Interesting study! And this animation blending the model with the observed SWOT image is gorgeous.

Correction: near Tosa, not Kure.

These communities’ entire way of life is based on fishing and having the harbor. Surrounding terrain is very steep and rugged except at the river mouths. Meanwhile, the entire nation is subject to earthquake damage. So just leaving is not as strategic as it sounds…

Yes! In the 2011 tsunami in Japan, the numerous designated tsunami-evacuation buildings saved many thousands of lives. They didn’t have special purpose towers there, as far as I know. But southern Japan has many, especially in places like Kure without tall buildings, as seen in my pics.

Tsunami evacuation systems in Kochi City and Kure town, Shikoku Island. The 1946 Nankai Trough earthquake and tsunami swept ashore here, flooding all these areas - only the most recent of many over the past ~1300 years. The vertical evac towers are really impressive.

Yokonami melange, a paleo-megathrust, and so, so much chert, near Kure, Shikoku Island, Japan

Yes, we do like them - very much.

We spent 15 days up there, and saw no sign of other people. Pretty amazing, when we were in the heart of a well-known national park and less than 70 miles from UW campus! But a hard place to get to: we needed helicopter support to do this work.

We recently spent 2 weeks doing field work in a remote part of Olympic National Park, studying what we think is another part of the 'fossil' subduction plate boundary fault: a paleo-megathrust. The terrain was rugged and challenging, and the rocks were rewarding. Here's a taste. ⚒️

And Steve Malone is still analyzing volcanic earthquakes at PNSN in 2025!

This eruption is an interesting … coincidence?? Seismically triggered eruptions are not really my specialty, but I answered the phone on Sunday morning when @npr.org’s @gbrumfiel.bsky.social called, so here you go: Russian volcano erupts days after monster quake shakes

www.npr.org/2025/08/03/n...

Their website says “Note that while this model output represents the latest research modeling at NCTR, the operational forecast is performed at NOAA's Tsunami Warning Centers (TWCs) using the same technology.”

Yes, I did kind of blend them to simplify the story. I understood from the website that they both use the exact same method to hand off the deep water model to the inundation one so I thought it was a minor point - but maybe not!

They ran these models very early in the hours of the tsunami's trip across the ocean, fueling the accurate and timely warnings. (6/6)

They then could hand off that open ocean tsunami model to coastal inundation models that were pre-computed. Here are some examples from Haleiwa, HI and Crescent City, CA. Looks like they did very well with both timing and amplitude! (5/6)

AS the tsunami passed other DART buoys, they could calibrate and verify the model. This image shows comparison of the model and the observed waves at various DART sites, showing great agreement. (4/6)

Here is their model result for the open-ocean height of the wave (NOT the height at coastlines in shallow water) and how it varied across the Pacific. These were produced well BEFORE the tsunami reached Hawaii. (3/6)

PMEL tsunami reseachers posted this excellent page. "About 35 minutes after the earthquake, tsunami recording of DART 21416 peaked at a maximum amplitude of 0.85 m, the second largest DART amplitude ever recorded." (2/6) nctr.pmel.noaa.gov/kamchatka202...

Here is @noaa.gov's model of the tsunami propagation from the people at PMEL, initiated with the earthquake location and then calibrated by the DART buoy observations. There is a wealth of great information at their website (link in thread). (1/6) ⚒️ www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOtJ...

Went on CBS Mornings today to talk about the tsunami and how it all unfolded. They had good questions. www.cbsnews.com/video/why-a-...

I do something similar in my class - lists of the 10 biggest and the 10 deadliest earthquakes are very different, even if you include the tsunami fatalities.

Do you know any more details? I have read that there was a car accident fatality in Japan during evacuations, but while that’s very sad and is related, it is also a bit distinct from a direct fatality due to the tsunami.

Several factors contribute: sparse population at risk, little vulnerable infrastructure, yes - but also the nature of some (not all!) offshore megathrust quakes directing seismic energy away from land, and the position of the Kuril Trench relative to other coastlines may be at play here. Good news!

The M8.8 off Kamchatka appears to be the largest earthquake ever recorded that apparently didn't kill anyone. That's really remarkable, if true. ⚒️