NSF Workshop: Tsunami Deposits and their Role in Hazard Assessment, June 2005

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This workshop will bring together an international group of leaders and emerging leaders in tsunami research. The experts will discuss how coastal erosion and deposition patterns caused by tsunamis can be used to better understand tsunami hazards. The recent Sumatra-Andaman earthquake and its tsunami underscore the importance of these topics. Anticipated outcomes of the workshop include recommendations to NSF on tsunami research priorities, preliminary collaborative NSF proposals, and a summary of conclusions to be distributed to policymakers.Intellectual MeritTsunamis happen often in the world's oceans, on both human and geologic time scales. Most tsunamis result from fault displacement under the sea; others are set off by submarine landslides, volcanic eruptions, or meteorite impacts. Barely two decades have passed since geologists began using onshore sedimentary deposits to identify areas at risk from tsunamis. The work has produced startling discoveries, particularly related to the frequency of events in the northwestern United States.Tsunami deposits have enormous potential as recorders of flow depth and velocity -- parameters of importance to coastal engineers. Working together at this frontier are geologists, sediment-transport experts, numerical tsunami modelers, and experimentalists. The workhop provides a timely venue for these various specialists to weigh priorities and plan collaborations.Broader ImpactsThere are three avenues to addressing tsunami hazard: assessment, warning, and mitigation. Tsunami-deposit studies are an important way to study recurrence intervals and to estimate the size of past events. Moreover, these studies can help with public education and awareness -- an important aspect of mitigation efforts.The 26 December 2004 tsunami demonstrated the global need for tsunamihazard assessment, education, and community preparation. This workshop will bring together researchers and educators with government and community representatives, in order to improve the communication of tsunami research results to potentially affected communities.This workshop is supported by funding from the following programs in the Geosciences Directorate: Instrumentation & Facilities, Marine Geology & Geophysics, Ocean Drilling Program, Geomorphology & Land Dynamics, and Sedimentary Geology & Paleontology. In the Office for International Science and Engineering: East Asia & Pacific; Americas; Central Europe & Eurasia; Africa, Near East & South Asia. In the Engineering Directorate: Geomechanics and Geotechnical Systems.