HR: 0800h
AN: OS31A-0167    [Abstracts]
TI: Global Tsunami Database: Adding Geologic Deposits, Proxies, and Tools
AU: * Brocko, V R
EM: Vinita.Brocko@colorado.edu
AF: CIRES, University of Colorado UCB 216, Boulder, CO 80309, United States
AU: Varner, J
EM: Jesse.Varner@noaa.gov
AB: A result of collaboration between NOAA's National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) and the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Environmental Sciences (CIRES), the Global Tsunami Database includes instrumental records, human observations, and now, information inferred from the geologic record. Deep Ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART) data, historical reports, and information gleaned from published tsunami deposit research build a multi-faceted view of tsunami hazards and their history around the world. Tsunami history provides clues to what might happen in the future, including frequency of occurrence and maximum wave heights. However, instrumental and written records commonly span too little time to reveal the full range of a region's tsunami hazard. The sedimentary deposits of tsunamis, identified with the aid of modern analogs, increasingly complement instrumental and human observations. By adding the component of tsunamis inferred from the geologic record, the Global Tsunami Database extends the record of tsunamis backward in time. Deposit locations, their estimated age and descriptions of the deposits themselves fill in the tsunami record. Tsunamis inferred from proxies, such as evidence for coseismic subsidence, are included to estimate recurrence intervals, but are flagged to highlight the absence of a physical deposit. Authors may submit their own descriptions and upload digital versions of publications. Users may sort by any populated field, including event, location, region, age of deposit, author, publication type (extract information from peer reviewed publications only, if you wish), grain size, composition, presence/absence of plant material. Users may find tsunami deposit references for a given location, event or author; search for particular properties of tsunami deposits; and even identify potential collaborators. Users may also download public-domain documents. Data and information may be viewed using tools designed to extract and display data from the Oracle database (selection forms, Web Map Services, and Web Feature Services). In addition, the historic tsunami archive (along with related earthquakes and volcanic eruptions) is available in KML (Keyhole Markup Language) format for use with Google Earth and similar geo-viewers.
DE: 0468 Natural hazards
DE: 1165 Sedimentary geochronology
DE: 4558 Sediment transport (1862)
DE: 4564 Tsunamis and storm surges
SC: Ocean Sciences [OS]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting