A Probabilistic Tsunami Hazard Assessment (PTHA) study on the Chinese Mainland and the Taiwan Island was conducted. Characterized by broad and shallow continental shelves, the offshore region along Chinese Mainland's east coast yields a significant nonlinear effect and bottom friction to the propagating long waves. To address these shallow‐water effects, a fully nonlinear Boussinesq model was used in the computation‐based PTHA framework. We found that the inappropriate usage of the linear wave model could considerably overestimate the tsunami hazards along the East China Sea (ECS) and the Yellow Sea. Tsunami hazard along the coastline of Chinese Mainland is generally moderate. Elevated tsunami hazard levels are found along both flanks of the Yangtze and Pearl estuaries. The probability of these coastlines impacted by 1 m or greater tsunami waves (at 10‐m isobath) is about 14%–40% in next century. The shallow and tongue‐shaped submarine terrain amplifies the hazard level by trapping the tsunami energy in these areas. Major subduction zones in the Northwest Pacific were identified as the main sources of destructive events along the coast of ECS and the Taiwan Island, while the Manila Trench is the main source zone that threatens the Northern South China Sea. The tsunami hazards generated by the crustal earthquakes are modest, yet not negligible, particularly in the Taiwan Strait. We found the risk of tsunami inundation along the coast of Shanghai is low based on the hazard curves of total water level that incorporates the aleatory uncertainty of tides.
SUMMARY: The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano eruption resulted in propagation of tsunamis globally. Atmospheric pressure disturbances and tsunamis were recorded in Lingding Bay, China, situated more than 9000 km from the volcano. We studied the features of tsunamis in Lingding Bay and its surrounding areas by using records from tide gauges and meteorological stations. Lamb waves were observed in the bay approximately 8, 44 and 80 hr after the volcanic eruption. The first and second tsunami waves arrived approximately 11 and 45–47 hr following the eruption, respectively, indicating consistency with the arrival time of Lamb waves. In addition, wavelet and Fourier analyses were applied to the sea level records to investigate the frequency characteristics. The ratio of the tsunami spectra to the background spectra for two tsunami waves was calculated as the source spectra. The source spectra of two tsunami waves were mostly of the same shape, with dominant periods of ∼17 and ∼46 min. Our results provide information for theoretical investigation of the Tonga tsunami event. More efforts should be devoted to relevant research on the generating mechanism and early warning of tsunamis from non-seismic origins.
Tsunamis can cause high numbers of casualties, as well as direct and indirect economic losses to coastal regions. The huge destructiveness of tsunamis requires us to study tsunami risk and its temporal change. We adopt the tsunami scenarios of the Ryukyu Trench as an example to analyze the temporal change in tsunami risk. According to the tsunami numerical model results, the tsunami inundation in the worst tsunami scenario covered an area of 82.83 km2. Satellite data including Landsat 8 images from July 2013 and Landsat 9 images from March 2022 were used with the random forest (RF) method to analyze land use and tsunami vulnerability in 2013 and 2022. The tsunami risk and its temporal change were analyzed by integrating tsunami hazard and tsunami vulnerability. The tsunami risk change analysis results show that the area of tsunami risk level 1 increased by 4.57 km2, and the area of tsunami risk level 4 decreased by 7.31 km2. By analyzing changes in land use and land cover (LULC) and tsunami risk, we concluded that the expansion of constructed land and the increase in coastal population were responsible for the increase in tsunami risk. The results of tsunami risk change analysis will help us understand the current tsunami risk and predict possible future risk change. In addition, it is necessary to prepare tsunami prevention measures in advance and produce tsunami emergency response plans for Qidong County and other regions under potential tsunami threat.