Sound waves in the ocean can help specialists better predict tsunamis

Jun 7, 2013 09:35 GMT  ·  By

After running several computer simulations, a team of scientists working with Standford University reached the conclusion that a thorough analysis of sound waves originating in and traveling through the ocean could help specialists better predict tsunamis.

The researchers based their investigation on data collected before, during and after Japan's 9M earthquake on March 11, 2011.

This massive earthquake was followed by a deadly tsunami that killed some 15,800 people and injured over 6,100.

The Standford University scientists say that, as their computer simulations have shown, the sound waves triggered in the ocean by the 9M earthquake most likely reached land tens of minutes before the actual tsunami did.

They say that, by analyzing such sounds triggered by seismic events, specialists could pin down a so-called acoustic signature for earthquakes that are bound to lead to tsunamis.

This so-called acoustic signature could then be used to roll out more efficient warning systems.

“We've found that there's a strong correlation between the amplitude of the sound waves and the tsunami wave heights,” specialist Eric Dunham explains.

“Sound waves propagate through water 10 times faster than the tsunami waves, so we can have knowledge of what's happening a hundred miles offshore within minutes of an earthquake occurring. We could know whether a tsunami is coming, how large it will be and when it will arrive,” he further details.

Researcher Jeremy Kozdon also believes that this method of predicting tsunamis could prove very efficient, and says that “The ideal situation would be to analyze lots of measurements from major events and eventually be able to say, ‘this is the signal.’”

The devices presently used to pick up tsunamis can only raise the alarm just a few minutes before the deadly wave actually strikes.

It goes without saying that little can be done in these few minutes in terms of alerting people and getting them to safety.

A detailed account of this study into earthquake acoustics and its link to tsunamis is made available to the public in the current issue of The Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America.