Tsunamis on the Pacific Coast of Canada

Tsunamis are among the world's most dangerous and destructive natural phenomena. The catastrophic tsunami of December 26, 2004 claimed over 300000 lives. These numerous catastrophic tsunamis have caused a significant increase in scientific interest of this natural hazard. About 85% of all tsunamis occur in the Pacific Ocean and are the products of submarine earthquakes around the Pacific Rim, where collisions of tectonic plates form highly active seismic subductive zones. The Great Cascadia Earthquake of January 26, 1700, which occurred near the west coast of Canada, produced a catastrophic tsunami which affected the entire coast of the Pacific Ocean. Assembling data on observed tsunamis and cataloguing historical tsunamis are key problems for scientific examination of tsunami waves, estimation and mitigation of tsunami risk for coastal areas, and improvement of the existing Tsunami Warning Service. The purpose of the present book is to present the historical and modern data on the Canadian coast of the Pacific Ocean and to complete the existing tsunami database. At the same time, the book is intended to present some modern achievements in instrumentation, data analyses, numerical modelling, and estimation of tsunami risk and may be of interest for specialists in wave dynamics, seismology, geophysics, coastal engineering and natural hazard mitigation.

Preface Introduction Chapter 1. Tsunami sources Local tsunamis: Seismisity of the Cascadia Subduction Zone Distant tsunamis: Main tsunamigenic zones in the Pacific Ocean Landslide-generated tsunamis Chapter 2. Description of tsunami events2.1. Paleotsunamis on the coast of British Columbia2.2. The Great Cascadia tsunami of January 17002.3. Tsunamis of 1800 to 19802.4. Recent tsunamis (1981-2003) Chapter 3. Two destructive tsunamis on the coast of British Columbia3.1. Port Alberni, 19643.2. Kitimat, 1975 Chapter 4. Spectral analysis of tsunami records for the coast of British Columbia4.1. Analysis of background oscillations and estimation of topographic admittances4.2. Analysis of the Peru tsunami of June 23, 20014.3. Analysis of the Queen Charlotte tsunami of October 12, 20014.4. Analysis of the Colima, Mexico tsunami of January 22, 20034.5. Digitizing and analysis of tsunamis of 1985 to 1997 Chapter 5. Numerical modelling and estimation of tsunami risk for the coast of British Columbia5.1. Numerical modelling of tsunamis for the Pacific coast of Vancouver Island5.2. Numerical modelling of the Cascadia tsunami for Juan de Fuca Strait and southern coast of Vancouver Island.5.3. Numerical modelling of landslide-generated tsunamis in the Strait of Georgia Chapter 6. Tsunami Warning Service for the Pacific coast of Canada Appendix 1. Main parameters of tsunamis on the Pacific coast of Canada Appendix 2. List of tsunamigenic events on the Pacific coast of Canada Appendix 3. Tide gauge measurements on the Pacific coast of Canada Appendix 4. Glossary of terms Appendix 5. Marigrams for the tsunamis on the coast of British Columbia References Index of geographic names