There is a rapidly growing number of palaeotsunami sites being reported from the Pacific region but rarely have researchers looked far beyond their immediate site to find contemporary evidence at more distal locations. However, over the past 150 years the region has experienced giant earthquakes and their associated tsunamis from several key circum-Pacific sources. The 2011 Tōhoku, 1960 Valdivia, 1946 Aleutian and 1868 Arica tsunamis have been Pacific-wide events that, together with recent modelling, serve as a guide in helping to understand those that occurred in prehistory.

Extant palaeotsunami data were used in conjunction with numerical modelling to examine current evidence for the spatial extent of notable prehistoric events dating back as far as 3800 years BP. An outcome of this work was the recognition that any search for palaeotsunami evidence should be intrinsically linked with numerical modelling as a guide to identifying additional potential sites for further research in order to better understand the nature and extent of individual events. Another outcome of this study was the identification of several key island archipelagos that are worthy of focussed research because they have the potential to rapidly accelerate our understanding of the magnitude and frequency of past events. These include the centrally located Hawaiian Islands and the Marquesas archipelago that are exposed to Pacific-wide tsunamis from most circum-Pacific sources. It was also noted that there has been a dearth of research in some sectors of the Pacific Ocean, such as the western Pacific archipelagos of the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, Guam, and Northern Mariana Islands, while conversely in other sectors a significant quantum of research is showing great promise such as in New Zealand, the Samoan archipelago, Cook Islands, and Vanuatu.

The ultimate finding of this work is that while much has been achieved, much more remains to be done to better understand the magnitude and frequency of past events and the true nature of tsunami hazard and risk in the region.

据报道，太平洋地区的古海啸遗址数量迅速增加，但很少有研究人员将目光投向他们直接遗址之外的地方，以便在更远的地方找到当代证据。然而，在过去的 150 年里，该地区经历了来自几个主要环太平洋来源的大地震及其相关海啸。2011 年的东北、1960 年的瓦尔迪维亚、1946 年的阿留申海啸和 1868 年的阿里卡海啸是太平洋范围内的事件，这些事件与最近的建模一起，可作为帮助理解史前时期发生的事件的指南。

现存的古海啸数据与数值模型结合使用，以检查可追溯到 3800 年 BP 的显着史前事件的空间范围的当前证据。这项工作的结果是认识到，任何对古海啸证据的搜索都应与数值模型内在联系，作为确定进一步研究的其他潜在地点的指南，以便更好地了解个别事件的性质和范围。这项研究的另一个成果是确定了几个关键岛屿值得重点研究的群岛，因为它们有可能迅速加速我们对过去事件的规模和频率的理解。其中包括位于中部的夏威夷群岛和马克萨斯群岛，它们受到来自大多数环太平洋来源的太平洋海啸的影响。还有人指出，太平洋的某些部门缺乏研究，例如密克罗尼西亚联邦的西太平洋群岛、帕劳、关岛和北马里亚纳群岛，而在其他部门则相反的研究显示出巨大的前景，例如在新西兰、萨摩亚群岛、库克群岛和瓦努阿图。

这项工作的最终发现是，尽管已经取得了很大成就，但仍有许多工作要做，以更好地了解过去事件的规模和频率以及该地区海啸灾害和风险的真实性质。