Wave Profiles of a Virtual Extreme Tsunami in the Northern Region of South China Sea

Abstract

Tsunami wave profile is one of the important inputs for evaluating impacts of the tsunami on coastal and offshore structures. To understand the tsunami wave patterns along the northern coastal regions of South China Sea, we simulate the tsunami propagation in the South China Sea generated by a hypothetical earthquake of magnitude [Formula: see text] in Manila trench. The Boussinesq equations are adopted to account for the nonlinear and dispersive effects on the propagation and deformation of tsunami wave propagating over the continental shelf. Focusing on several locations in the northern region of South China Sea, the nested grids with gradually higher spatial resolution are used to ensure computational accuracy. Numerical results reveal that undular bores and several soliton-like waves may develop in shallow water in regions where water depth is less than 100[Formula: see text]m. The shallow continental shelf length and the steepness of wavefront are the two dominant variables that determine the development of undulation.