Tsunamis on the Pacific Coast of Canada: From Prehistoric Time to the Present

Tsunamis are among the world’s most dangerous and destructive natural phenomena. The catastrophic tsunami of December 26, 2004 claimed over 300000 lives. These numerous catastrophic tsunamis have caused a significant increase in scientific interest of this natural hazard. About 85% of all tsunamis occur in the Pacific Ocean and are the products of submarine earthquakes around the Pacific Rim, where collisions of tectonic plates form highly active seismic subductive zones. The Great Cascadia Earthquake of January 26, 1700, which occurred near the west coast of Canada, produced a catastrophic tsunami which affected the entire coast of the Pacific Ocean. Assembling data on observed tsunamis and cataloguing historical tsunamis are key problems for scientific examination of tsunami waves, estimation and mitigation of tsunami risk for coastal areas, and improvement of the existing Tsunami Warning Service. The purpose of the present book is to present the historical and modern data on the Canadian coast of the Pacific Ocean and to complete the existing tsunami database. At the same time, the book is intended to present some modern achievements in instrumentation, data analyses, numerical modelling, and estimation of tsunami risk and may be of interest for specialists in wave dynamics, seismology, geophysics, coastal engineering and natural hazard mitigation.