MODEL PREDICTIONS OF GULF AND SOUTHERN ATLANTIC COAST TSUNAMI IMPACTS FROM A DISTRIBUTION OF SOURCES

The West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center now issues tsunami warnings for the US Gulf and US /Canadian Atlantic coasts. Because there is less historical data for these regions than for the Pacific, numerical models have been used to make predictions of wave amplitudes, travel time, and “reach”. Hypothetical tsunami sources are placed in the Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico, and in the Caribbean, with the resulting waves advanced forward in time 12 to 24 hours. Model results are presented in relation to warning center procedures.