topics for tsunami research paper

99 Tsunami Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best tsunami topic ideas & essay examples, 🥇 most interesting tsunami topics to write about, 📌 simple & easy tsunami essay titles, ❓ tsunami research questions.

• Impact of the Japan Tsunami 2011 Disaster on Tourism and Hospitality Industries Most coastal regions in the Pacific countries are highly populated due to the fact that the inland regions are usually mountainous and inhabitable compared to the relatively flatland in the coastal areas.
• Damages of Tsunami to Human Beings High Cost of Fighting Tsunami The total cost of tsunami could be billions of dollars since the damages of income generating business, and the cost used to curb the situation on the ground was quite […] We will write a custom essay specifically for you by our professional experts 808 writers online Learn More
• The Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004 and Its Consequences The worst effects of the great wave were observed in Indonesia, where the death toll exceeded 160,000 people, and the overall damages almost reached $4.
• Natural Disasters: Earthquakes, Volcanoes, and Tsunamis In addition, the paper will outline some of the similarities and differences between tsunamis and floods. Similarities between tsunamis and floods: Both tsunamis and floods are natural disasters that cause destruction of properties and human […]
• Tsunami Disasters in Okushiri Island In addition, fire outbreaks also contributed to the devastating effects of the tsunami. In addition, the question of educating and passing information about dangers of tsunami contributed to massive loss of lives.
• 2011 Tsunami in Tohoku and Its Effects on Japan In this instance, the geological origin of the tsunami has to be discussed due to the fact that it plays a significant role in predicting the presence of a tsunami in the future.
• The Causes and Consequences of the 2004 Tsunami in Sri Lanka Due to a displacement of sea water as a result of displaced debris from landslides, a series of waves that has a potential of causing a tsunami is formed.
• Tsunami Warning Management System Tsunami emergency management system detects and predicts tsunami in addition to warning individuals and government in good time before the onset of the disaster.
• Tsunami’s Reasons and Effects Therefore, it is essential to know how to anticipate the place and time of the occurrence of a tsunami and to determine which factors are the main in assessing the potential wave’s power and the […]
• South California Tsunami and Disaster Response This paper provides the report’s estimate figures in terms of human casualties and the structures affected by the wave. The Figure 1 represents the graphical representation of the data collected.
• The Japan Earthquake and Tsunami of 2011 Documentary The documentary reflects the events leading to the natural disasters and their aftermath, including an investigation into the reasons for the failure of the precautionary measures in place during the 2011 earthquake in Japan.
• Tsunamis: Case Studies Massive movement of seabed caused the tsunami during the earthquake movement. The Burma plates slipped around the earthquake’s epicenter.
• Tsunami Warning Systems In such a way, it is possible to conclude that the poor functioning of awareness systems in the past preconditioned the reconsideration of the approach to monitoring tsunamis and warning people about them.
• Tsunami and the Health Department The overstretching of health facilities poses a great challenge; how can the health department deal with tsunami cases to ensure that the community is disease-free and safe?
• Economic Tsunami and Current Economic Strategies The current economic situation in the world is the result of a great number of different factors including the sphere of finance.
• Tsunami Handling at a Nuclear Power Plant The information presented in this research paper has been analyzed and proved to be the actual content obtained by various parties that participate in the study of tsunamis.
• The Sumatra Earthquake of 26 December 2004: Indonesia Tsunami As such, the earthquake resulted in the development of a large tsunami off the Sumatran Coast that led to destruction of large cities in Indonesia.
• Tsunami Funding: On Assistance to the Victims of the December 2004 Tsunami In the US, through the help of the United Nations Organization in conjunction with the Red Cross, sited and established centers where people in the community would take their donations.
• Tsunami: Crisis Management The saving of lives during a disaster and emergency incident will depend on the proper coordination of the rescue team, delivery of the right skills to the scene which can only be achieved through the […]
• The Recommendations Made in the Field of Tsunami Emergency Managements Additionally, the tsunami that hit the coastal area of the Indian Ocean in 2004 was one of the events that led to reconsiderations of the preparedness levels in dealing with catastrophes of such scales.
• Physical Aspect of Tsunami According to Nelson, wave length is the distance between similar points of the wave; the concepts of tsunami wave height and amplitude are interconnected, as the height is the distance between tsunami’s trough and peak, […]
• Causes and Effect of the Tsunami in Indonesia Scientifically tsunami is caused by the water which is impelled afar the interior of the underwater commotion, the change in this water levels move at the speed of about four hundred miles per sixty minutes […]
• Natural Hazard: Tsunami Caused by Earthquakes Other areas that are prone to the tsunamis include Midwestern and Eastern United States of America and parts of Eastern of Canada, Indian Ocean and East Africa.
• Tsunamis and Their Harmful Effects on Countries As it begins, the video shows the surrounding of the beach which is still full of people, then focuses on an approaching wave.
• Tsunami Geological Origin Firstly, the source of the volcanic eruption has to be understood, as this natural phenomenon is one of the primary causes of a tsunami.
• Natural Disasters: Tsunami, Hurricanes and Earthquake The response time upon the prediction of a tsunami is minimal owing to the rapid fall and rise of the sea level.
• Effect of the 2004 Tsunami on Indonesia The areas prone to tsunamis on the Indonesian coast are: The west coast of Sumatra, the south coast of Java, the north and south coasts of West Nusa, Tenggara and East Nusa Tenggara provinces, the […]
• Marketing after a Crisis: Recovering From the Tsunami in Thailand The researchers aim was to assess the damages caused by the tsunami, to evaluate and adjust the impact and strategize on how to combat the crisis in the future.
• Tsunami: Definition and Causes Tsunamis have gained worldwide notoriety following the two devastating tsunamis that have occurred in the course of the last ten years. Submarine earthquakes can generate dangerous tsunamis and that the intensity of this tsunami is […]
• What Is a Tsunami and What Causes Them? We shall dwell on the Shifts in the Tectonic plates as the reasoning behind the Tsunamis, but we have to understand the concept involved in the movement of the plate tectonics then how the earthquake […]
• The Impacts of Japan’s Earthquake, Tsunami on the World Economy The future prospects in regard to the tsunami and the world economy will be presented and application of the lessons learnt during the catastrophe in future” tsunami occurrence” management.
• Effect on People Who Have Been Through Tsunami The community and government were left with a major challenge of how to cope with the physical and psychological stress that was quite evident.
• Exceedance Probability for Various Magnitudes of Tsunami
• A Short History of Tsunami Research and Countermeasures in Japan
• New Computational Methods in Tsunami Science
• Adult Mortality Five Years After a Natural Disaster: Evidence From the Indian Ocean Tsunami
• Affect, Risk Perception and Future Optimism After the Tsunami Disaster
• Probabilistic Analysis of Tsunami Hazards
• Tsunami Risk Assessment in Indonesia
• Real-Time Tsunami Forecasting: Challenges and Solutions
• Battening Down the Hatches: How Should the Maritime Industries Weather the Financial Tsunami
• A Simple Model for Calculating Tsunami Flow Speed From Tsunami Deposits
• Implementation and Testing of the Method of Splitting Tsunami Model
• The Storegga Slides: Evidence From Eastern Scotland for a Possible Tsunami
• Coastal Vegetation Structures and Their Functions in Tsunami Protection: Experience of the Recent Indian Ocean Tsunami
• Tsunami Fragility: A New Measure to Identify Tsunami Damage
• Geological Indicators of Large Tsunami in Australia
• Calamity, Aid and Indirect Reciprocity: The Long Run Impact of Tsunami on Altruism
• Cash and In-Kind Food Aid Transfers: Tsunami Emergency Aid in Banda Aceh
• Confronting the “Second Wave of the Tsunami”: Stabilizing Communities in the Wake of Foreclosures
• A Numerical Model for the Transport of a Boulder by Tsunami
• Experimental Investigation of Tsunami Impact on Free Standing Structures
• Economic and Business Development in China After the Tsunami
• How Effective Were Mangroves as a Defence Against the Recent Tsunami?
• Estimating Probable Maximum Loss From a Cascadia Tsunami
• Faster Than Real Time Tsunami Warning With Associated Hazard Uncertainties
• Tsunami Science Before and Beyond Boxing Day 2004
• Sediment Effect on Tsunami Generation of the 1896 Sanriku Tsunami Earthquake
• Tsunami Generation by Horizontal Displacement of Ocean Bottom
• Joint Evaluation of the International Response to the Indian Ocean Tsunami
• The Effectiveness and Limit of Tsunami Control Forests
• Distinguishing Tsunami and Storm Deposits: An Example From Martinhal, SW Portugal
• Developing Effective Vegetation Bioshield for Tsunami Protection
• Indian Ocean Tsunami: Disaster, Generosity and Recovery
• Three-Dimensional Splay Fault Geometry and Implications for Tsunami Generation
• Assessing Tsunami Vulnerability, an Example From Herakleio, Crete
• Knowledge-Building Approach for Tsunami Impact Analysis Aided by Citizen Science
• Mental Health Problems Among Adults in Tsunami-Affected Areas in Southern Thailand
• Legitimacy, Accountability and Impression Management in NGOs: The Indian Ocean Tsunami
• Measuring Tsunami Preparedness in Coastal Washington, United States
• Standards, Criteria, and Procedures for NOAA Evaluation of Tsunami Numerical Models
• The Use of Scenarios to Evaluate the Tsunami Impact in Southern Italy
• Could a Large Tsunami Happen in the United States?
• What Does a Tsunami Look Like When It Reaches the Coast?
• Is It Rare for a Tsunami to Happen?
• What Happens to Sharks During a Tsunami?
• Where Is the Safest Place During a Tsunami?
• What’s the Worst Tsunami Ever?
• What Happens to the Beach Before a Tsunami?
• Why Does Water Go Out Before a Tsunami?
• Can You Survive a Tsunami With a Life Jacket?
• Where Do Tsunami Most Hit?
• How Are Tsunamis Different From Normal Ocean Waves?
• What Are the Designated Service Areas of the Tsunami Warning Centers?
• How Quickly Are Tsunami Messages Issued?
• What Is the Difference Between a Local and a Distant Tsunami?
• What Types of Earthquakes Generate Tsunamis?
• Can Near Earth Objects Generate Tsunamis?
• What Are the Causes of Tsunamis?
• How Can Tsunami Be Controlled?
• What Keeps a Tsunami Going?
• Which Country Has the Most Tsunamis?
• What Are Some of the Most Damaging Tsunamis to Affect the United States?
• What Is the Tsunami Hazard Level for Anchorage and the Upper Cook Inlet in Alaska?
• What Are Ways Tsunami Start?
• How Many Tsunami Happen a Year?
• Can a Boat at Sea Survive a Tsunami?
• What Happens to a Whale in a Tsunami?
• How Much Warning Is There Before a Tsunami?
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Tsunami and Earthquake Research Active

