A new study in JGR Solid Earth analyzed the aftermath of a 2010 earthquake in Chile. The study of magnetic fields generated by the waves could help prepare coastal areas for disasters. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has a credit.
A new study shows that the magnetic field generated by a tsunami can be detected a few minutes earlier than changes in sea level.
Magnetic fields are generated when the Earth's magnetic field is moved through the sea. The researchers had predicted that the magnetic field would arrive before the sea level would change, but they didn't have the necessary equipment to demonstrate it.
The new study shows that the magnetic fields of the ocean can be used to predict the height of waves. AGU's Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth focuses on the physics and chemistry of the solid Earth.
The study shows that the magnetic field generated by a tsunami arrives ahead of sea-level change and that its magnitude can be used to estimate the wave height. The authors of the study found that the early arrival time was about one minute prior to the sea level changing.
If this information is incorporated into the risk models, it could save lives.
"It is very exciting because in previous studies we didn't have the observation of the sea level change," said the senior study -author and ageophysicist at Kyoto University. We have observations of sea level change and they agree with our magnetic data and simulation.
The research team looked at the sea level change from both the earthquakes and the waves. The magnetic field can be used for the purpose of early warning of a tsunami. Even a wave height of a few centimeters can be detected by the magnetic field.
"They did something that needed to be done and they did it," said a researcher who was not involved in the study. We need a study that compares the magnetic field data with the sea level change from the pressure data, and I'm pretty sure they're the first to do that.
If models include good estimates for ocean depth and the electrical structure below the seafloor, the horizontal and vertical components of the tsunami magnetic field can predict sea level change.
The relationship between magnetic fields and wave height can be used to improve the estimation of the initial sea surface topography of a tsunami and predict wave arrival time and wave height.
The difficulty of maintaining limited observational stations means that data from tsunamis are often not available. The findings only apply to deep-sea environments where the water filters out environmental noise to allow the detection of the waves.
Predicting severe events that could cause intense damage to large areas makes them worthwhile.
If your ability to model tsunamis is improved, you could come up with better predictions of what areas might need to be warned.
In the Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, there is a study on the direct comparison of the magnetic field with the sea level change. The DOI is 10.1029/2021JB020760.
The Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth has information.
The magnetic fields of the waves are visible before the sea level changes.
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