OBSERVATIONS, MODELING AND ANALYSIS OF THE FEBRUARY 27, 2010 TSUNAMI AND ITS IMPACT ON THE CENTRAL CHILEAN COAST

Abstract

The tsunami generated in the wake of the mega-earthquake that occurred off the coast of Maule, Chile, the February 27, 2010, produced large economic and environmental damages, but relatively few casualties (124), over more than 600 km of the center-south chilean coastline. The first waves hit the coast between 15 min and 30 min after the shock, but several important secondary wave trains were active even 4 to 5 hours later. In this work, we provide numerical simulations of the regional propagation of the event along the chilean coastline and their comparison against field observations. We nest the regional model with a Nonlinear Shallow Water Equation Model to be applied in the area of San Antonio and describe and validate the inundation produced by the Tsunami on the Port of San Antonio and Llolleo.