Abstract
Meteotsunamis are created by transitory weather disturbances moving over water, have a long history of impacting the United States (U.S.) and have resulted in loss of life and property. Many of these events have been historically mischaracterized as seiches, anomalous weather-related waves, or ignored altogether. In this paper, we review meteotsunami generation mechanisms common in the U.S. and highlight several classic historical cases of U.S. meteotsunami formation and impact. We then describe recent advances in sensing and understanding that led to the establishment of initial, rudimentary alerting capabilities for the U.S. Great Lakes and U.S. East Coast. Finally, we describe the major challenges and gaps that must be overcome to move the U.S. toward a comprehensive meteotsunami forecast and warning capability. We also discuss how we envision the various relevant offices of the national oceanic and atmospheric administration (NOAA) working together to achieve this vision. These offices include the NOAA research laboratories, national weather service (NWS) Weather Forecast Offices and National Centers, National Ocean Service Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services and NWS Tsunami Warning Centers.
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Acknowledgments
The authors thank Dr. Gerald Bawden (NASA) for expert suggestions regarding GNSS potential utility for meteotsunami detection. The authors also recognize Ms. Christa Rabenold, Dr. Rocky Lopes and Ms. Allison Allen for their expert development and/or review of supporting materials leading to the construction of this paper in support of the NOAA/NWS Tsunami Program. The authors also thank Ms. Helen Worthington for her exceptional editorial review.
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This is GLERL contribution number 1960. DA, VT, ME were supported by NOAA’s Office of Ocean and Atmospheric Research with this article being PMEL contribution number 5045.
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Angove, M., Kozlosky, L., Chu, P. et al. Addressing the meteotsunami risk in the united states. Nat Hazards 106, 1467–1487 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-020-04499-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-020-04499-3