• Publications

Here you will find general information on the science behind tsunami generation, computer animations of tsunamis, and summaries of past field studies.

Field Studies

Our researchers collect data from sites of recent tsunamis to gain a better understanding of the potential impact on other regions with high probability of tsunamis. Their work helps inform coastal planning, protection, and resiliency.

Learn about the earthquakes that triggered recent tsunami events, and watch computer simulations of each tsunami from different angles.

Background information and links to our other tsunami research projects.

Could It Happen Here?

Life of a Tsunami

Local Tsunamis in the Pacific Northwest

Cascadia subduction zone marine geohazards.

• Probabilistic Forecasting of Earthquakes and Tsunamis

Tsunami Hazards, Modeling, and the Sedimentary Record

• Unusual Sources of Tsunamis - Presentation by Eric Geist

The scope of tsunami research within the USGS, however, is broader than the topics covered here. USGS researchers have also provided critical research toward understanding how sediments are transported during tsunami runup and deciphering the geologic record of prehistoric tsunamis. The USGS collaborates closely with the NOAA Center for Tsunami Research .

As part of the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program , the USGS has also upgraded the seismograph network and communication functions of the U.S. Tsunami Warning Center .

Soon after the devastating tsunami in the Indian Ocean on December 26, 2004 many people have asked, “Could such a tsunami happen in the United States?” As a starting point, read “ Could It Happen Here? ”

Starting points:

Unusual Sources of Tsunamis

• Not all tsunamis are generated by earthquakes
• Tsunamis can be caused by volcanoes, landslides, and even atmospheric disturbances
• Data from tide gauges can help unravel the complex physics of these sources

Tsunami events:

September 8, 2017, Mexico

March 11, 2011, Japan

• Preliminary simulations of the tsunami
• Notes from the field : International Tsunami Team visits Japan before (2010) and after (May 2011); plus eyewitness accounts from California on March 11

October 25, 2010, Indonesia

February 27, 2010 Chile

September 29, 2009, Samoa

• Preliminary analysis of the tsunami
• USGS scientists in Samoa and American Samoa studying impacts of tsunami

April 1, 2007, Solomon Islands

March 28, 2005, Sumatra

• Analysis and comparison of the December 2004 and March 2005 tsunamis
• Field study of the effects of the December 2004 and March 2005 earthquakes and tsunamis  - April 2005

December 26, 2004, Sumatra-Andaman Islands

• Tsunami generation from the 2004 M=9.1 Sumatra-Andaman earthquake
• Initial findings on tsunami sand deposits, damage, and inundation in Sumatra  - January 2005
• Initial findings on tsunami sand deposits, damage, and inundation in Sri Lanka  - January 2005

June 23, 2001, Peru

• Preliminary analysis of the tsunami generated by the earthquake
• Preliminary analysis of sedimentary deposits from the tsunami

July 17, 1998, Papua New Guinea

• Descriptive model of the tsunami

April 18, 1906, San Francisco

Below are current tsunami studies and tsunami education materials.

The Question: Soon after the devastating tsunamis in the Indian Ocean on December 26, 2004 and in Japan on March 11, 2011, many people have asked, "Could such a tsunami happen in the United States?"

In the past century, several damaging tsunamis have struck the Pacific Northwest coast (Northern California, Oregon, and Washington). All of these tsunamis were distant tsunamis generated from earthquakes located far across the Pacific basin and are distinguished from tsunamis generated by earthquakes near the coast—termed local tsunamis.

Probabilistic Forecasting of Earthquakes, Tsunamis, and Earthquake Effects in the Coastal Zone

Coastal and Marine Geohazards of the U.S. West Coast and Alaska

PubTalk 1/2017 — Unusual sources of tsunamis

A presentation on "Unusual Sources of Tsunamis From Krakatoa to Monterey Bay" by Eric Geist, USGS Research Geophysicist

- Not all tsunamis are generated by earthquakes. - Tsunamis can be caused by volcanoes, landslides, and even atmospheric disturbances - Data from tide gauges can help unravel the complex physics of these sources

Below are USGS publications on a wide variety of topics related to tsunamis.

Earthquake magnitude distributions on northern Caribbean faults from combinatorial optimization models

On-fault earthquake magnitude distributions are calculated for northern Caribbean faults using estimates of fault slip and regional seismicity parameters. Integer programming, a combinatorial optimization method, is used to determine the optimal spatial arrangement of earthquakes sampled from a truncated Gutenberg-Richter distribution that minimizes the global misfit in slip rates on a complex fau

The making of the NEAM Tsunami Hazard Model 2018 (NEAMTHM18)

Book review of "tsunami propagation in tidal rivers", by elena tolkova, catastrophic landscape modification from a massive landslide tsunami in taan fiord, alaska.

The October 17th, 2015 Taan Fiord landslide and tsunami generated a runup of 193 m, nearly an order of magnitude greater than most previously surveyed tsunamis. To date, most post-tsunami surveys are from earthquake-generated tsunamis and the geomorphic signatures of landslide tsunamis or their potential for preservation are largely uncharacterized. Additionally, clear modifications described duri

Recent sandy deposits at five northern California coastal wetlands — Stratigraphy, diatoms, and implications for storm and tsunami hazards

A recent geological record of inundation by tsunamis or storm surges is evidenced by deposits found within the first few meters of the modern surface at five wetlands on the northern California coast. The study sites include three locations in the Crescent City area (Marhoffer Creek marsh, Elk Creek wetland, and Sand Mine marsh), O’rekw marsh in the lower Redwood Creek alluvial valley, and Pillar

A combinatorial approach to determine earthquake magnitude distributions on a variable slip-rate fault

Introduction to “global tsunami science: past and future, volume iii”, effect of dynamical phase on the resonant interaction among tsunami edge wave modes, probabilistic tsunami hazard analysis: multiple sources and global applications, introduction to “global tsunami science: past and future, volume ii”, reducing risk where tectonic plates collide, reducing risk where tectonic plates collide—u.s. geological survey subduction zone science plan.

Below are news stories about tsunamis.

National Preparedness Month 2020: Earthquakes and Tsunamis

Natural hazards have the potential to impact a majority of Americans every year.  USGS science provides part of the foundation for emergency ...

A Tale of Two Tsunamis—Why Weren’t They Bigger? Mexico 2017 and Alaska 2018

Why do some earthquakes trigger large tsunamis, and others don’t? Learn how earthquakes produce tsunamis, how scientists predict tsunami size and...

Below are FAQs associated with tsunamis.

Could a large tsunami happen in the United States?

Large tsunamis have occurred in the United States and will undoubtedly occur again. Significant earthquakes around the Pacific rim have generated tsunamis that struck Hawaii, Alaska, and the U.S. west coast. One of the largest and most devastating tsunamis that Hawaii has experienced was in 1946 from an earthquake along the Aleutian subduction zone. Runup heights reached a maximum of 33 to 55 feet...

Is there a system to warn populations of an imminent occurrence of a tsunami?

NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) maintains the U.S. Tsunami Warning Centers , and work in conjunction with USGS seismic networks to help determine when and where to issue tsunami warnings. Also, if an earthquake meets certain criteria for potentially generating a tsunami, the pop-up window and the event page for that earthquake on the USGS Latest Earthquakes Map will include...

