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Play video of Japan tsunami visualizationJapan Tsunami Wave Heights, March 11, 2011 (13 mb)

Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Wave Heights,
March 11, 2011

Description:

On March 11, 2011 at 2:45 local time, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake occurred 81 miles (130 km) off the east coast of Sendai, Japan, triggering a massive tsunami. It is estimated that the initial tsunami wave took 10 to 30 minutes to make its first landfall. Forecasted wave heights were up to 33 ft (10 m) and there were many reports of tsunami waves three stories high in parts of Japan. Across the Pacific Ocean, many countries issued evacuations along the coasts because of the predicted tsunami waves.

Play video of Japan Quake visualizationJapan Earthquake, March 11, 2011 (1 mb)

There are several datasets related to this event. The first is a model run of predicted tsunami wave heights from the Center for Tsunami Research at the NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory. It shows the predicted wave heights of the tsunami as it travels across the Pacific basin. The largest wave heights are near the earthquake epicenter, off Japan. The wave decreases in height as it travels across the deep Pacific but grows taller as it encounters shallow waters near coastal areas. In general, the energy of the wave decreases with distance, causing the maximum height of the waves at the coasts to decrease. This explains why coastal Hawaii does not see the heights that were encountered in coastal Japan. Out in the open ocean, areas of low wave height correspond to deeper areas in the ocean.

To show the earthquake activity, a snapshot of the Real-Time Earthquake dataset has been archived. This loop, which is composed of hourly images, starts on February 19, 2011 and runs through March 24, 2011. Increased activity near Japan can be seen in the days before March 11. After the event, hundreds of powerful aftershocks, occurred for days. Over thirty of the aftershocks had a magnitude of greater than 6. In addition, a third dataset has been created by merging the earthquake activity with the predicted tsunami wave heights.

Play video of Japan tsunami visualizationJapan Earthquake and Tsunami Wave Heights Merged, March 11, 2011 (13 mb)

Notable Features:

  • The earthquake had a magnitude of 9.0 and was followed by over thirty aftershocks with a magnitude of over 6.0
  • The predicted wave heights are the height of the waves in the open ocean

Data Category

Major: Ocean, Land

Keywords:

Ocean, Tsunami, PMEL, Japan, Earthquake

Data Set NameJapan Tsunami Wave Heights, March 11, 2011
Data Set Directory Nameoceans/japan_tsunami
Data Set SourceNOAA Pacific Tsunami Warning Center
Data Set DeveloperNOAA Pacific Tsunami Warning Center
Visualization DeveloperNOAA Environmental Visualization Lab
AudioNo
DownloadFTP
Date AddedMarch 2011

Data Set NameJapan Earthquake, March 11, 2011
Data Set Directory Nameland/japan_quake
Data Set SourceUnited States Geological Survey
Data Set DeveloperSteve Albers, NOAA/GSD
Visualization DeveloperSteve Albers, NOAA/GSD
AudioNo
DownloadFTP
Date AddedMarch 2011

Data Set NameJapan Earthquake and Tsunami Wave Heights Merged, March 11, 2011
Data Set Directory Nameland/japan_quake/with_tsunami
Data Set SourceUnited States Geological Survey
Data Set DeveloperNASA GSFC
Visualization DeveloperSteve Albers, NOAA/GSD, NASA GSFC
AudioNo
DownloadFTP
Date AddedMarch 2011