MINIMIZING COMPUTATIONAL ERRORS OF TSUNAMI WAVE-RAY AND TRAVEL TIME

There are many methods for computing tsunami kinematics directly and inversely. The direct detection of waves in the deep ocean makes it possible to establish tsunami source characteristics and origin. Thus, accuracy of computational methods is very important in obtaining reliable results. In a non-homogeneous medium where tsunami wave propagation velocity varies, it is not very easy to determine a wave-ray that connects two given points along a path. The present study proposes modification in the methodology of determining tsunami travel-times and of wave-ray paths. An approximate ray trace path can be developed from a source origin point to any other point on a computational grid by solving directly the problem - and thus obtain the tsunami travel- times. The initial ray approximation can be optimized with the use of an algorithm that calculates all potential variations and applies corrections to travel-time values. Such an algorithm was tested in an area with model bathymetry and compared with a non-optimized method. The latter exceeded the optimized method by one minute of travel-time for every hour of tsunami propagation time.