This award will support Dr. Augustine S. Furumoto of the University of Hawaii, Manoa, to collaborate with Drs. Masami Okada and Yasuo Sekita for six months at the Meteorological Research Institute (MRI), Tsukuba, Japan. They will work on the development of methods to determine source mechanism parameters of sub-oceanic earthquakes large enough to produce tsunamis. Procedures and programs will be sought to: 1) determine seismic source mechanisms from real-time seismic data; 2) calculate the tsunami pulse and its subsequent growth and propagation; and 3) predict shoreline effects at the terminial of the tsunami. This cooperative project will provide Dr. Furumoto with access to the large quantity of seismic and tsunami data available at the MRI, as well as the experience of the collaborators, who have long worked in the field of tsunami wave propagation. This project is expected to have important implications for the prediction of tsunamis in general, and for the establishment of effective tsunami warning systems for coastal states.