What are tsunamis?

Tsunamis are ocean waves triggered by: Large earthquakes that occur near or under the ocean Volcanic eruptions Submarine landslides Onshore landslides in which large volumes of debris fall into the water Scientists do not use the term "tidal wave" because these waves are not caused by tides. Tsunami waves are unlike typical ocean waves generated by wind and storms, and most tsunamis do not "break"...

What is it about an earthquake that causes a tsunami?

Although earthquake magnitude is one factor that affects tsunami generation, there are other important factors to consider. The earthquake must be a shallow marine event that displaces the seafloor. Thrust earthquakes (as opposed to strike slip) are far more likely to generate tsunamis, but small tsunamis have occurred in a few cases from large (i.e., > M8) strike-slip earthquakes. Note the...

What is the difference between a tsunami and a tidal wave?

Although both are sea waves, a tsunami and a tidal wave are two different and unrelated phenomena. A tidal wave is a shallow water wave caused by the gravitational interactions between the Sun, Moon, and Earth ("tidal wave" was used in earlier times to describe what we now call a tsunami.) A tsunami is an ocean wave triggered by large earthquakes that occur near or under the ocean, volcanic...

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Editorial article, editorial: from tsunami science to hazard and risk assessment: methods and models.

• 1 Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Rome, Italy
• 2 Department of Mathematics, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
• 3 Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, Oslo, Norway
• 4 EPICentre, Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, University College London, London, United Kingdom
• 5 Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Bologna, Italy

Editorial on the Research Topic From Tsunami Science to Hazard and Risk Assessment: Methods and Models

The tsunami disasters of 2004 in the Indian Ocean and 2011 along the Tohoku coast of Japan revealed severe gaps between the anticipated risk and consequences (e.g., Okal, 2015 ), resulting in an enormous loss of life and property. The possibility that earthquakes with a moment magnitude exceeding Mw 9 would occur at the specific location of these earthquakes was probably overlooked. Moreover, both events are end members of the empirical scaling relations linking earthquake fault size, rupture duration, and slip distribution over the subduction interface.

Similarly, the two smaller yet disastrous tsunamis with unusual source characteristics that affected Indonesia towards the end of 2018 were painful reminders that we don’t have to pay attention only to large mega-thrust earthquakes which cause giant tsunamis. The first one on September 28th in Palu Bay, Sulawesi Island, was caused by a primarily strike-slip earthquake, hence not expected to be highly tsunamigenic. The damaging tsunami was likely due to the complexity of the earthquake source process, possibly triggering tsunamigenic landslides, and to the propagation inside the narrow bay. This tsunami hit after minutes, leaving almost no time for evacuation. The damage and the death toll were also due to the intense ground shaking and liquefaction, for a combined number of victims higher than 4,300 ( Reliefweb, 2019 ). The second one occurred on December 22nd in the Strait of Sunda between Java and Sumatra Islands because of the eruption and significant collapse of the Anak Krakatau Volcano. This tsunami attacked Indonesian coasts without prior notice. It caused more than 400 fatalities and considerable damage related to the tsunami inundation, as documented by several post-event surveys and event analyses (e.g., Muhari et al., 2019 ; Syamsidik et al., 2020 ).

We did not anticipate such large and diverse events and their severe consequences, in part due to the lack of rigorous and accepted hazard analysis methods as well as considerable uncertainty in forecasting the tsunami sources, and in part due to incompleteness or absence of tsunami warning systems, or lack of implementation of their “last-mile,” including capillary diffusion of alert messages and preparation of the population. Population response to recent small tsunamis in the Mediterranean also revealed a lack of preparedness and awareness.

While there will never be absolute protection against tsunamis, accurate analysis of the potential risk can surely help minimise losses by providing scientific guidance to coastal planning, warning systems, awareness-raising and preparedness activities.

Hazard assessments tend to be conducted more and more by adopting a probabilistic framework, in part following the example of the long-established seismic hazard analysis practice ( Gerstenberger et al., 2020 ). We may say that the methodology for Probabilistic Tsunami Hazard Analysis (PTHA) has now reached a high level of maturity ( Geist and Parsons, 2006 ; Grezio et al., 2017 ; Mori et al., 2018 ). Yet, some open issues exist, mainly due to the relative rarity of the phenomenon, resulting in the sparsity and incompleteness of tsunami source and effects observations, which is a strong uncertainty driver ( Selva et al., 2016 ; Davies et al., 2018 ). For these reasons, hazard analysts almost invariably adopt a computation-based approach. They first address the probability of the variety of all credible sources. Then, they model tsunami generation and propagation numerically to eventually combine the tsunami intensity with the source probability ( González et al., 2009 ).

PTHA focuses most often on seismic sources. For feasibility reasons, it usually adopts simplified modelling assumptions as far as both the earthquake and the numerical tsunami modelling are concerned ( Geist and Lynett, 2014 ). On the other hand, the Probabilistic Tsunami Risk Analysis (PTRA) methodology is evolving fast, but PTRA is perhaps less mature. Likely reasons include a certain lack of availability of well-constrained and general enough vulnerability data, which is another effect of the rarity of tsunamis. The complexity of tsunami consequences in the physical and social dimensions adds to the already considerable uncertainty characterising PTHA.

During the past 2 decades, the tsunami community has put significant efforts into understanding also tsunami hazard from non-seismic sources and tsunami risk. Additionally, many recent events provided essential data on tsunami sources, tsunami features, and tsunami impact at many different places. Tsunami features have been analysed and addressed through theoretical, experimental and numerical approaches.

In this Research Topic, we aimed to contribute to the ongoing scientific progress and the process of assessing and providing community-based standards, good practices, benchmarking tools and guidelines, based on the most recent observations and scientific findings. This purpose is in line with several community-based efforts like those of the “GTM—Global Tsunami Model” and “AGITHAR—Accelerating Global science In Tsunami Hazard and Risk analysis” scientific networks. We aimed to help better address the link between tsunami science and the Probabilistic Tsunami Hazard and Risk Analysis.

This Topic includes numerous Original Research papers, one Brief Research Report and one Review. Overall, we gathered 20 articles contributed by more than 200 authors. We consider this a strong indication from the research community.

Some papers on this Topic present specific hazard and risk analyses using rather innovative methods. Others address specific methodological components or provide a better understanding of recent tsunami events. Both of these aspects provide a sound scientific basis for future hazard and risk assessment efforts.

Well-documented historical events are the experimental basis for tsunami hazard assessment. Maramai et al. present a historical catalogue organised starting from the effects on a specific coastline, providing the local “tsunami history.” Traditional tsunami catalogues are a collection of tsunamis classified by the generating cause, providing a general description of the effects observed for each tsunami. Strupler et al. introduce a new classification scheme for tsunami generation in lakes due to subaqueous and subaerial landslides by focusing on relative tsunami potential in Swiss perialpine lakes. The results are helpful to prioritise and rank the lakes within large regions for more detailed investigations.

A better understanding of the fundamental phenomena involved in tsunami generation, particularly their effect on the tsunami impact, can be achieved by using two different and complementary “angles,” namely the laboratory-scale physical modelling and the numerical modelling assisted by high-performance computing. Chandler et al. review the evolution across three generations of pneumatic tsunami simulators and deal in particular with calibration for long period tsunamis. Wirp et al. perform a three-dimensional simulation of the earthquake dynamic rupture, informed by a model of the seismic cycle in the subduction zone. They test the sensitivity of the tsunami to dynamic effects of supershear and tsunami earthquakes, hypocenter location, shallow fault slip, and higher Poisson’s ratio, pointing out the importance of dealing with earthquake source complexity for a better understanding of tsunami hazard.

Observations and numerical modelling for past or hypothetical tsunamis generated by non-seismic sources are essential for a better understanding of their mechanism, allowing better modelling of related tsunami hazard. Esposti Ongaro et al. compare different landslide-induced tsunami modelling approaches with a real event. They take as a benchmark the observations of the volcanic eruption, subaerial and submarine landslide, and consequent tsunami that occurred in 2002 at the island of Stromboli (Italy). Schambach et al. explore combinations of a dual earthquake and landslide sources for the simulation of the devastating 2018 Palu tsunami and approximate the observed inundation features; in particular, an additional landslide further than those mapped helps to generate the considerable tsunami inundation heights observed in the southeast of Palu Bay. Waldmann et al. present a complete and highly interdisciplinary reconstruction of two of the most important historical catastrophic tsunamis generated by landslides in Norway, namely the Lake Loen events in 1905 and 1936. Despite these being significant events, they have been analysed only sparsely. Hence, the review of the events is essential in its own right. Zaniboni et al. provide an assessment of potential landslide-induced tsunami hazard in a critical area—the eastern slope of the Gela Basing, Strait of Sicily. They identify historic landslides from high-resolution bathymetric data. Numerical simulations for specific events provide potential wave heights for the Coasts of Malta and the southern coast of Sicily (Italy). Salamon et al. confront themselves with a very complex geological setting. They use a worst-case oriented modelling of an earthquake and a tsunamigenic induced landslide. They model the combined effect of shaking and tsunami inundation enhanced by coastal subsidence for the Head of the Gulf of Elat–Aqaba, Northeastern Red Sea.

