Download David Ulman, Hydrographical Effects of the Indian Ocean Tsunami

Hydrographical Effects
of the Indian Ocean
Tsunami
By David Ullman
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Co-mentors: Dr. Robin Robertson and
Dr. Andreas Thurnherr.
Special thanks to: Mr. Felix Tubiana
Research conducted at LamontDoherty Earth Observatory, an
institute of Columbia University.
Background
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On December 26, 2004 at 00:58
GMT, an earthquake of magnitude
9.1 to 9.3 hit the Island of Sumatra
and surrounding area.
Called the “Great Sumatra-Andaman
Earthquake,” this natural disaster
fueled another that would take over
213,000 lives: the Indian Ocean
Tsunami.
Tsunami
The ARGO Data Set
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A set of measurements taken by
buoys all over the world in the
mixed layer (surface layer).
Measurements include depth,
temperature, and salinity (salt
content).
The
ARGO
Process
ARGO Map
Methodology
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Objective: To make use of the Argo
dataset to measure the effects of the
Indian Ocean Tsunami on
hydrographical structure.
Our sources of data were the
temperature and salinity readings
taken by 16 Argo floats in the Bay of
Bengal between depths of 500 and
1500 meters.
Contd.
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We collected these readings as taken
both before and after the Tsunami,
generally proximate within eight
days.
We applied basic statistics, graphs,
and oceanographic tests to explore
whether or not changes in
temperature and salinity were
significant.
Contd.
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This project involved no data
acquisition. All data is freely
available on the internet.
Much of the project dealt with
converting raw data into usable
numbers and figures.
Code
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http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/~ullm
an/work/matlab/example4.m
Results
Results
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Our results indicate that the Indian
Ocean Tsunami had little or no effect
on the Bay of Bengal’s
hydrographical properties.
Conclusions
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Disruptions of even this extreme
magnitude are unlikely to affect the
long-term hydrographical properties
of the world’s oceans.