Dr. Taro Kakinuma is affiliated with Kagoshima University since 2007 as an associate professor. He was a Center of Excellence Researcher at the Earthquake Research Institute, The University of Tokyo, and a Researcher at the Port and Airport Research Institute, Independent administrative Institution. Dr. Kakinuma obtained his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering at The University of Tokyo in 1997.
Tsunamis can be triggered by not only submarine earthquakes, but also by landslides, and submarine volcanic eruptions. First, several characteristics of tsunami generation due to a landslide, or a sector collapse, are studied, with the tsunamis simulated numerically, to represent their generation through an interaction between falling bodies, and seawater, in two vertical dimensions. The falling body is assumed to be a fluid, or a rigid body, which moves down a slope with a constant gradient. Second, the mechanism of tsunami generation caused by a submarine volcanic eruption, is discussed, focusing on a phreatomagmatic explosion, where after exposure to high temperature magma, seawater evaporates instantly, with an explosive increase in its volume. An index for submarine volcanic explosive force, concerning tsunami generation, has been developed, by assuming the relationship between a phreatomagmatic explosion, and the resultant initial tsunami waveform. A numerical simulation was also generated, with a specific value for this index, for the propagation of tsunamis due to a submarine volcanic eruption in Kagoshima Bay, where a submarine explosion, leading to tsunami generation, has been observed.
Part of the book: Tsunami
First, the generation and propagation of long ocean waves due to the atmospheric-pressure variation have been simulated using the numerical model based on the nonlinear shallow water equations, where the atmospheric-pressure waves of various pressure-profile patterns travel eastward over East China Sea. Before the oscillation attenuation in Urauchi Bay, Japan, the incidence of long waves can continue owing to an oscillation system generated between the main island of Kyushu and Okinawa Trough. Second, the simple estimate equations are proposed to predict both the wave height and wavelength of long waves caused by an atmospheric-pressure wave, using atmospheric-pressure data above the ocean. Third, numerical simulation has been generated for the oscillation in the harbors of C-, I-, L-, and T-type shapes, as well as Urauchi Bay with two bay heads like a T-type harbor. Finally, we discuss disaster measures, including the real-time prediction of meteotsunami generation, as well as both the structural and the nonstructural preparations.
Part of the book: Natural Hazards