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Kuril Islands Biocomplexity

Misty,

I can imagine your excitement in finding the evidence of what looked to be a significant tsunami.

Were you able to estimate the maximum height of the tsunami?

 

Rob

Fri, 08/10/2007 - 15:40

Kirk Beckendorf

 Misty,
I kept saying Wow!!! as I read your report of the tsunami, I can't imagine what it was like to be there.
Were you able to make any observations that would allow you to estimate how many months ago the tsunami occured?
Kirk 

Sun, 08/12/2007 - 16:40

Mindy Bell

Those tsunami photos are AWESOME!  I will pass on the link to all the earth science teachers I know!  Nice job, Misty!

Mon, 08/13/2007 - 13:46

Misty Nikula

Rob It was pretty amazing to stand on the beach at Matua and imagine a river of water washing up all along it to the height that we could SEE the erosion - it actually washed up a little higher in most places, even. Then to imagine that it was washing up that high all around the island! It really blew my mind....., In most places the on Simushir and Matua that were measured the run up (highest point the tsunami reached) was on the order of 10-17 meters, though it was nearly 20 meters in some places on Matua. In the next week, I hope to get Bre and Jody to sit down with me and summarize the tsunami effects - run up and inundation on different islands that they measured, some erosion pictures and one or two topographic beach profile comparisons.
So keep an eye out! Misty

Tue, 08/14/2007 - 16:10

Misty Nikula

Kirk And the photos hardly do it justice! We know that there were tsunamis in November 2006 and January 2007 - when there were 6+ magnitude earthquakes off the coast of the Kurils (near Simushir). The November one was bigger and also of the "type" that would cause a greater tsunami, and while we can "see" that there are several rack lines at Ainu Bay, we can't really tell if they are from later tsunamis or from smaller waves during the same tsunami event. But we definitely know that they happened within the last year...
Misty