Progress report on addressing meteotsunami risk in the eastern Yellow Sea

Abstract

On March 31, 2007, strong, tsunami-like waves of 1.0–2.5 m were recorded at most tide gauges along the west coast of Korea. The following year, on May 4, unexpected, abnormal waves in the eastern Yellow Sea reached a maximum height of ~1.3 m. Both events occurred without warning, resulting in severe loss of life and property. Subsequent analysis found that these tsunami-like waves were meteotsunamis generated by air pressure oscillations. Evidence of possible meteotsunamis has been recorded by existing observation systems. However, the lack of a comprehensive, meteotsunami-specific observation system has hindered community preparedness, resulting in severe damage. We utilized existing observation systems (meteorological stations, tide gauges, and radar) during 2018 to develop a real-time meteotsunami monitoring system in the eastern Yellow Sea. This system detects the intensity and propagation of air pressure oscillations to identify potential coastal hazards and prevent damage caused by meteotsunamis. Two air pressure disturbance methods for assessing air pressure oscillation intensity (a range of pressure changes over a 60 min window vs. the rate of pressure change over a 10 min window) were compared, and several test operations were performed during development of the proposed system. The progress and limitations of the current observation and monitoring system were confirmed based on recent monitoring reports of air pressure jumps during the meteotsunamis on April 7, 2019. To address the insufficient lead time of meteotsunami warnings, installation and testing of open-ocean buoys outfitted with pressure sensors commenced in 2019.

A 16-year meteotsunami climatology in the coastal areas of southern Asia-Pacific Ocean

“…10-min meteorological data around Japan were available from JMA (https:// www.data.jma.go.jp/stats/etrn/index.php) since 2009. Radar reflectivity images from South Korea and Japan during the time span of maximum events were obtained from four articles (Kim et al, 2019;Kim et al, 2021a;Kim et al, 2021b;Kim et al, 2022) and the Research Institute for Sustainable Humanosphere of Kyoto University (https:// d a t a b a s e . r i s h .…”