The feasibility issue of computation-based PTHA is related to its relatively high computational cost. This issue stems from the fact that many numerical simulations are needed to address the natural source aleatory variability. The necessity of running alternative models to quantify epistemic uncertainty increases the computational cost. Physics-reduced models, statistic data analysis, emulators and neural networks are usually employed to reduce the computational cost. Davies et al. deal with the simulation of very long tsunami propagation necessary to address the hazard from trans-oceanic tsunamis. They propose a low-computational-cost simplified (delayed linear friction) model to approximate the Manning-friction model for long durations, which can be applied to create tsunami Green’s functions. Williamson et al. deal with the “dual” problem of the very local high-sensitivity of tsunami inundation to mega-thrust source details. To limit the number of fine-resolution simulations, they propose a source clustering approach based on importance sampling focusing on the tail of the probability distribution where the number of scenarios would be excessive without sample reduction. Giles et al. propose to use tsunami emulators trained with numerical simulations to efficiently quantify the hazard in the context of a real-time tsunami warning, providing a workflow that allows uncertainty quantification hence tsunami hazard forecasting in a short time.

Long-term PTHA models can use different spatial scales, from the relatively low-resolution regional scale useful for homogenous planning at the transnational level to the high-resolution scale needed for local planning. Several methodological flavours exist, and new ones are constantly being developed. They differ in the source treatment, hydrodynamics aspects, and the approach to uncertainty quantification. Additionally, different tsunami intensity metrics may be of interest depending on the specific application. Basili et al. present NEAMTHM18, the first probabilistic hazard model that covers all the coastlines of the North-eastern Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and connected seas (NEAM). They consider subduction zones where they model shallow slip amplification, diffuse background seismicity, and a stochastic approach to inundation modelling based on local coastal amplification factors. The epistemic uncertainty treatment relies on a multi-expert protocol for the management of subjective choices. Gibbons et al. developed a workflow that allows the evaluation of high-resolution probabilistic inundation maps. Starting from a background regional PTHA such as NEAMTHM18, a disaggregation procedure allows focusing on the relevant sources for the specific location of interest. The workflow uses massive high-resolution nonlinear shallow water simulations with Tsunami-HySEA on Tier-0 GPU clusters to approach the detail and the number of scenarios needed to mimic natural variability. González et al. incorporate tides into PTHA, treating them as an aleatory variable rather than crudely adding tidal levels to the hazard curves. This PTHA considers meso- and macro-tidal areas of Cádiz Bay in Spain. Zamora et al. present microzoning tsunami hazard combining flow depths and arrival times, which is crucial, for example, for pedestrian evacuation. They advocate for a semi-qualitative approach for the sake of simplifying hazard communication related to planning.

PTHA estimates the probability that a tsunami of a certain intensity would affect a given location in a given amount of time. It is the first step for rational coastal planning. Sometimes it is followed by risk analysis. Tonini et al. present the methodology, based on the combination of scientific assessment—the PTHA—with political choices, for the definition of tsunami inundation maps used for coastal and evacuation planning in Italy. They evaluate the level of conservatism adopted by the decision-makers in the frame of the uncertainty related to tsunami source characterisation and tsunami inundation simulations. Baiguera et al. introduce a new relative tsunami risk index for (single and networks of) hospitals made of reinforced concrete. They illustrate the approach for selected hospitals in Sri Lanka. Different scenarios allow testing potential interventions by decision-makers to improve the resilience of healthcare provision. Goda presents a computational framework adopting a renewal model for conducting a time-dependent loss estimation of a building portfolio. He refers to megathrust subduction earthquakes and tsunamis affecting the Miyagi Prefecture in the Tohoku region, Japan. The study considers both seismic and tsunami fragilities in a multi-hazard scheme.

The Research Topic ends with a review by Behrens et al. of the current PTHA and PTRA methods. This review is one of the first results of the networking activities in the AGITHAR framework, where we conceived this Research Topic. The study identified numerous research gaps to foster and direct future efforts to improve tsunami risk understanding and facilitate more effective mitigation measures.

Author Contributions

All authors contributed to the critical review of the papers published in this Research Topic. SL has provided an initial draft of this Editorial which was revised and approved by all the authors.

This article is based upon work from COST Action CA18109 AGITHAR, supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology).

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s Note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Acknowledgments

We warmly thank all authors for their contributions that in our opinion made up in a very valuable set of papers. We acknowledge the reviewers for valuable comments, the Frontiers Editorial Office, and especially Josie Langdon, for the continuous support during all phases of the realization of this Research Topic.

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González, F. I., Geist, E. L., Jaffe, B., Kânoğlu, U., Mofjeld, H., Synolakis, C. E., et al. (2009). Probabilistic Tsunami hazard Assessment at Seaside, Oregon, for Near- and Far-Field Seismic Sources. J. Geophys. Res. 114, 37. doi:10.1029/2008JC005132

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Mori, N., Goda, K., and Cox, D. (2018). “Recent Process in Probabilistic Tsunami Hazard Analysis (PTHA) for Mega Thrust Subduction Earthquakes,” in The 2011 Japan Earthquake and Tsunami: Reconstruction and Restoration. Advances in Natural and Technological Hazards Research . Editors V. Santiago-Fandiño, S. Sato, N. Maki, and K. Iuchi (Cham: Springer ), 47, 469–485. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-58691-5_27

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Keywords: tsunami, observations, numerical modelling, probabilities, hazard, risk, early warning

Citation: Lorito S, Behrens J, Løvholt F, Rossetto T and Selva J (2021) Editorial: From Tsunami Science to Hazard and Risk Assessment: Methods and Models. Front. Earth Sci. 9:764922. doi: 10.3389/feart.2021.764922

Received: 26 August 2021; Accepted: 23 September 2021; Published: 08 October 2021.

Edited and reviewed by:

Copyright © 2021 Lorito, Behrens, Løvholt, Rossetto and Selva. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Stefano Lorito, [email protected]

This article is part of the Research Topic

From Tsunami Science to Hazard and Risk Assessment: Methods and Models

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Tsunami research improves coastal protection

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The future of many coastal megacities depends upon reliable disaster prediction, protection and prevention strategies as global warming is projected to bring stronger storms, risking millions of lives.

Palu, Sulawesi in Indonesia experienced widespread damage after a tsunami and earthquake in 2018. ©Dhody wachyudi/Shutterstock

On 11 March 2011, the devastating Tohoku tsunami was triggered by an earthquake off Japan, killing more than 15,000 people. Japan experiences more earthquakes than anywhere in the world, but catastrophic tsunamis and storm surges are a global problem; from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, to Typhoon Haiyan that struck the Philippines in 2013.

After the 2011 catastrophic tsunami, Waseda University established the Center for Research on Reconstruction from the Great East Japan Earthquake and called for research proposals for on reconstruction of affected areas.

Professor Tomoya Shibayama from the Faculty of Science and Engineering, led a project on infrastructure restoration and disaster management systems that focussed on tsunami responses to support design of new towns and fishing villages at affected sites.

Beyond the science of tsunamis, Shibayama has helped transform Waseda into a base for studying natural hazards, from storms surges to volcanic eruptions.

Waseda’s tsunami wave generator enables researchers to conduct 3D experiments.

Shibayama, when he joined Waseda in 2009, brought 30 years of experience in coastal disaster research. By sharing worldwide his team’s discoveries and damage limitation strategies, he aims to help prevent future disasters. His team’s work benefits from the university’s commitment to tackle global problems through investing in cutting-edge techniques, he says.

Between 2013 and 2018, Shibayama’s team attracted additional funding from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) that supercharged their coastal protection research. “Through international collaboration, we created new simulation models, conducted field surveys, and developed new laboratory techniques,” he explains. The laboratory at Waseda includes a tsunami-storm surge basin, and a wave flume with controllable wave generators. “We have advanced apparatus for measuring water velocity and pressure fields of tsunamis, storm surges, and wind-driven waves,” says Shibayama.

As ocean temperatures rise due to global warming, coastal cities need to understand changing storm behaviour to assess existing defences. A team led by Shibayama’s doctoral student, Ryota Nakamura, now an associate professor at Niigata University, used atmospheric and ocean models developed at Waseda to simulate typhoons off mainland Japan — and the resultant height of storm surges in Tokyo Bay — under future climate scenarios. The study revealed the need to raise current sea walls and dykes to protect Tokyo from future higher, more powerful storm surges.

Lessons of other shores

In 2018, Shibayama and an international team conducted field surveys in Palu Bay in Indonesia, a month after a major tsunami, to assess causes of damage to the coastal communities.

“Before visiting, we collected satellite images and YouTube footage,” says Shibayama. “Once there, we measured the distribution of the maximum tsunami flood height and used a drone to take images. We mapped the bottom of Palu Bay and located landslides that contributed to the tsunami.”

