Reconstruction of the 2004 Tsunami Inundation Map in Banda Aceh Through Numerical Model and Its Validation with Post-Tsunami Survey Data

Abstract

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recorded the 2004 tsunami heights in the Indian Ocean using the DART buoy tool and survey field data in the land side of Banda Aceh. Furthermore, 85 tsunami poles around Banda Aceh and Aceh Besar were used to mark the tsunami flow depth. The flow depth of the tsunami data recorded plays an important role in fostering our understanding of the physical tsunami wave generation and inundation using tsunami modeling. This study is aimed at comparing the results of the tsunami flow depth modeling in Banda Aceh with some measurement data from NOAA and Tsunami Poles. The tsunami modeling process was applied using the Cornell Multi-Grid Coupled Tsunami Model (COMCOT) computational program.We used 6 nested grids and the innermost layer covering the Banda Aceh region. The Layer 6 used for the variable Manning roughness coefficient represents the surface land use before the tsunami. We put 139 and 67 observation points on land to observe tsunami flow depth data according to NOAA and Tsunami pole coordinates, respectively. The result shows that NOAA data gave poor agreement with numerical simulations. A better result was obtained when using tsunami poles. We recommend increasing the use of the tsunami poles data as they were produced with a rigorous validation process for the 2004 tsunami.