Liu, who helped develop the Pacific Ocean tsunami warning system, is currently leading a delegation of scientists studying the effects of the tsunami in Sri Lanka, and will report findings at a symposium there Jan. 15. The computer model assumes that the up-and-down motion of the sea floor caused by the earthquake occurred in just a few seconds, so the sea water above was deformed in the same way as the earth below, since there was no time for the water to get out of the way. Tsunamis are created when water is lifted by energy generated by earthquakes and then falls back.
Based on earthquake data and information about the topography of the sea floor provided by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the COMCOT model calculates the elevation of the sea surface at a series of grid points on a map of the area over a period of time. The video is generated from this information. How closely the simulation corresponds to what actually happened will not be determined until data is collected in the field, Wang said.
Accurate seismic data generally is available only after an event is over. With the future development of seismic technology, a more accurate and rapid estimation of seismic data might be provided, he said. It then might be possible to use such simulations to predict tsunami behavior immediately after an earthquake is detected.
Text for this article comes from a Cornell press release.
This is very interesting stuff, but http://www.news.cornell.edu seems to be bogged down – both of those video links are dead.
Anyone have a mirror?
– B