Real‐time experimental forecast of the Peruvian tsunami of August 2007 for U.S. coastlines

Abstract

At 23:41 UTC on 15 August 2007, an offshore earthquake of magnitude 8.0 severely damaged central Peru and generated a tsunami. Severe shaking by the earthquake collapsed buildings throughout the region and caused 514 fatalities. The tsunami resulted in three casualties and a representative maximum runup height of ∼7 m in the near field. The first real‐time tsunami data available came from a deep‐ocean tsunami detection buoy within 1 hour of tsunami generation. These tsunami data were used to produce initial experimental forecasts within 2 hours of tsunami generation. The far‐field forecasts indicated that the tsunami would not flood any of the 14 U.S. communities. Comparison with real‐time tide gage data showed very accurate forecasts.