Field Survey of the February 17, 1996 Irian Jaya Tsunami

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9633792 Synolakis This action is to support the participation of U.S. researchers in the international effort to learn from the February 17, 1996 Irian Jaya earthquake and tsunami, in order to gather and study perishable inundation data. The participants will join the International Tsunami Survey Team which has surveyed six of the 1992-1994 worldwide events, resulting in a small but valuable database of inundation data. On February 17, 1996, a strong earthquake shook Biak Island off Irian Jaya in East Indonesia. The earthquake-generated tsunami waves propagated to Japan, where the measured height of the attenuated waves was approximately one meter, with a reported wave height on reaching the west coast of the United States of up to 7cm. The US participants will: (1) measure maximum penetration points (maximum runup) at different locations, (2) attempt to estimate tsunami inundation velocities, and (3) interview eyewitnesses to determine the nature and number of runup waves observed. Runup data are highly perishable, given that reconstruction efforts start a few days, if not hours, after the event. Even in remote areas, storms and wind-generated waves may alter the topography or scatter the debris line which is used for estimating the location of the penetration points. It is for this reason that travel to the site must occur as soon as possible after the event to document the coastal effects of a damaging tsunami. Accurate information of the runup height distribution will allow a better definition of the tectonic source motion, which in turn will permit the calibration of a source model for future use. It is anticipated that the team will be able to obtain profile data in the survey which will be used both to augment the modeling, and also to evaluate how important beach topography is for first- order predictions. ***