Their observations, published in Pure and Applied Geophysics in 2019, revealed the earthquake triggered perilous mudslides and the narrow bay reflected and superimposed waves to increase the height of the tsunami, which landed several metres higher than expected. The Sulawesi earthquake killed more than 4,000 people and highlighted the importance of emergency preparation and communication.

Shibayama has helped 24 international PhD students, many of whom returned to their home countries to share their expertise. Rafael Aranguiz, now an associate professor at Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción, studied tsunami disasters in his home country of Chile. The findings from his doctorate at Waseda enabled him to propose suitable defences on the Chilean coast.

Human Behaviour

In 2018, a study by Waseda researchers of human behaviour on the death toll modelled the tsunami evacuation by locals, tourists and people on Yuigahama beach in Kamakura, Japan.

Detached breakwaters are installed in the tsunami basin to stop intrusion of a tsunami.

The researchers simulated seven tsunami flood events caused by different types of earthquake to estimate the casualties under various evacuation scenarios. Providing information and routes to safe places proved particularly useful. Simply rushing to higher ground, which most people do instinctively, was insufficient to save lives. “Local residents know the area and if they give instructions to tourists, we can improve evacuation procedures and therefore survival,” adds Shibayama, who advises the Kanagawa government about tsunami and storm surge prediction.

Future coasts

Shibayama hopes his research, including a 2020 paper in the Coastal Engineering Journal , helps Japan better prepare for disaster. “We expect rising storm surge heights with global warming,“ he says, “and we will improve coastal protection structures accordingly. Yet, we expect residential areas will need to shift as coastal threats increase.”

International collaborations underpin Waseda research, and Shibayama, with the University of Ottawa is studying the Arctic Ocean, where disappearing sea ice could increase high wind waves, exacerbating coastal erosion. “Methods developed at Waseda, helps us understand this drastic change in the disaster environment,” he says.

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The Science of Tsunamis

The word “tsunami” brings immediately to mind the havoc that can be wrought by these uniquely powerful waves. The tsunamis we hear about most often are caused by undersea earthquakes, and the waves they generate can travel at speeds of up to 250 miles per hour and reach tens of meters high when they make landfall and break. They can cause massive flooding and rapid widespread devastation in coastal areas, as happened in Southeast Asia in 2004 and in Japan in 2011.

But significant tsunamis can be caused by other events as well. The partial collapse of the volcano Anak Krakatau in Indonesia in 2018 caused a tsunami that killed more than 400 people. Large landslides, which send immense amounts of debris into the sea, also can cause tsunamis. Scientists naturally would like to know how and to what extent they might be able to predict the features of tsunamis under various circumstances.

Most models of tsunamis generated by landslides are based on the idea that the size and power of a tsunami is determined by the thickness, or depth, of the landslide and the speed of the “front” as it meets the water. In a paper titled “Nonlinear regimes of tsunami waves generated by a granular collapse,” published online in the Journal of Fluid Mechanics, UC Santa Barbara mechanical engineer Alban Sauret and his colleagues, Wladimir Sarlin, Cyprien Morize and Philippe Gondret at the Fluids, Automation and Thermal Systems (FAST) Laboratory at the University of Paris-Saclay and the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), shed more light on the subject. (The article also will appear in the journal’s July 25 print edition.)

This is the latest in a series of papers the team has published on environmental flows, and on tsunami waves generated by landslides in particular. Earlier this year, they showed that the velocity of a collapse — i.e., the rate at which the landslide is traveling when it enters the water — controls the amplitude, or vertical size, of the wave.

In their most recent experiments, the researchers carefully measured the volume of the granular material, which they then released, causing it to collapse as a cliff would, into a long, narrow channel filled with water. They found that while the density and diameter of the grains within a landslide had little effect on the amplitude of the wave, the total volume of the grains and the depth of the liquid played much more crucial roles.

A photograph of an experimental lab setup reflecting the fluid dynamics of a tsunami

Photo Credit:   ILLUSTRATION COURTESY OF FAST AND UC SANTA BARBARA

“As the grains enter the water, they act as a piston, the horizontal force of which governs the formation of the wave, including its amplitude relative to the depth of the water,” said Sauret. (A remaining challenge is to understand what governs the speed of the piston.) “The experiments also showed that if we know the geometry of the initial column [the material that flows into the water] before it collapses and the depth of the water where it lands, we can predict the amplitude of the wave.”

The team can now add this element to the evolving model they have developed to couple the dynamics of the landslide and the generation of the tsunami. A particular challenge is to describe the transition from an initial dry landslide, when the particles are separated by air, to an underwater granular flow, when the water has an important impact on particle motion. As that occurs, the forces acting on the grains change drastically, affecting the velocity at which the front of grains that make up the landslide enters the water.

Currently, there is a large gap in the predictions of tsunamis based on simplified models that consider the field complexity (i.e., the geophysics) but do not capture the physics of the landslide as it enters the water. The researchers are now comparing the data from their model with data collected from real-life case studies to see if they correlate well and if any field elements might influence the results.

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February 2, 2021

Tsunamis and tsunami warning: Recent progress and future prospects

by Science China Press

Tsunamis are one of the most destructive disasters in the ocean. Large tsunamis are mostly generated by earthquakes, and they can propagate across the ocean without significantly losing energy. During the shoaling process in coastal areas, the wave amplitude increases dramatically, causing severe life loss and property damage. There have been frequent tsunamis since the 21st century, drawing the attention of many countries on the study of tsunami mechanisms and warning. Tsunami records also play an essential role in deriving earthquake rupture models in subduction zones.

A recent paper entitled "Tsunamis and tsunami warning: recent progress and future prospects," by Dr. Chao An from Shanghai Jiao Tong University reviews the recent research progress on earthquake-generated tsunamis, from the aspects of tsunami generation, propagation, inversion and warning. The paper was published in Science China Earth Sciences recently.

On tsunami generation, the paper analyzes three assumptions adopted in tsunami modeling and the associated errors, i.e., neglecting earthquake rupture process, assuming sea surface profile mimics seafloor deformation, and ignoring water compressibility. On tsunami propagation, popular simulation techniques are based on shallow water wave equations or Bousinessq equations of weak nonlinearity and weak dispersion; the paper reviews research results on the effects of Earth elasticity, water compressibility and ocean stratification. On tsunami inversion, the paper summarizes popular inversion methods including finite-fault inversion, initial sea surface profile inversion and time reversal method.

The paper points out that tsunami data are of essential importance to constrain earthquake rupture parameters, but it has limited spatial and temporal resolution. On tsunami warning, the paper concludes that tsunami buoys are the most reliable way for tsunami warning. Without tsunami buoys, it is potentially possible to obtain accurate tsunami predictions by estimating the overall earthquake rupture characteristics and constructing uniform slip models. Lastly, the paper briefly introduces the newly-developed method, i.e., Probabilistic Tsunami Hazard Assessment (PTHA), and points out that a possible improvement is to take regional geological structures into consideration.

By reviewing the most recent tsunami research, the following conclusions are obtained:

• Since the 2004 Sumatra tsunami, there have been more and more tsunami measurements. As a result, a lot of research has been done and the research methodologies have been well developed. With the deployment of ocean-bottom pressure sensors, it is possible to investigate multiple physical phenomena in an earthquake-tsunami event.
• By far tsunami buoys are still the most reliable ways of tsunami warning . If tsunami measurements are not available, one possible warning strategy is to estimate the overall characteristics of earthquakes use simplified uniform models to predict tsunami waves.
• Probabilistic methods are developed for tsunami hazard assessment in addition to traditional deterministic methods. A possible improvement is to take regional geological structures into consideration.

Journal information: Science China Earth Sciences

Provided by Science China Press

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Making Waves in Tsunami Research

It was pure coincidence that in the early morning light of December 26, 2004, within hours of the 9.0 earthquake that shook the floor of the Indian Ocean, two joint NASA/French Space Agency satellites watched from high overhead while tsunami waves silently raced across the Bay of Bengal. Half a world away, U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist Peter Cervelli came home from a Christmas dinner with friends to find seismometer readings heralding ominous news.

Sadly, scientists had no way to warn officials or the public about the deadly force that was minutes away from surging ashore. More than 220,000 lives were lost to the tsunami.

Today, scientists are gathering data from a variety of sensors in an effort to reconstruct the event and see what lessons they can learn from it. Serendipitously, as the tsunami waves were rolling toward the shore, the "Jason" and "TOPEX/Poseidon" satellites recorded the height changes of the waves as they formed — the first detailed measurements of their kind during a major tsunami.

While satellites cannot provide an early warning, their data hold great promise for helping scientists improve computer models of wave behavior during tsunamis. Scientists say that better models will be the first line of defense against the havoc tsunamis can cause on coastal areas. The data obtained from Jason and TOPEX/Poseidon — archived at NASA's Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center (PO.DAAC) in Pasadena, California — are enabling scientists to look at the mechanisms that produced the killer waves in the Indian Ocean.

