On the use of finite fault solution for tsunami generation problems

TL;DR

This paper introduces a simple, cost-effective model for simulating sea bed displacement during earthquakes and compares three wave models to analyze tsunami generation, demonstrated on the 2006 Java event.

Contribution

It presents a novel, computationally inexpensive approach to model sea bed displacement and compares multiple wave models for tsunami prediction.

Findings

The finite fault solution effectively models sea bed displacement.

Different wave models show varying accuracy in tsunami simulation.

The approach successfully reproduces the 2006 Java tsunami event.

Abstract

The present study is devoted to the problem of tsunami wave generation. The main goal of this work is two-fold. First of all, we propose a simple and computationally inexpensive model for the description of the sea bed displacement during an underwater earthquake, based on the finite fault solution for the slip distribution under some assumptions on the dynamics of the rupturing process. Once the bottom motion is reconstructed, we study waves induced on the free surface of the ocean. For this purpose we consider three different models approximating the Euler equations of the water wave theory. Namely, we use the linearized Euler equations (we are in fact solving the Cauchy-Poisson problem), a Boussinesq system and a novel weakly nonlinear model. An intercomparison of these approaches is performed. The developments of the present study are illustrated on the 17 July 2006 Java event, where an underwater earthquake of magnitude 7.7 generated a tsunami that inundated the southern coast of Java.