Communications of the ACM
Stanford Scientists' Computer Models Help Predict Tsunami Risk
A ruined village near the coast of Sumatra after the 2004 tsunami.
Credit: Philip A. McDaniel, U.S. Navy
Stanford University researchers are using computational models to predict tsunami risk.
"Our models show that as the rupture propagates up the fault, waves reflect off the seafloor [and] come back down to the fault," says Stanford professor Eric Dunham.
The researchers developed software that enables the models to incorporate the changing speed of seismic waves as they travel through different types of rock.
"One of the unique capabilities of our research group is that our code that we've created--and the method that we've developed--is capable of handling these really complex geometries," says Stanford's Jeremy Kozdon.
The researchers hope that their models will help to predict where future tsunamis might occur. "We need to be able to do simulations that have as much physics as possible, to really be able to quantify the hazards associated with these earthquakes," Kozdon says.
From Stanford Report (CA)
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