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TSUNAMIS IN
ALASKA
George Pararas-Carayannis
(Excerpts
from the Catalog of Tsunamis in Alaska authored by Doak Cox and
George Pararas-Carayannis, originally published in 1969 as a
report of the the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics of the University
of Hawaii and subsequently, in March 1976, published by the World
Data Center A for Solid Earth Geophysics, NOAA, Boulder, Colorado
with revisions by Lt. Jeffrey P. Calebaugh, NOAA Corps) of Hawaii
and subsequently, in March 1976, published by the World Data
Center A for Solid Earth Geophysics, NOAA, Boulder, Colorado
with revisions)
INTRODUCTION
This summary of the
history of tsunamis in Alaska was prompted by the establishment
of the Alaska Tsunami Warning System to cope with the special
problems of providing useful warnings of tsunamis along the coastlines
of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. Subsequently this warning
function of the Alaska Tsunami Warning Center was expanded to
include the west coasts of Canada and the United States.
Tsunamis may be generated
along the coast of Alaska and the Aleutian islands, and may have
disastrous effects in the immediate area and elsewhere in the
Pacific. This was demonstrated in 1946, 1957, in 1964 and subsequently.
The times elapsing between the earthquakes with which these tsunamis
are associated and the sweeping of the shores by the first tsunami
waves are so short that the determination of significant potential
tsunami hazard must be made much more rapidly than in the Tsunami
Warning System that serves the Pacific as a whole and is centered
at Honolulu, Hawaii. Indeed, the determination must be made,
in many cases, prior to the collection and analysis of mareographic
data, which is the main basis for analysis of tsunami hazard
in the Pacific System. Hence, the Alaska Tsunami Warning System
relies primarily on rapid analysis of seismic data telemetered
to its operating center at Palmer and secondarily on mareographic
data similarly telemetered.
Early Map of Alaska
The appraisal of the
risk involved on the occasion of any seismic event, with or without
evidence of tsunami wave generation, depends upon a knowledge
of the range of tsunami effects that may be expected. In spite
of the documentation and research that has been done on tsunami
generation, propagation, and effects (Cox, 1963, 1964; Iida et
al, 1967a, b), there are many uncertainties of critical importance
to the problem of warning in general. These uncertainties are
even greater in areas like Alaska, where the record of tsunamis
is relatively short and incomplete and where the coastal configuration
is unique.
The information on
the Alaska tsunami of March 27, 1964, is voluminous, and the
bibliography, very extensive. This report will provide for this
tsunami no more than the briefest of summaries and an introduction
to the literature now available. For earlier tsunamis, unfortunately,
much less information is available and for tsunamis occurring
more than a few decades ago, the information is generally fragmental
and, in some cases, confusing. For the older tsunamis, this report
contains essentially all of the information available and considerable
discussion as to the reliability of such data.
The completeness of
the record of Alaskan tsunamis and the reliability of its information
have depended upon cultural development along the coasts. Alaska's
history began over 200 years ago, but in some ways it is still
a sparsely settled frontier. Hence, the history of Alaska is
discussed in a separate section of this report with special reference
to its exploration, the development of permanent settlements,
and other aspects bearing on the probabilities that events such
as tsunamis would have been not merely noted, but permanently
recorded. The historical section is based mainly on the works
of Bancroft (1886), Beaglehole (1966), Colby (1939), Friis (1967),
Gruening (1954), and Heintzleman (1957). See Notes on Early Alaskan
Settlements in the Brief History of Alaska.
Notes on Sources of
Information on Tsunamis in Alaska
Settlement of much
of the Aleutian and Alaskan coastline is so sparse, and the recorded
history of that settlement so recent that some evaluation should
be made of the completeness and significance of the recorded
tsunamis.
It would seem that
the chances of recording a tsunami were slight prior to 1784,
when the first permanent Russian settlement was established on
Kodiak Island. The first tsunami was reported 4 years later in
the Shumagin Islands.
The history of the
report is not known earlier than its publication by the Russian,
Grewingk, in 1850, but it undoubtedly resulted from observations
of the fur traders of the sea-otter station at Unga.
As a matter of fact,
there was no positive report of an Alaskan tsunami from any of
the Russian settlements in the period of Russian control. As
noted in the Table of Tsunamis, Dall's (1870) report of a tsunami
in 1827 seems confused, and the tsunami of 1856 (possibly resulting
from a volcanic explosion in Unimak Strait) was picked up from
reports of whaling ships in the vicinity by Alexis Perry, the
French cataloger of earthquakes.
C.W.C. Fuchs (1879),
the German who carried on earthquake cataloging after Perry,
is responsible for the publication of the report of the 1878
destruction of the Aleut village of Makushin by a tsunami. The
report probably was sent to him from the white settlement of
Iliuliuk on Unalaska.
Activities of the
U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey were responsible for the records
of tsunamis or tsunami-like waves of 1868 and 1883. The records
of the Chilean tsunami of 1868 and of the Krakatoa blast waves
of August 1883 were taken from a tide gauge probably established
at Kodiak by a Coast Survey party. The party was headed by George
Davidson who was sent to Alaska in the summer of 1867 in anticipation
of formal transfer of Alaska, which was made in October 1867.
The report of the October 1883 Augustine tsunami was published
by Davidson himself (1884).
The U.S. Geological
Survey is responsible for the completeness of the records of
the tsunami events of September 1899 and also those of 1908 and
l911 . The effects of the 1899 Yakutat earthquake were so large
as to be inescapable, but they would not have been reported reliably
nor in detail except for the special survey made by Tarr and
Martin 1912. Their special interest in related events in Alaska
persisted until their report was published, and hence led to
the reports of February 1908 and September 1911, which would
otherwise have escaped notice.
The 1901 tsunami provides
an example of how confused and indefinite such reports can be,
without automatic recording and if no professional competence
is involved in data collection except at long range and without
adequate checking. In spite of mareographic recording of a tsunami
more than 60 years earlier at Kodiak, the Aleutian tsunami of
1929 would not have been noted except for its mareographic recording
over 2,000 miles away in Hawaii. However, since 1938 mareographic
operations seem to have been sufficiently adequate to assume
the recording of all except small and local tsunamis.
CATALOG OF TSUNAMIS
IN ALASKA
The Catalog of Tsunamis
in Alaska is too voluminous to be provided in this Page. It will
be provided at some future time. However a brief description
of the following major tsunamis in Alaska for the second half
of the 20th Century is provided. Follow the links. Additionally,
a very comprehensive bibliography of tsunamis in Alaska was compiled
in preparation of the Catalog. Most of these original references
were obtained, translated (if necessary) and reviewed by the
authors. The bibliography
of Tsunamis in Alaska
is provided separately.
1946 Aleutian
Tsunami
1957 Aleutian
Tsunami
1964 Alaskan
Tsunami
Early Map
of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands
REFERENCES
Doak. C. Cox and Pararas-Carayannis
George, A Catalog
of Tsunamis in Alaska.
Data Report Hawaii Inst.Geophys. Mar. 1968
Doak C. Cox and Pararas-Carayannis,
George, and . A Catalog
of Tsunamis in Alaska.
World Data Center A- Tsunami Report, No. 2, 1969, Hawaii)
Doak Cox and Pararas-Carayannis
George, (with revisions by Lt. Jeffrey P. Calebaugh, NOAA Corps)
A Catalog of Tsunamis
in Alaska. World
Data Center A for Solid Earth Geophysics, NOAA, Boulder, Colorado
)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
OF TSUNAMIS IN ALASKA
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