Timely prediction of tsunami using under sea earthquake signals

Abstract

The Honshu, Japan earthquake of 11th March 2011, caused severe hazard in Japan and neighboring countries. It revealed the need and importance of warning system for Tsunami generation to minimize the casualties. Seismograms of the Honshu earthquake event (recorded by broadband seismograms, being operated in the NW Himalaya by Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun) are used for quick prediction of tsunami. The frequency content of these seismograms is studied and energy content in high frequencies is calculated, which is used to give tsunami warning. It is observed that wavelet coefficients for frequencies greater than 0.33 Hz tsunamigenic earthquakes do not show significant energy in the spectrum. However, significant energy is found in wavelet spectrum of non-tsunamigenic earthquake. In this paper we present the wavelet analysis on the Honshu, Japan earthquake of 11th March, 2011. Some other global tsunamigenic and non-tsunamigenic events are also analyzed for test and comparison purpose of the methodology used. © 2012 Springer India Pvt. Ltd.