Observations of extreme wave runup events on the US Pacific Northwest coast

Extreme, tsunami-like wave runup events in the absence of earthquakes or landslides have been attributed to trapped waves over shallow bathymetry, long waves created by atmospheric disturbances, and long waves generated by abrupt breaking. These runup events are associated with inland excursions of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Natural hazards and earth system sciences 2023-01, Vol.23 (1), p.107-126
Main Authors: Li, Chuan, Özkan-Haller, H. Tuba, García Medina, Gabriel, Holman, Robert A, Ruggiero, Peter, Jensen, Treena M, Elson, David B, Schneider, William R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Atmospheric disturbances
Bathymetry
Beaches
Carrier waves
Coasts
Communication
Drownings
Earthquakes
Energy transfer
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Extreme waves
Fatalities
Landslides
Long waves
Radiation
Seismic activity
Trapped waves
Wave runup
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Summary:Extreme, tsunami-like wave runup events in the absence of earthquakes or landslides have been attributed to trapped waves over shallow bathymetry, long waves created by atmospheric disturbances, and long waves generated by abrupt breaking. These runup events are associated with inland excursions of hundreds of meters and periods of minutes. While the theory of radiation stress implies that nearshore energy transfer from the carrier waves to the infragravity waves can also lead to very large runup, there have not been observations of runup events induced by this process with magnitudes and periods comparable to the other three mechanisms. This work presents observations of several runup events in the US Pacific Northwest that are comparable to extreme runup events related to the other three mechanisms. It also discusses possible generation mechanisms and shows that energy transfer from carrier waves to bound infragravity waves is a plausible generation mechanism. In addition, a method to predict and forecast extreme runup events with similar characteristics is presented.
ISSN:1684-9981
1561-8633
1684-9981
DOI:10.5194/nhess-23-107-2023