Jason and TOPEX/Poseidon are assembling a global, long-term record of sea surface height, which is helping scientists better understand ocean circulation and climate variability. Sea surface height reflects the storage of heat in the ocean: when the ocean warms, it expands, thus raising the sea level, explained Lee-Lueng Fu, chief scientist of the satellite missions from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. But detection of the recent tsunami is a good example of their secondary benefits, said Fu. "This happened by chance, because the satellites were not designed to make observations of waves moving as fast as a tsunami, which attain the speed of a jet plane in the open ocean," said Fu. "At 500 miles per hour, the waves are moving very quickly and are very hard to detect."

Since the satellites make 13 revolutions around Earth each day, the probability of catching a tsunami in the way that Jason and TOPEX/Poseidon did is about one chance in 50, said Fu. But their ability to detect minute changes in sea surface height enabled them to spot subtle changes in the wave behavior. When the tsunami passed through the Bay of Bengal, the satellites picked up a sea height change of half a meter, which is a huge signal, according to Fu. "This kind of first-hand knowledge is helping researchers better understand how waves propagate in the ocean," he said, "so they can refine their ability to pinpoint where the wave is going to crash over beaches and with how much energy."

To make their measurements, Jason and TOPEX/Poseidon continually bounce radar pulses off the sea surface and record the time it takes for the signal to return. Each radar pulse gives a measure of the satellites' exact location and altitude above the sea surface. Using these measurements, scientists can also calculate the velocity at which ocean currents are moving.

Jason is the satellite credited with making such precise measurements of the recent tsunami event, according to Fu. Its observations included detailed ripples — on the order of 10 centimeters high — spread over a 200-kilometer area. Previously scientists believed tsunamis to be single, fast-moving elevations of the sea surface over a span of several hundred kilometers, according to Fu. Such movement would be akin to the simple rhythmic rise and fall of taking in a deep breath and expelling it. But scientists have learned from Jason's recent observations that tsunami waves in the open ocean are more complicated than that. "This kind of measurement is telling us that a tsunami has a much more complex structure than we used to think," said Fu.

Fu is quick to point out, however, that satellites will never be able to provide a warning system from space because the cost of deploying enough satellites to be at any given point over the ocean within half an hour is prohibitive. "I don't want to give people the impression, 'oh, we caught this tsunami, therefore we should launch more satellites to catch tsunamis.' We just cannot afford to do that," said Fu. Moreover, since Jason and TOPEX/Poseidon data take a minimum of five hours to process, there is a low likelihood of using their data in time to warn coastal residents of an approaching tsunami. But in the rare case that the satellites do record the profile of a tsunami, they provide excellent hindsight because they have a continuous profile of the sea surface height change. "There's no other measurement that can produce such a record," said Fu. Ocean buoys, which are often separated by more than 500 kilometers, don't record a continuous profile.

The key for early warning is to have more bottom-mounted pressure sensors in the ocean, according to Fu. But experts agree that even having such scientific instrumentation in place won't be sufficient if the communication and education components of a warning system are missing, as was the case on December 26. Cervelli, who's based at the Alaska Volcano Observatory in Anchorage, recalled the moment on Christmas night when the seismometer readings came in. "I remember thinking to myself, 'this is going to create a large tsunami that is going to kill a lot of people,'" he said. "Hundreds of people around the world — when they saw the information — knew that to be the truth, but there was nothing that we could do," he said.

Satellites carrying specialized radar instruments are making it possible for scientists, like Cervelli, to understand the geologic processes that could lead to undersea landslides and potentially devastating tsunamis in the future — perhaps in time to see them coming and to adequately prepare.

Cervelli, who has worked extensively on understanding the volcanic processes of Kilauea Volcano, noted that in Hawaii, the government has made a concerted effort to educate the public about what to do in case of a tsunami. Beginning in kindergarten, children are taught in school and through the newspaper about what to do if they hear a tsunami warning siren. "All of these things are now second nature to most Hawaiian residents, but Hawaii's a relatively small population in a first world country," said Cervelli. "The most challenging thing for establishing a warning system in the Indian Ocean is going to be the education and communication components.”

Installing more buoys around the islands hit hard by the recent tsunami would not be too costly or difficult to do, Cervelli said. "But all of that is useless if there is no way to get that information to officials in the countries that will be affected, and it's also useless if you get the information to an official, but the officials are powerless to do anything about it. If people aren't educated about what to do when the tsunami horn goes off, if there even is a tsunami horn, then it doesn't really matter," said Cervelli.

Cervelli's research is one example of the way that scientists are using satellite data to understand tsunami-forming processes before they wreak havoc. The south flank of Kilauea Volcano on the island of Hawaii (the "Big Island") has been moving towards the sea at a rate of six centimeters per year for at least a decade. The fact that there's been so much motion has left some people to wonder whether the south flank is a candidate for "catastrophic flank failure," which would probably lead to a very large tsunami, Cervelli said. If it did occur, it would threaten the Hawaiian Islands, and under some models, the west coast of the United States, South America, and possibly Japan.

Some evidence suggests that very large tsunamis caused by massive undersea landslides have hit the Hawaiian Islands in the not-too-distant geologic past. Researchers have found anomalous corals and marine shells deposited hundreds of meters high above the shoreline of some islands. If it has happened before, some experts wonder whether giant tsunamis may plague the Hawaiian Islands from time to time.

So scientists like Cervelli are using a technique known as Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (InSAR) to understand tectonic systems and, hopefully, identify high-risk areas. Satellites carrying InSAR instruments beam a radar signal down onto a given location of the Earth's surface at two different points in time. The second measurement reveals whether the ground has shifted either toward or away from the satellite, explained Cervelli.

While these data can provide a glimpse into the geologic future, they are by no means a crystal ball. "I'm not suggesting that we can predict earthquakes. That, so far, has proven very difficult, if not impossible. But we can give you an idea that 'well, this fault is slipping or it's accumulating strain, so eventually it's going to result in an earthquake,'" said Cervelli. "The trick is telling you on what day and at what time it's going to happen."

So for now, scientists will take what they can get. Such fine resolution and detail from satellite data will help fortify the defense against tsunamis in the future. Computer modelers will be better equipped to compute the strength and pattern of the tsunami waves, explained Fu. "That's a critical link," he said. "Our data will aid researchers by improving their understanding of tsunami dynamics in order to make better models. So that's the benefit of quite a serendipitous measurement."

Cervelli, Peter. 2004. The Threat of Silent Earthquakes. Scientific American .

Fu, L.-L., and A. Cazenave, editors, 2001. Satellite Altimetry and Earth Sciences: A Handbook of Techniques and Applications . San Diego, CA: Academic Press

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Tsunami Research Institutions

Research efforts.

India, National Institute of Oceanography (NIO)

The National Institute of Oceanography in Goa, India, conducts a range of oceanographic research, including tsunami-related studies. It compiled a comprehensive report on the impact of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami on the Indian coast.

Address: Dona Paula – 403 004, Goa, India EPABX Tel: +91 832 245 0450 Fax: +91 832 245 0602 or 2450603 Website: http://www.nio.org/ E-mail: [email protected]

Italy, University of Bologna, Tsunami Research Team

The Tsunami Research Team (TRT-BO) is part of the Solid Earth Geophysics Group of the Department of Physics, University of Bologna in Italy. The Team’s main areas of expertise are: tsunami generation; tsunami propagation and impacts on coasts; developing numerical models; field surveys of the effects of recent tsunamis; data collection on historical tsunamis; tsunami hazard and risk analysis; catalogues of Italian and European tsunamis; modeling of major Italian tsunamis; strategies to protect coastal zones; and developing tsunami warning systems globally and locally, and integrating them into multi-hazard systems.

Head: Professor Stefano Tinti Address: Department of Physics – Sector of Geophysics, University of Bologna, viale Berti Pichat 8, 40127, Bologna, Italy Tel: +39 51 209 5001 Fax: +39 51 209 5058 Website: http://labtinti4.df.unibo.it/BolognaTsunamiGroup/en_index.html E-mail: [email protected]

Japan, Disaster Prevention Research Institute

The Disaster Prevention Research Institute at Kyoto University in Japan conducts research into a range of problems related to the prevention and reduction of natural disasters. It has five research divisions, five research centres and over 100 researchers who investigate all aspects of natural disasters, including tsunamis.

Inoue Kazuya Director General Tel: +81 774 383 348 Website: http://www.dpri.kyoto-u.ac.jp/

Japan JAMSTEC, Submarine Cable Data Center

The Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) established the first Long-Term Deep Sea Floor Observatory off Muroto Cape in fiscal year 1996, and the Long-Term Deep Sea Floor Observatory off Kushiro and Tokachi in the Kuril Trench in 1999 as part of a plan to build basic earthquake observation networks in Japan.  Both systems have tsunami sensors attached and provide real time data to the shore.

Website:  http://www.jamstec.go.jp/scdc/top_e.html

Japan - Research group on the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami

A group of Japanese scientists, engineers and disaster management specialists pooled their expertise into a Research Group on the 26 December 2004 Earthquake Tsunami Disaster in the Indian Ocean. There is a depth of technical and tsunami-related information, and web links, on their website.

