Shen Yaxiong, Whittaker Colin N, Lane Emily M, White James D L, Power William
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Auckland, 20 Symonds Street, Auckland 1010, New Zealand.
National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), 10 Kyle Street Riccarton, Christchurch 8011, New Zealand.
Sci Adv. 2024 Nov 8;10(45):eadk6208. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adk6208. Epub 2024 Nov 6.
The tsunamigenic potential of underwater volcanic eruptions is not well understood, even though eruption-generated tsunamis can be devastating. To address how erupted steam bursts from underwater volcanoes generate tsunamis, we present the experiments, using pressurized steam injected vertically into a water tank. Results over various eruption conditions identify three eruption regimes, namely, shallow-, intermediate-, and deep-water eruptions, according to the combined effects of water depths, source strengths, and source durations. The transition between shallow and intermediate eruptions is characterized by critical depths maximizing tsunami wave heights, while the transition between intermediate and deep eruptions is characterized by containment depths inhibiting surface disturbances. Water depth and source intensity are the dominant factors controlling maximum wave amplitudes, more so than aspects of jet duration and condensation. These experiments and supporting dimensional analysis improve our understanding of how underwater volcanic eruptions form tsunamis, while also providing a complete dataset for advancing tsunami generation models.
尽管火山爆发引发的海啸可能具有毁灭性，但水下火山爆发产生海啸的潜在可能性尚未得到充分了解。为了研究水下火山喷发产生的蒸汽如何引发海啸，我们进行了实验，将加压蒸汽垂直注入水箱。根据水深、源强和源持续时间的综合影响，在各种喷发条件下的结果确定了三种喷发状态，即浅水、中等深度和深水喷发。浅喷发和中等深度喷发之间的过渡以使海啸波高最大化的临界深度为特征，而中等深度和深水喷发之间的过渡以抑制表面扰动的遏制深度为特征。水深和源强度是控制最大波幅的主导因素，比射流持续时间和冷凝方面的影响更大。这些实验和辅助的量纲分析增进了我们对水下火山爆发如何形成海啸的理解，同时也为推进海啸生成模型提供了完整的数据集。
