Modeling the Tsunami of 14 November 2016 in New Zealand
IRIDeS, Tohoku University, Tsunami engineering laboratory


Summary

On November 14, 2016 (local time at New Zealand), a M7.8 earthquake and its series occurred at the South Island of New Zealand and triggered tsunami waves of 2.49 meters at Kaikoura Coast (recorded tsunami height as the tidal wave data by PTWC), followed by 1.47 m wave at the same place, 0.43 m wave at Wellington, and 0.12 m wave at Castlepoint, respectively. This page will be updated from time to time with relevant information.

About Earthquakes

Main shock

Magnitude : 7.8
Location (lat, lon) : ( -42.757, 173.077 )
Depth : 23.0 km
Origin Time : 2016-11-13 11:02:56.970 UTC
Source: USGS

Aftershock (2nd biggest)

Magnitude : 6.5
Location (lat, lon) : ( -42.254, 173.630 )
Depth : 10.0 km
Origin Time : 2016-11-13 11:32:07.310 UTC
Source: USGS

Aftershock (2nd biggest)

Magnitude : 6.5
Location (lat, lon) : ( -42.586, 173.284 )
Depth : 10.0 km
Origin Time : 2016-11-14 00:34:22.530 UTC
Source: USGS

Distribution of aftershocks (Some figures are added by Tohoku University)

aftershocks

                                                                         Source: USGS



Information at New Zealand

Tsunami Wave Observation

The earthquakes triggered tsunami waves of 2.49 meters at Kaikoura Coast (recorded tsunami height as the tidal wave data by PTWC), followed by 1.47 m wave at the same place, 0.43 m wave at Wellington, and 0.12 m wave at Castlepoint, respectively. The graphs show the de-tied tsunami gauge chart (upper graph) and the sea level tsunami gauge chart (lower graph).
Note. The graphs are created by GNS Science (Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 New Zealand License).

aftershocks

                                                                         Source: GeoNet

                                                                         Source: PTWC

                                                                         Source: PTWC

Tsunami Warnings

MCDEM announced the first tsunami warning at 01:32 NZDT on November 14. The figure shows the warning at 04:03 NZDT which was for 0.2-5.0 meters throughout the country including Chatham Islands. Later, the warning was downgraded to only 0.2-1 meters and covered only at Wellington and the upper eastern coasts of the South Island. All tsunami warnings were canceled at about 15:12 NZDT.

aftershocks

                                                                         Source: Facebook(Civil Defence)

SNS Use in Disaster Warning Information

In addition to TV and radio, the SNS has been utilized as one of the channels to provide disaster and warning information to the citizens. New Zealand's Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management (MCDEM) has provided information through their Facebook (NzGetThru) and Twitter (@NZcivildefence).

aftershocks

                                                                         Source: Twitter(Civil Defence)

                                                                         Source: Facebook(Civil Defence)

If you want PDF file of all figure Click here


Tsunami Propagation Model Calculated by Tsunami Engineering Laboratory (preliminary result)

Source

Movie

Maximum Tsunami Height Distribution

Maximum Tsunami Current Velocity Distribution

Comparision of Tsunami Waveform (Observed and Calculated)

Observation Points

Tsunami Observation

NOAA/PTWC
NOAA/NDBC
NOAA/NGDC
UNESCO/IOC

News

ABC
BBC
CNN
NHK (in Japanese)
Kahoku Shinpo (in Japanese)
Asahi Shinbun (in Japanese)

*

by:

F. Imamura, A. Suppasri, N. Leelawat, P. Latcharote, F. Makinoshima, M. Watanabe, H. Ohira, Y. Hirakawa, N. Togawa, N. Hasegawa, T. Otake, R. Baba, K. Fukui

(Tsunami Engineering, Hazard and Risk Evaluation Research Division)

S. Sato

(Disaster Digital Archive, Disaster Information Management and Public Collaboration Division)

K. Yamashita, A. Hayashi, Y. Abe

(Earthquake induced Tsunami Risk Evaluation (Tokio Marine), Endowed Research Division)