Research Efforts

India, National Institute of Oceanography (NIO)

The National Institute of Oceanography in Goa, India, conducts a range of oceanographic research, including tsunami-related studies. It compiled a comprehensive report on the impact of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami on the Indian coast.

Address: Dona Paula – 403 004, Goa, India EPABX
Tel: +91 832 245 0450
Fax: +91 832 245 0602 or 2450603
Website: http://www.nio.org/
E-mail: ocean@nio.org

Italy, University of Bologna, Tsunami Research Team

The Tsunami Research Team (TRT-BO) is part of the Solid Earth Geophysics Group of the Department of Physics, University of Bologna in Italy. The Team’s main areas of expertise are: tsunami generation; tsunami propagation and impacts on coasts; developing numerical models; field surveys of the effects of recent tsunamis; data collection on historical tsunamis; tsunami hazard and risk analysis; catalogues of Italian and European tsunamis; modeling of major Italian tsunamis; strategies to protect coastal zones; and developing tsunami warning systems globally and locally, and integrating them into multi-hazard systems.

Head: Professor Stefano Tinti
Address: Department of Physics – Sector of Geophysics, University of Bologna, viale Berti Pichat 8, 40127, Bologna, Italy
Tel: +39 51 209 5001
Fax: +39 51 209 5058
E-mail: Steve@ibogfs.df.unibo.it

Japan, Disaster Prevention Research Institute

The Disaster Prevention Research Institute at Kyoto University in Japan conducts research into a range of problems related to the prevention and reduction of natural disasters. It has five research divisions, five research centres and over 100 researchers who investigate all aspects of natural disasters, including tsunamis.

Inoue Kazuya
Director General
Tel: +81 774 383 348
Website: http://www.dpri.kyoto-u.ac.jp/

Japan JAMSTEC, Submarine Cable Data Center

The Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) established the first Long-Term Deep Sea Floor Observatory off Muroto Cape in fiscal year 1996, and the Long-Term Deep Sea Floor Observatory off Kushiro and Tokachi in the Kuril Trench in 1999 as part of a plan to build basic earthquake observation networks in Japan.  Both systems have tsunami sensors attached and provide real time data to the shore.

Website:  http://www.jamstec.go.jp/scdc/top_e.html

Japan - Research group on the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami

A group of Japanese scientists, engineers and disaster management specialists pooled their expertise into a Research Group on the 26 December 2004 Earthquake Tsunami Disaster in the Indian Ocean. There is a depth of technical and tsunami-related information, and web links, on their website.

Japan, Tohoku University, Tsunami Engineering Laboratory

The Tsunami Engineering Laboratory (TEL) is part of the Disaster Control Research Center, Graduate school of Engineering, at Tohoku University in Japan. TEL develops integrated technologies for reducing tsunami disasters, including: developing early warning systems to alert coastal residents; implementing and maintaining an educational programme on the indicators of tsunami dangers through databases, computer graphics and the results of field investigations; and producing tsunami hazard maps.

Professor Fumihiko Imamura
Head
Address: Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, Aoba 06, Sendai 980-8579, Japan
Tel: +81 22 217 7513,
Fax: +81 22 217 7514
Website: http://www.tsunami.civil.tohoku.ac.jp/hokusai2/main/eng/index.html
E-mail: imamura@tsunami2.civil.tohoku.ac.jp

Russian Federation, Russian Academy of Sciences, Tsunami Laboratory, Global Tsunami Historical Database

The Tsunami Laboratory is a highly respected research programme of the Institute of Computational Mathematics and Mathematical Geophysics, in the Siberian Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Among other things, the Laboratory has built comprehensive historical tsunami databases covering all regions of the world and extending thousands of years back in time. The Global Tsunami Historical Database Project is a collaborative effort with the National Geophysical Data Center / World Data Center / SEG-Tsunamis.

Dr Viacheslav K Gusiakov
Head of the Laboratory
Email: gvk@sscc.ru
Address: Novosibirsk, RUSSIA, pr Lavrentieva 6
Tel: +3832 30 7070
Fax: + 3832 30 8783
Website: http://tsun.sscc.ru/tsulab/tsun_hp.htm

USA, Army Corps of Engineers, Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory

The Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory, part of the Engineer Research and Development Center of the United States Army Corps of Engineers, conducts ocean, estuarine, riverine and watershed regional scale systems analyses research. Its multidisciplinary teams of scientists and engineers have advanced facilities and a strong reputation for experimental and computational expertise.

