.

Compared with capabilities during earlier devastating tsunamis like the 1960 Chilean event and the 2004 Sumatra tsunami, the Pacific Tsunami Warning System has seen significant improvements. Due to the addition of real-time measurements from seafloor networks like NEPTUNE Canada and the open-ocean DART system, as well as improved coastal networks and advances in tsunami prediction models, it is now possible to provide tsunami warnings with more precise estimated arrival times and specific run-up heights for high-risk regions.

Published research: The 2010 Chilean Tsunami Off the West Coast of Canada and the Northwest Coast of the United States

earthquake | tsunami | Chile | japan | DART | BPRs | waves

Printer-friendly versionPDF version

Related Stories

Tsunami Monitoring and Public Safety for At-Risk Coastal Communities
Nov 4, 2020

Resilience through preparedness: remembering the 1964 ‘Good Friday’ tsunami
Apr 8, 2020

Drop, cover, and hold on
Nov 14, 2019

Expedition 2019: Highlights Story Map
Nov 14, 2019

Hazards Beneath the Surface
Jun 6, 2018

Be Tsunami Prepared
Mar 27, 2018

Data from Alaska’s Magnitude 7.9 Earthquake and Tsunami
Jan 23, 2018

Calendar of Events

April 2021

  • « Prev  
  •   Next »
S M T W T F S
28
29
30
31
1
2
3
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
25
26
27
28
29
30
1
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Newsletter

Sign up for our monthly e-newsletter:

 

Tweets Follow @Ocean_Networks

 

 

Highlights

  • Audio
  • Data
  • Learning
  • Science
  • Video

Reading Room

  • Active Research
  • Backgrounders
  • FAQs
  • Glossary
  • News Briefs
  • News Stories
  • Newsletters
  • Publications

Cool Stuff

  • Apps
  • Digital Fishers
  • iBooks & e-Pubs
  • Live Video
  • Maps
  • Images
  • State of the Ocean

Data & Tools

  • Apps
  • Data Plots
  • Data Search
  • Data Policy
  • Data Help
  • OPeNDAP Web Services

Opportunities

  • Calendar
  • Educator Opportunities
  • Global Partnerships
  • Industry Network
  • Jobs
  • Staff List
  • Technology Services

Sites & Instruments

  • Arctic Sites
  • Northeast Pacific Sites
  • Salish Sea Sites
  • Notice to Mariners

Follow Us

Facebook iconTwitter iconLinkedIn iconYouTube iconFlickr iconInstagram icon

Sign up for our newsletter

Feedback

CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Image CAPTCHA
Enter the characters shown in the image.

                              

About Us | Contact Us | Media Relations | Legal Notices

©   Ocean Networks Canada. All rights reserved.  2474 Arbutus Road, Victoria, BC, V8N 1V8 | 1.250.472.5400