Japan, Tohoku University, Tsunami Engineering Laboratory

The Tsunami Engineering Laboratory (TEL) is part of the Disaster Control Research Center, Graduate school of Engineering, at Tohoku University in Japan. TEL develops integrated technologies for reducing tsunami disasters, including: developing early warning systems to alert coastal residents; implementing and maintaining an educational programme on the indicators of tsunami dangers through databases, computer graphics and the results of field investigations; and producing tsunami hazard maps.

Professor Fumihiko Imamura Head Address: Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, Aoba 06, Sendai 980-8579, Japan Tel: +81 22 217 7513, Fax: +81 22 217 7514 Website: http://www.tsunami.civil.tohoku.ac.jp/hokusai2/main/eng/index.html E-mail: [email protected]

Russian Federation, Russian Academy of Sciences, Tsunami Laboratory, Global Tsunami Historical Database

The Tsunami Laboratory is a highly respected research programme of the Institute of Computational Mathematics and Mathematical Geophysics, in the Siberian Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Among other things, the Laboratory has built comprehensive historical tsunami databases covering all regions of the world and extending thousands of years back in time. The Global Tsunami Historical Database Project is a collaborative effort with the National Geophysical Data Center / World Data Center / SEG-Tsunamis.

Dr Viacheslav K Gusiakov Head of the Laboratory Email: [email protected] Address: Novosibirsk, RUSSIA, pr Lavrentieva 6 Tel: +3832 30 7070 Fax: + 3832 30 8783 Website: http://tsun.sscc.ru/tsulab/tsun_hp.htm

USA, Army Corps of Engineers, Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory

The Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory, part of the Engineer Research and Development Center of the United States Army Corps of Engineers, conducts ocean, estuarine, riverine and watershed regional scale systems analyses research. Its multidisciplinary teams of scientists and engineers have advanced facilities and a strong reputation for experimental and computational expertise.

Director: Thomas Richardson Address: Engineer Research and Development Center, 3909 Halls Ferry Road, Vicksburg MS 39180, United States Website: https://www.erdc.usace.army.mil/Locations/CHL/ E-mail: [email protected]

USA, California Institute of Technology, Seismological Laboratory

The Seismological Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) is recognized for its work in geophysical research, and serves as a focal point for earthquake information in Southern California and the world. The Laboratory’s seismological research includes work on tsunamis.

Dr Jeroen Tromp Director, Seismology Laboratory Tel: +1 626 395 2417 Address: 1200 East California Boulevard, MS 252-21
Pasadena, California 91125 2100, United States Tel: +1 626 395 6919 Fax: +1 626 564 0715 Website: http://www.seismolab.caltech.edu/geodynamics.html

USA, Humboldt State University

Humboldt State University’s Department of Geology conducts research into tsunami events and science, produces inundation maps and teaches curricula on tsunamis.

Dr Lori Dengler Chair, Department of Geology E-mail: [email protected] Address: Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA 95521, United States Tel: +1 707 826 3931 Website:  https://geology.humboldt.edu/

USA, NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory is an internationally respected research organization with a range of research programmes that produce a large volume of interdisciplinary scientific investigations in the fields of oceanography and atmospheric science, including tsunamis.

Dr Eddie Bernard Director, PMEL Address: Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, NOAA/R/PMEL, 7600 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle WA 98115, United States Tel: +1 206 526 6239 Fax: +1 206 526-6815 Website:

PMEL’s Center for Tsunami Research Website: http://nctr.pmel.noaa.gov/

Tsunami events and data http://nctr.pmel.noaa.gov/database_devel.html

The National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program https://nws.weather.gov/nthmp/

The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami http://nctr.pmel.noaa.gov/indo_1204.html

Three areas of research – Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART), modeling and forecasting, and inundation mapping – are easily accessed at the following website addresses:

Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART) http://nctr.pmel.noaa.gov/Dart/index.html

Modeling and forecasting http://nctr.pmel.noaa.gov/model.html

Inundation mapping http://nctr.pmel.noaa.gov/inundation_mapping.html

The Center for Coastal and Land-Margin Research at Oregon Health and Science University tackles “society's need to manage increased development and manipulation of coasts and land-margins while preserving and enhancing their environmental integrity, and protecting human populations from natural and man-made hazards”, including tsunamis.

Address: Department of Environmental and Biomolecular Systems, OGI School of Science and Engineering, Oregon Health and Science University, 20000 NW Walker Road, Beaverton, Oregon 97006, United States Tel: +1 503 748 1147/1247 Fax: +1 503 748 1273 Website: http://www.ccalmr.ogi.edu/

USA, Oregon State University, Wave Research Laboratory

The OH Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory, together with Oregon State University’s Coastal and Ocean Engineering Program, is a leading centre for research in coastal engineering and near-shore science. Its research strengths include physical and numerical modeling of coastal dynamics, advanced laboratories for coastal research, and expertise in tsunami and coastal hazard mitigation.

Dr Daniel Cox Associate Professor Address: 202 Apperson Hall, Oregon State University, Corvallis OR 97331-2302, United States Tel: +1 541 737 3631 Fax: +1 541 737 6974 Website: http://wave.oregonstate.edu/ E-mail: [email protected]

USA, Pacific Disaster Center

The Pacific Disaster Center in Hawaii provides applied information, research and analysis that supports the development of more effective tsunami policies, institutions, programmes and information products for disaster management and humanitarian assistance efforts in the Asia Pacific region and beyond.

Dr Allen L Clark Executive Director Pacific Disaster Center Address: 1305 North Holopono Street, Suite 2, Kihei, Maui, Hawaii  96753, Unites States Tel: +1 808 891 0525  or +1 888 808 6688 Website: https://www.pdc.org/

USA, University of Colorado, Natural Hazards Center

The Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado advances and communicates knowledge on hazard mitigation and disaster preparedness, response and recovery. Working within an all-hazards interdisciplinary framework, the Center fosters information sharing and integration of activities among researchers, practitioners and policy-makers from around the world, conducts research and provides educational opportunities. It does a significant amount of work on tsunamis.

Director: Kathleen Tierney Address: 482 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0482, United States Tel: +1 303 492 6818 Fax: +1 303 492 2151 Website: https://hazards.colorado.edu/ E-mail: [email protected]

USA, University of Southern California, Tsunami Research Center

The Tsunami Research Center is involved in all aspects of tsunami research – inundation field surveys, numerical and analytical modeling, and hazard assessment, mitigation and planning. It developed the tsunami inundation maps for California and the tsunami code MOST, which is used by NOAA and is the only validated code used in the United States for tsunami hazard mapping with detailed inundation predictions.

Head: Professor Costas Synolakis Address: Biegler Hall, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089 2531, United States Tel: +1 213 740 5129 Fax: +1 213 744 1426 Website: http://www.tsunamiresearchcenter.com/ E-mail: [email protected]

NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS)

This programme uses a regional multidisciplinary approach to understanding and predicting the impacts of natural and anthropogenic influences on coastal ecosystems, communities and economies.

Address: National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science 1305 East-West Highway  Silver Spring MD 20910, United States

Website: https://coastalscience.noaa.gov/

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Natural and Man-Made Hazards pp 163–170 Cite as

Tsunami Research—A Review and New Concepts

• N. K. Saxena 3 &
• T. S. Murty 4  
• Conference paper

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This paper provides an overall review of tsunami research, mainly in the detection and measurement of tsunami waves in the deep ocean. New tsunami magnitude scales will be discussed; it will be shown that the travel-time charts presently in use operationally by Tsunami Warning Centers in Honolulu and Palmer contain substantial errors. The travel times computed from these charts are mostly greater than the observed travel times, which is a very dangerous situation from a tsunami warning point of view. Potential for improvement of travel-time charts and correlations between related parameters will be discussed.

There are several seismic gaps around the rim of the Pacific Ocean which are potentially tsunamigenic. Concern is mounting that major tsunami-causing earthquakes may occur in the near future in the Shumagin seismic gap of the Aleutian Islands, in Sanriku (Japan), in the Peru-Chile trench area, and in the Juan de Fuca off British Columbia and Washington state. Comments will be made about the possible tsunamis from these earthquakes.

Finally, attention will be focussed on some new concepts that might help substantially in the tsunami warning system, for example, lateral waves. Particular attention will be paid to the problem of how to acquire observational data on the deep water signature of a tsunami.

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Saxena, N.K., Murty, T.S. (1988). Tsunami Research—A Review and New Concepts. In: El-Sabh, M.I., Murty, T.S. (eds) Natural and Man-Made Hazards. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-1433-9_12

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• What are the benefits and drawbacks of the Keto diet?
• How effective are different exercise regimes for losing weight and maintaining weight loss?
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• Why did Martin Luther decide to split with the Catholic Church?
• Analyze the history and impact of a well-known cult (Jonestown, Manson family, etc.)
• How did the sexual abuse scandal impact how people view the Catholic Church?
• How has the Catholic church's power changed over the past decades/centuries?
• What are the causes behind the rise in atheism/ agnosticism in the United States?
• What were the influences in Siddhartha's life resulted in him becoming the Buddha?
• How has media portrayal of Islam/Muslims changed since September 11th?

