Transport Problems (Jan 2008)
Threats to the safety of navigation resulting from the tsunami
Abstract
The tsunami traveling times were examined in connection to the earthquake that took place on 26 December 2004 in the Indian Ocean, changing the sea level as far as the Atlantic. For 17 ports located on the coasts of the two oceans theoretical times of wave arrival at the ports were calculated and compared with the real data recorded bymareographs. It has been found that the theoretical and real times differed, which can be explained by the effect of shallow water. Furthermore, as regards to the earthquake itself, instead of a single point epicenter as it was reported, it should have been considered as a zone of continental plates subduction extending 1200 km. The tsunami speed averaged for 17 ports amounted to 682 km/h, which necessitates an alteration of the coefficient in the formula (2) from the existing 5.0 to 4.38.
