Quick analysis of wave patterns generated by tsunami waves and captured by SPOT imagery

Abstract

Following the devastating Earthquake off the west coast for northern Sumatra on December 26th 2004, a series of tsunami waves were generated from the initial shock and following after-shocks as was reported by several seismic stations around the world. Satellite images of the affected regions has shown the devastating effects of these traveling waves when interacting with beaches and regions of low depth. However, these images have also captured unique wave patterns developed by the interaction of tsunami waves with land and with the bottom of the ocean in shallow water areas, moreover wave interaction between incoming and reflected waves from land boundaries were also observed. The observed wave pattern includes large scale wave reflection from land and refraction by sea bottom. In this work, we report basic wave properties derivated from these wave pattern images which were captured by SPOT-4 imagery. © 2005 IEEE.