Science/Environment

• How has the earth's climate changed in the past few decades?
• How has the use and elimination of DDT affected bird populations in the US?
• Analyze how the number and severity of natural disasters have increased in the past few decades.
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• How are black holes created?
• Are teens who spend more time on social media more likely to suffer anxiety and/or depression?
• How will the loss of net neutrality affect internet users?
• Analyze the history and progress of self-driving vehicles.
• How has the use of drones changed surveillance and warfare methods?
• Has social media made people more or less connected?
• What progress has currently been made with artificial intelligence ?
• Do smartphones increase or decrease workplace productivity?
• What are the most effective ways to use technology in the classroom?
• How is Google search affecting our intelligence?
• When is the best age for a child to begin owning a smartphone?
• Has frequent texting reduced teen literacy rates?

How to Write a Great Research Paper

Even great research paper topics won't give you a great research paper if you don't hone your topic before and during the writing process. Follow these three tips to turn good research paper topics into great papers.

#1: Figure Out Your Thesis Early

Before you start writing a single word of your paper, you first need to know what your thesis will be. Your thesis is a statement that explains what you intend to prove/show in your paper. Every sentence in your research paper will relate back to your thesis, so you don't want to start writing without it!

As some examples, if you're writing a research paper on if students learn better in same-sex classrooms, your thesis might be "Research has shown that elementary-age students in same-sex classrooms score higher on standardized tests and report feeling more comfortable in the classroom."

If you're writing a paper on the causes of the Civil War, your thesis might be "While the dispute between the North and South over slavery is the most well-known cause of the Civil War, other key causes include differences in the economies of the North and South, states' rights, and territorial expansion."

#2: Back Every Statement Up With Research

Remember, this is a research paper you're writing, so you'll need to use lots of research to make your points. Every statement you give must be backed up with research, properly cited the way your teacher requested. You're allowed to include opinions of your own, but they must also be supported by the research you give.

#3: Do Your Research Before You Begin Writing

You don't want to start writing your research paper and then learn that there isn't enough research to back up the points you're making, or, even worse, that the research contradicts the points you're trying to make!

Get most of your research on your good research topics done before you begin writing. Then use the research you've collected to create a rough outline of what your paper will cover and the key points you're going to make. This will help keep your paper clear and organized, and it'll ensure you have enough research to produce a strong paper.

What's Next?

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Want to know the fastest and easiest ways to convert between Fahrenheit and Celsius? We've got you covered! Check out our guide to the best ways to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit (or vice versa).

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Christine graduated from Michigan State University with degrees in Environmental Biology and Geography and received her Master's from Duke University. In high school she scored in the 99th percentile on the SAT and was named a National Merit Finalist. She has taught English and biology in several countries.

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Meeting Time: 09:45 AM‑11:00 AM TTh  Instructor: Ali Anwar Course Description: Cloud computing serves many large-scale applications ranging from search engines like Google to social networking websites like Facebook to online stores like Amazon. More recently, cloud computing has emerged as an essential technology to enable emerging fields such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and Machine Learning. The exponential growth of data availability and demands for security and speed has made the cloud computing paradigm necessary for reliable, financially economical, and scalable computation. The dynamicity and flexibility of Cloud computing have opened up many new forms of deploying applications on infrastructure that cloud service providers offer, such as renting of computation resources and serverless computing.    This course will cover the fundamentals of cloud services management and cloud software development, including but not limited to design patterns, application programming interfaces, and underlying middleware technologies. More specifically, we will cover the topics of cloud computing service models, data centers resource management, task scheduling, resource virtualization, SLAs, cloud security, software defined networks and storage, cloud storage, and programming models. We will also discuss data center design and management strategies, which enable the economic and technological benefits of cloud computing. Lastly, we will study cloud storage concepts like data distribution, durability, consistency, and redundancy. Registration Prerequisites: CS upper div, CompE upper div., EE upper div., EE grad, ITI upper div., Univ. honors student, or dept. permission; no cr for grads in CSci. Complete the following Google form to request a permission number from the instructor ( https://forms.gle/6BvbUwEkBK41tPJ17 ).

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About 1 in 4 U.S. teachers say their school went into a gun-related lockdown in the last school year

Twenty-five years after the mass shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado , a majority of public K-12 teachers (59%) say they are at least somewhat worried about the possibility of a shooting ever happening at their school. This includes 18% who say they’re extremely or very worried, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.

Pew Research Center conducted this analysis to better understand public K-12 teachers’ views on school shootings, how prepared they feel for a potential active shooter, and how they feel about policies that could help prevent future shootings.

To do this, we surveyed 2,531 U.S. public K-12 teachers from Oct. 17 to Nov. 14, 2023. The teachers are members of RAND’s American Teacher Panel, a nationally representative panel of public school K-12 teachers recruited through MDR Education. Survey data is weighted to state and national teacher characteristics to account for differences in sampling and response to ensure they are representative of the target population.

We also used data from our 2022 survey of U.S. parents. For that project, we surveyed 3,757 U.S. parents with at least one child younger than 18 from Sept. 20 to Oct. 2, 2022. Find more details about the survey of parents here .

Here are the questions used for this analysis , along with responses, and the survey methodology .

Another 31% of teachers say they are not too worried about a shooting occurring at their school. Only 7% of teachers say they are not at all worried.

This survey comes at a time when school shootings are at a record high (82 in 2023) and gun safety continues to be a topic in 2024 election campaigns .

Teachers’ experiences with lockdowns

About a quarter of teachers (23%) say they experienced a lockdown in the 2022-23 school year because of a gun or suspicion of a gun at their school. Some 15% say this happened once during the year, and 8% say this happened more than once.

High school teachers are most likely to report experiencing these lockdowns: 34% say their school went on at least one gun-related lockdown in the last school year. This compares with 22% of middle school teachers and 16% of elementary school teachers.

Teachers in urban schools are also more likely to say that their school had a gun-related lockdown. About a third of these teachers (31%) say this, compared with 19% of teachers in suburban schools and 20% in rural schools.

Do teachers feel their school has prepared them for an active shooter?

About four-in-ten teachers (39%) say their school has done a fair or poor job providing them with the training and resources they need to deal with a potential active shooter.

A smaller share (30%) give their school an excellent or very good rating, and another 30% say their school has done a good job preparing them.

Teachers in urban schools are the least likely to say their school has done an excellent or very good job preparing them for a potential active shooter. About one-in-five (21%) say this, compared with 32% of teachers in suburban schools and 35% in rural schools.

Teachers who have police officers or armed security stationed in their school are more likely than those who don’t to say their school has done an excellent or very good job preparing them for a potential active shooter (36% vs. 22%).

Overall, 56% of teachers say they have police officers or armed security stationed at their school. Majorities in rural schools (64%) and suburban schools (56%) say this, compared with 48% in urban schools.

Only 3% of teachers say teachers and administrators at their school are allowed to carry guns in school. This is slightly more common in school districts where a majority of voters cast ballots for Donald Trump in 2020 than in school districts where a majority of voters cast ballots for Joe Biden (5% vs. 1%).

What strategies do teachers think could help prevent school shootings?

The survey also asked teachers how effective some measures would be at preventing school shootings.

Most teachers (69%) say improving mental health screening and treatment for children and adults would be extremely or very effective.

About half (49%) say having police officers or armed security in schools would be highly effective, while 33% say the same about metal detectors in schools.

Just 13% say allowing teachers and school administrators to carry guns in schools would be extremely or very effective at preventing school shootings. Seven-in-ten teachers say this would be not too or not at all effective.

How teachers’ views differ by party

Republican and Republican-leaning teachers are more likely than Democratic and Democratic-leaning teachers to say each of the following would be highly effective:

• Having police officers or armed security in schools (69% vs. 37%)
• Having metal detectors in schools (43% vs. 27%)
• Allowing teachers and school administrators to carry guns in schools (28% vs. 3%)

And while majorities in both parties say improving mental health screening and treatment would be highly effective at preventing school shootings, Democratic teachers are more likely than Republican teachers to say this (73% vs. 66%).

Parents’ views on school shootings and prevention strategies

In fall 2022, we asked parents a similar set of questions about school shootings.

Roughly a third of parents with K-12 students (32%) said they were extremely or very worried about a shooting ever happening at their child’s school. An additional 37% said they were somewhat worried.

As is the case among teachers, improving mental health screening and treatment was the only strategy most parents (63%) said would be extremely or very effective at preventing school shootings. And allowing teachers and school administrators to carry guns in schools was seen as the least effective – in fact, half of parents said this would be not too or not at all effective. This question was asked of all parents with a child younger than 18, regardless of whether they have a child in K-12 schools.

Like teachers, parents’ views on strategies for preventing school shootings differed by party. 

Note: Here are the questions used for this analysis , along with responses, and the survey methodology .

About half of Americans say public K-12 education is going in the wrong direction

What public k-12 teachers want americans to know about teaching, what’s it like to be a teacher in america today, race and lgbtq issues in k-12 schools, from businesses and banks to colleges and churches: americans’ views of u.s. institutions, most popular.

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