Applied Maths Seminar: Sexton -- From Source to Shore: Developing Tsunami Risk Assessments

DATE: Wednesday, May 16 
TIME: 2:00pm 
LOCATION: University of Sydney, Eastern Avenue Lecture Theatre (Level 1) 

Abstract: 

The Australian coast is vulnerable to the impacts of tsunami due to its proximity to
subduction zones in both the Indian and Pacific Oceans.  Tsunami impacts in Australia
may be magnified by the close proximity of the urban environment to the coast, the low
relief of the coastal hinterland as well as local bathymetric effects.  Numerous
historic tsunami events have been recorded along the coastline, and following the
December 26th 2004 tsunami event, the potential for far greater impacts have been
recognised.  As a result, the emergency management community is seeking to understand
the relative risk of urban communities to the threat of tsunami.  

The methodology to develop tsunami risk assessments will be outlined, particularly
focussing on the computational modelling aspects of integrating the source and impact
components.  In particular, this will require coupling of probabilistic tsunami hazard
outputs with hydrodynamic tsunami inundation components which are deterministic in
nature.  In addition, the crucial element of coupling vulnerability models within the
impact modelling component will be described.  

Detailed tsunami risk assessments have been conducted for a number of regions in
collaboration with State Governments.  The results highlight the need for detailed
bathymetric and topographic data, computational resources, open standards and
interoperability.  These issues, along with questions regarding output sensitivity to
data quality and topographic influences, will be discussed.  

http://www.maths.usyd.edu.au/u/AppliedSeminar
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