Tsunami source area of the 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake determined from tsunami arrival times at offshore observation stations

Abstract

The source area of the tsunami generated by the 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake estimated from tsunami arrival times recorded at offshore wave gauges, GPS buoys, cabled ocean-bottom pressure gauges, and tsunami buoys is about 500-km long with a maximum width of approximately 200 km. The 2011 tsunami source area includes several segments of previous recurring large earthquakes. However, the northern and southern parts of the large Japan Trench segment were not included in the source area. The southern off-Boso-Peninsula part of the Japan Trench segment has the potential to generate a large tsunami earthquake in near future.