The 1867 Virgin Island Tsunami

Narcisse Zahibo (1) , E. Pelinovsky (2) , A. C. Yalciner (3) , A. Kurkin (4) , A. Koselkov (4) , A. Zaitsev (4)

1 LPAT - Laboratoire de Physique de l'Atmosphère Tropicale
2 Laboratory of Hydrophysics and Nonlinear Acoustics
3 Civil Engineering Department
4 Applied Mathematics Department

The 1867 Virgin Island Tsunami reached large magnitude on the coasts of the Caribbean Islands. A maximum tsunami height of 10 m was reported for two coastal locations (Deshaies and Sainte-Rose) in Guadeloupe. Modelling of the 1867 tsunami is performed in the framework of the nonlinear shallow-water theory. The directivity of the tsunami wave source in the Caribbean Sea according to the assumed initial waveform is investigated. The tsunami records at the several coastal regions in the Lesser Antilles, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and South America are simulated. The comparison between the computed and observed data is in reasonable agreement.

Domaines: Interfaces continentales, environnement; Océan, Atmosphère; Sciences de la Terre

Narcisse Zahibo, E. Pelinovsky, A. C. Yalciner, A. Kurkin, A. Koselkov, et al.. The 1867 Virgin Island Tsunami. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, 2003, 3 (5), pp.367-376. ⟨hal-00330900⟩