Slashdot Mirror


Using Googlemaps To Simulate Tsunamis

flemster writes "Tsunami mapper is a new site which uses the googlemaps elevation service and the flood fill algorithm to predict which areas near a coast are likely to be affected by a tsunami. You can search for your local beach, set a wave heading and height and then double click the tsunami starting point off the coast, after which the tsunami range will be drawn. Naturally, predicting a tsunami is far more complicated than this and this application is a general guide and not a true predictor. However the simulations of the recent Japanese simulation are interesting. Compare the tsunami mapper simulation with this aerial photo of Ishinomaki after the March tsunami."

1 of 40 comments (clear)

  1. Didn't work... by SIGBUS · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "Elevation of starting location is 158.171 meters. A tsunami must start in the ocean."

    Then again, I was trying to create a tsunami on Lake Michigan.

    --
    Oh, no! You have walked into the slavering fangs of a lurking grue!