Tsunami-induced gravity currents generated in an experimental flume

Gravity wave turbulence in a laboratory flume.

We present an experimental study of the statistics of surface gravity wave turbulence in a flume of a horizontal size 12 x 6 m. For a wide range of amplitudes the wave energy spectrum was found to scale as Eomega approximately omega(-nu) in a frequency range of up to one decade. However, nu appears to be nonuniversal: it depends on the wave intensity and ranges from about 6 to 4. We discuss our...

Tsunami currents in ports.

Tsunami-induced currents present an obvious hazard to maritime activities and ports in particular. The historical record is replete with accounts from ship captains and harbour masters describing their fateful encounters with currents and surges caused by these destructive waves. Despite the well-known hazard, only since the trans-oceanic tsunamis of the early twenty-first century (2004, 2010 a...

An experimental investigation of density-stratified inertial gravity currents

Turbidity currents and pyroclastic density currents may originate as stratified flows or develop stratification during propagation. Analogue, density-stratified laboratory currents are described, using layers of salt solutions with different concentrations and depths to create the initial vertical stratification. The evolving structure of the flow depends on the distribution of the driving buoy...

Evolution of Tsunami-Induced Internal Acoustic–Gravity Waves

We present an idealized theoretical and numerical study of tsunami-induced internal waves in the atmosphere. These are gravity waves modified by acoustic effects that can propagate rapidly from the ocean surface up to the ionosphere, where they are well known to leave a detectable fingerprint in air-glow patterns and other remote sensing observables. Accurate modeling of the wave propagation is...

Turbulent flow structure in experimental laboratory wind-generated gravity waves