Anne Loevenbruck

Implementation and Challenges of the Tsunami Warning System in the Western Mediterranean

The French Tsunami Warning Center (CENALT) has been in operation since 2012. It is contributing to the North-eastern and Mediterranean (NEAM) tsunami warning and mitigation system coordinated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, and benefits from data exchange with several foreign institutes. This center is supported by the French Government and provides French civil-protection authorities and member states of the NEAM region with relevant messages for assessing potential tsunami risk when an earthquake has occurred in the Western Mediterranean sea or the Northeastern Atlantic Ocean. To achieve its objectives, CENALT has developed a series of innovative techniques based on recent research results in seismology for early tsunami warning, monitoring of sea level variations and detection capability, and effective numerical computation of ongoing tsunamis.

Tsunami Hazard in La Réunion Island (SW Indian Ocean): Scenario-Based Numerical Modelling on Vulnerable Coastal Sites

Several major tsunamis have affected the southwest Indian Ocean area since the 2004 Sumatra event, and some of them (2005, 2006, 2007 and 2010) have hit La Réunion Island in the southwest Indian Ocean. However, tsunami hazard is not well defined for La Réunion Island where vulnerable coastlines can be exposed. This study offers a first tsunami hazard assesment for La Réunion Island. We first review the historical tsunami observations made on the coastlines, where high tsunami waves (2–3 m) have been reported on the western coast, especially during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Numerical models of historical scenarios yield results consistent with available observations on the coastal sites (the harbours of La Pointe des Galets and Saint-Paul). The 1833 Pagai earthquake and tsunami can be considered as the worst-case historical scenario for this area. In a second step, we assess the tsunami exposure by covering the major subduction zones with syntethic events of constant magnitude (8.7, 9.0 and 9.3). The aggregation of magnitude 8.7 scenarios all generate strong currents in the harbours (3–7 m s

Imaging and modeling the ionospheric airglow response over Hawaii to the tsunami generated by the Tohoku earthquake of 11 March 2011

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Could a 1755-Like Tsunami Reach the French Atlantic Coastline? Constraints from Twentieth Century Observations and Numerical Modeling

-1) and about 2 m of tsunami maximum height without significant inundation. The analysis of the magnitude 9.0 events confirms that the main commercial harbour (Port Est) is more vulnerable than Port Ouest and that flooding in Saint-Paul is limited to the beach area and the river mouth. Finally, the magnitude 9.3 scenarios show limited inundations close to the beach and in the riverbed in Saint-Paul. More generally, the results confirm that for La Runion, the Sumatra subduction zone is the most threatening non-local source area for tsunami generation. This study also shows that far-field coastal sites should be prepared for tsunami hazard and that further work is needed to improve operational warning procedures. Forecast methods should be developed to provide tools to enable the authorities to anticipate the local effects of tsunamis and to evacuate the harbours in sufficient time when such an earthquake occurs.

Detailed Modeling of the 2004 Tsunami Flooding in the Banda Aceh and Lhok Nga Districts (Sumatra, Indonesia)

A first generation model-based tsunami prediction system is being developed as part of the French Tsunami Warning Center that will be operational by mid 2012. It involves a pre-computed unit source functions database (i.e., a number of tsunami model runs that are calculated ahead of time and stored) corresponding to tsunami scenarios generated by a source of seismic moment 1.75E+19 N.m. In addition, an authomatized composite scenarios calculation tool is implemented to allow the simulation of any tsunami propagation scenario (i.e., of any seismic moment). The strategy is based on linear combinations and scaling of a finite number of pre-computed unit source functions. This tool produces maps with uncertainties (in epicenter location and magnitude) of expected maximum wave amplitude in deep ocean at each grid node rapidly. A no-dimension code representation is chosen to show zones in the main axis of energy at the basin scale. An example on the 2003 Boumerdès earthquake (Mw=6.9, northeastern Algerian margin) is presented. This forecast system provides warning refinement compared to the rough tsunami risk map given by the decision matrix.