Citation

Kadri U. Heliyon 2017; 3(1): e00234.

Affiliation

School of Mathematics, Cardiff University, Cardiff, CF24 4AG, UK; Department of Mathematics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.heliyon.2017.e00234

PMID

28203640

PMCID

PMC5292762

Abstract

Tsunamis have been responsible for the loss of almost a half million lives, widespread long lasting destruction, profound environmental effects, and global financial crisis, within the last two decades. The main tsunami properties that determine the size of impact at the shoreline are its wavelength and amplitude in the ocean. Here, we show that it is in principle possible to reduce the amplitude of a tsunami, and redistribute its energy over a larger space, through forcing it to interact with resonating acoustic-gravity waves. In practice, generating the appropriate acoustic-gravity modes introduces serious challenges due to the high energy required for an effective interaction. However, if the findings are extended to realistic tsunami properties and geometries, we might be able to mitigate tsunamis and so save lives and properties. Moreover, such a mitigation technique would allow for the harnessing of the tsunami's energy.

Language: en

Keywords

Acoustics; Applied mechanics