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GEOREF RECORD

The New Zealand tsunami database; historical and modern records

G. Downes, Aggeliki Barberopoulou, U. Cochran, K. Clark and F. Scheele
The New Zealand tsunami database; historical and modern records
Seismological Research Letters (January 2017) 88 (2A): 342-353

Abstract

A database of historical (preinstrumental) and modern (instrumentally recorded) tsunamis that have impacted or been observed in New Zealand has been compiled and published online. New Zealand's tectonic setting, astride an obliquely convergent tectonic boundary on the Pacific Rim, means that it is vulnerable to local, regional, and circum-Pacific tsunamis. Despite New Zealand's comparatively short written historical record of about 200 years, there is a wealth of information about the impact of past tsunamis. The New Zealand Tsunami Database (NZTD) currently has 800+ entries that describe >50 high-validity tsunamis. Sources of historical information include witness reports recorded in diaries, notes, newspapers, books, and photographs. Information on recent events comes from tide gauges and other instrumental recordings such as Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART) buoys, and media of greater variety, for example, video and online surveys. The NZTD is an ongoing project with information added as further historical records come to light. Modern tsunamis are also added to the database once the relevant data for an event have been collated and edited. This article briefly overviews the procedures and tools used in the recording and analysis of New Zealand's historical tsunamis, with emphasis on database content.


ISSN: 0895-0695
EISSN: 1938-2057
Serial Title: Seismological Research Letters
Serial Volume: 88
Serial Issue: 2A
Title: The New Zealand tsunami database; historical and modern records
Affiliation: AIR Worldwide, Boston, MA, United States
Pages: 342-353
Published: 20170104
Text Language: English
Publisher: Seismological Society of America, El Cerrito, CA, United States
References: 25
Accession Number: 2017-015798
Categories: Environmental geologySeismology
Document Type: Serial
Bibliographic Level: Analytic
Illustration Description: illus. incl. 3 tables, geol. sketch maps
S47°30'00" - S34°30'00", E166°30'00" - E178°30'00"
Secondary Affiliation: GNS Science, NZL, New ZealandUniversity of Canterbury, NZL, New Zealand
Country of Publication: United States
Secondary Affiliation: GeoRef, Copyright 2022, American Geosciences Institute. Abstract, Copyright, Seismological Society of America. Reference includes data from GeoScienceWorld, Alexandria, VA, United States
Update Code: 201711
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