London, Nov 09: A group of European experts has reportedly developed several models that could predict tsunamis well in advance
This pan-European approach to disaster prevention was taken up at the recent Euro-Margins Conference in Bologna, Italy.
Margins are the transition zones between the continents and the deep oceans. They are also often at the boundary between two tectonic plates. Euro-Margins is a European collaborative research programme coordinated by the European Science Foundation (ESF) and supported by science funding agencies in ten European countries.
Stefano Tinti, one of the external guest speakers at the conference and the originator of the Transfer Initiative, said the European project looks at tsunamis with the purpose of developing a tsunami early warning system. He described the effort as ground-breaking, as it aims to understand the tsunami process, contribute to tsunami hazard and risk assessment and, to develop strategies for risk reduction.
"The characteristics of a tsunami depends primarily on the volume and initial acceleration of the released sediment as well as the water depth" explained Carl Bonnevie Harbitz from the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI) in Oslo.
Harbitz and his colleagues at NGI and University of Oslo have developed models which can predict tsunamis caused by rock falls, submarine slides, earth quakes and even asteroid impacts.
The team has since improved the reliability of their models, adding that the complexity of the coastal region of the wave impact is also an important factor when developing reliability.
Tinti has urged the Euro-Margins community to carry on with their important landslide research in order to be able to provide a more reliable tsunami alert system using both landslides and earthquakes as indicators.
Over a period of four years, the Euro-Margins have gatherered about 75 teams from 12 countries on a variety of complementary topics dedicated to the imaging, monitoring, reconstruction and modelling of the physical and chemical processes that occur in the passive margin system.
Tsunamis are large waves presenting extreme threats to coastal areas. The largest recorded tsunami (520 metres) hit Alaska in 1958. In the 1990s, four tsunamis ravaged Nicaragua, Indonesia, Japan and Papua New Guinea causing the loss of 4,000 lives and of course no one can forget the total devastation brought about by the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami where 230,000 people lost their lives. Tsunamis can come about as a result of continental landslides, rock falls, submarine landslides or earthquakes.
Bureau Report
