Meteorological Tsunami of 19 March 2017 in the Persian Gulf: Observations and Analyses

Mohammad Heidarzadeh, Jadranka Šepić, Alexander Rabinovich, Mohammadreza Allahyar, Ali Soltanpour, Farokh Tavakoli

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40 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

On 19 March 2017, destructive tsunami-like waves impacted the northeast shore of the Persian Gulf (PG). The maximum surveyed runup of about 3 m was observed at Dayyer in southern Iran, where damaging waves inundated the land for a distance of ~ 1 km and resulted in the deaths of five people. Because the PG has always been considered safe from extreme oceanic waves, the event was totally unexpected. In this study, we examined sea level data from 12 stations across the PG and a variety of meteorological information, including satellite imagery, high-altitude isohypse maps and high-resolution air pressure records from 47 instruments along the PG. Our results show that the event was very local, with recorded maximum trough-to-crest wave heights of 197 cm at Dayyer and 234 cm at Asaluyeh, near-field cities in Iran located ~ 80 km apart. The dominant wave periods were in the range of 15–20 min. At all distant tide gauges, the observed wave heights were < 35 cm. No earthquakes or landslides were evident at the time of the event. On the other hand, atmospheric processes during 18–22 March were very active and 10 distinctive tsunamigenic air pressure disturbances were observed propagating over the PG, suggesting that the event of 19 March 2017 was a “meteorological tsunami”. Atmospheric conditions over the PG were highly favourable for the generation of meteotsunamis and very similar to those that caused a chain of strong meteotsunamis in the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions during 23–27 June 2014. Based on the 500 hPa wind, we evaluated that the disturbances had propagation speeds of 21–38 m/s, with the disturbance at Dayyer having a speed of ~ 26 m/s toward 77° True. The Froude number, Fr (estimated as the ratio of the air disturbance speed to the long wave speed), on 19 March 2017 in the Dayyer/Asaluyeh region was close to resonance, Fr ~ 0.9 to 1.1, which is highly favourable for meteotsunami generation. Our findings indicate that the Dayyer/Asaluyeh area is a “hot spot” that is highly vulnerable to extreme, weather-induced tsunami-like waves.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1231-1259
Number of pages29
JournalPure and Applied Geophysics
Volume177
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Mar 2020

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Tide gauge data used in this study were provided by various agencies in the Persian Gulf region and international organisations: the Port and Maritime Organization (PSO) of Iran ( https://www.pmo.ir/en/home ), the Hydrographic Unit of the Qatar Ministry of Municipality and Environment ( http://www.mme.gov.qa ), the National Cartographic Center (NCC) of Iran ( http://www.ncc.org.ir ), and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, UNESCO ( http://www.ioc-sealevelmonitoring.org/ ). We are grateful to Mr Vladan Janković (Qatar Ministry of Municipality and Environment) for providing us the Qatar sea level data. Air pressure data are from the amateur meteorological network Wunderground ( https://www.wunderground.com/wundermap ). The satellite data were downloaded from the EUMETSAT Meteosat7 satellite ( https://www.eumetsat.int/website/home/Satellites/CurrentSatellites/Meteosat/index.html ). The authors gratefully acknowledge Richard Thomson and Fred Stephenson (both from the Institute of Ocean Sciences, Sidney, BC, Canada) for valuable comments and suggestions. MH is funded by the Brunel University London through the Brunel Research Initiative and Enterprise Fund 2017/18 (BUL BRIEF). The work for AR was partially supported by the Russian State Assignment of IO RAS # 0149-2019-0005 and by the FCT-funded project FAST (PTDC/CTA-MET/32004/2017). The work of JS has been supported by the Croatian Science Foundation under the project MESSI (UKF Grant no. 25/15). This article benefited from constructive review comments from Emile A. Okal (Northwestern University, USA) and Rachid Omira (Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera, Portugal) for which we are sincerely grateful.

Funding Information:
Tide gauge data used in this study were provided by various agencies in the Persian Gulf region and international organisations: the Port and Maritime Organization (PSO) of Iran (https://www.pmo.ir/en/home), the Hydrographic Unit of the Qatar Ministry of Municipality and Environment (http://www.mme.gov.qa), the National Cartographic Center (NCC) of Iran (http://www.ncc.org.ir), and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, UNESCO (http://www.ioc-sealevelmonitoring.org/). We are grateful to Mr Vladan Jankovi? (Qatar Ministry of Municipality and Environment) for providing us the Qatar sea level data. Air pressure data are from the amateur meteorological network Wunderground (https://www.wunderground.com/wundermap). The satellite data were downloaded from the EUMETSAT Meteosat7 satellite (https://www.eumetsat.int/website/home/Satellites/CurrentSatellites/Meteosat/index.html). The authors gratefully acknowledge Richard Thomson and Fred Stephenson (both from the Institute of Ocean Sciences, Sidney, BC, Canada) for valuable comments and suggestions. MH is funded by the Brunel University London through the Brunel Research Initiative and Enterprise Fund 2017/18 (BUL BRIEF). The work for AR was partially supported by the Russian State Assignment of IO RAS # 0149-2019-0005 and by the FCT-funded project FAST (PTDC/CTA-MET/32004/2017). The work of JS has been supported by the Croatian Science Foundation under the project MESSI (UKF Grant no. 25/15). This article benefited from constructive review comments from Emile A. Okal (Northwestern University, USA) and Rachid Omira (Instituto Portugu?s do Mar e da Atmosfera, Portugal) for which we are sincerely grateful.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, The Author(s).

Keywords

  • atmospheric waves
  • extreme waves
  • meteotsunami
  • Persian Gulf
  • remote sensing
  • tide gauge data
  • wavelet analysis

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Geophysics
  • Geochemistry and Petrology

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