Director: Thomas Richardson
Address: Engineer Research and Development Center, 3909 Halls Ferry Road, Vicksburg MS 39180, United States
Website: https://www.erdc.usace.army.mil/Locations/CHL/
E-mail: chl-info@erdc.usace.army.mil

USA, California Institute of Technology, Seismological Laboratory

The Seismological Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) is recognized for its work in geophysical research, and serves as a focal point for earthquake information in Southern California and the world. The Laboratory’s seismological research includes work on tsunamis.

Dr Jeroen Tromp
Director, Seismology Laboratory
Tel: +1 626 395 2417
Address: 1200 East California Boulevard, MS 252-21
Pasadena, California 91125 2100, United States
Tel: +1 626 395 6919
Fax: +1 626 564 0715
Website: http://www.seismolab.caltech.edu/geodynamics.html

USA, Humboldt State University

Humboldt State University’s Department of Geology conducts research into tsunami events and science, produces inundation maps and teaches curricula on tsunamis.

Dr Lori Dengler
Chair, Department of Geology
E-mail: lad1@axe.humboldt.edu
Address: Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA 95521, United States
Tel: +1 707 826 3931
Website: https://geology.humboldt.edu/

USA, NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL)
NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory is an internationally respected research organization with a range of research programmes that produce a large volume of interdisciplinary scientific investigations in the fields of oceanography and atmospheric science, including tsunamis.

Dr Eddie Bernard
Director, PMEL
Address: Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, NOAA/R/PMEL, 7600 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle WA 98115, United States
Tel: +1 206 526 6239
Fax: +1 206 526-6815
Website:

PMEL’s Center for Tsunami Research
Website: http://nctr.pmel.noaa.gov/

Tsunami events and data
http://nctr.pmel.noaa.gov/database_devel.html

The National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program
https://nws.weather.gov/nthmp/

The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami
http://nctr.pmel.noaa.gov/indo_1204.html

Three areas of research – Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART), modeling and forecasting, and inundation mapping – are easily accessed at the following website addresses:

Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART)
http://nctr.pmel.noaa.gov/Dart/index.html

Modeling and forecasting
http://nctr.pmel.noaa.gov/model.html

Inundation mapping
http://nctr.pmel.noaa.gov/inundation_mapping.html

USA, Oregon State University, Wave Research Laboratory

The OH Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory, together with Oregon State University’s Coastal and Ocean Engineering Program, is a leading centre for research in coastal engineering and near-shore science. Its research strengths include physical and numerical modeling of coastal dynamics, advanced laboratories for coastal research, and expertise in tsunami and coastal hazard mitigation.

Dr Daniel Cox
Associate Professor
Address: 202 Apperson Hall, Oregon State University, Corvallis OR 97331-2302, United States
Tel: +1 541 737 3631
Fax: +1 541 737 6974
Website: http://wave.oregonstate.edu/
E-mail: dan.cox@oregonstate.edu

USA, Pacific Disaster Center

The Pacific Disaster Center in Hawaii provides applied information, research and analysis that supports the development of more effective tsunami policies, institutions, programmes and information products for disaster management and humanitarian assistance efforts in the Asia Pacific region and beyond.

Dr Allen L Clark
Executive Director
Pacific Disaster Center
Address: 1305 North Holopono Street, Suite 2, Kihei, Maui, Hawaii  96753, Unites States
Tel: +1 808 891 0525  or +1 888 808 6688
Website: https://www.pdc.org/

USA, University of Colorado, Natural Hazards Center

The Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado advances and communicates knowledge on hazard mitigation and disaster preparedness, response and recovery. Working within an all-hazards interdisciplinary framework, the Center fosters information sharing and integration of activities among researchers, practitioners and policy-makers from around the world, conducts research and provides educational opportunities. It does a significant amount of work on tsunamis.

Director: Kathleen Tierney
Address: 482 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0482, United States
Tel: +1 303 492 6818
Fax: +1 303 492 2151
Website: https://hazards.colorado.edu/
E-mail: hazctr@colorado.edu

USA, University of Southern California, Tsunami Research Center

The Tsunami Research Center is involved in all aspects of tsunami research – inundation field surveys, numerical and analytical modeling, and hazard assessment, mitigation and planning. It developed the tsunami inundation maps for California and the tsunami code MOST, which is used by NOAA and is the only validated code used in the United States for tsunami hazard mapping with detailed inundation predictions.

Head: Professor Costas Synolakis
Address: Biegler Hall, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089 2531, United States
Tel: +1 213 740 5129
Fax: +1 213 744 1426
Website: http://www.tsunamiresearchcenter.com/
E-mail: costas@usc.edu

NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS)

This programme uses a regional multidisciplinary approach to understanding and predicting the impacts of natural and anthropogenic influences on coastal ecosystems, communities and economies.

Address: National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science
1305 East-West Highway 
Silver Spring MD 20910, United States

Website: https://coastalscience.noaa.gov/