This study evaluated the implementation of the Near-Field Tsunami Inundation Forecasting (NearTIF) method to enhance the operational capability of the tsunami early warning system in Mentawai Islands, Indonesia. This study focused on testing the method’s reliability by conducting a retrospective test in forecasting the tsunami inundation during the 2010 Mentawai tsunami event.
The NearTIF method utilizes a pre-computed database containing pairs of inundation model and tsunami waveforms, an input fault model, and a NearTIF search engine. The pre-computed database was constructed using 462 unique fault scenarios. Linear and Non-Linear tsunami simulation was done to simulate tsunami propagation and inundation model. This study also utilized w-phase inversion to generate input fault models for the NearTIF method. A search engine was applied to choose the best inundation model for a specific site.
The NearTIF method’s reliability was analyzed by comparing the simulated tsunami height from forecasting results and direct numerical forward modeling results (NFM) using input fault parameters with field observation data collected from another study. The computation speed to obtain each inundation model is also being compared. Analysis results in this study indicated that the NearTIF method is reliable and practical to be implemented in real-time tsunami early warning systems.
Keywords: Tsunami, Inundation, Early Warning System, Mentawai