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Challenge Team Interim Report

Team Number: 027 School Name: Alamogordo High School Area of Science: Geology Project Title: What are the affects of tsunamis on coastal cities?

The project that I am working on is entitled "What are the affects of tsunamis on coastal cities?". This project will explore the damaging affects of tsunamis on highly inhabited coastal areas, such as Los Angeles, Tokyo, and several other cities. In this project, many things have to be discovered, such as wave run-up, previous tsunami facts, and damage models. This project will be programmed in C++.

I have found some vital information including deep ocean wave propagation, tsunami propagation, a historical truth model, and a global distance model. The deep ocean wave propagation model has already been found. The deep wave propagation model shows how a wave travels on the open ocean. This is needed to find out how much the tsunami decreases in height from its point of origin to the shore of the desired city. I have also found the tsunami propagation model that I needed. It shows how much the tsunami decreases in height as it travels from the shore of the desired city and the actual city. The truth model that I required has also been found. On the Internet, I have found a site that has a database of tsunamis and the damage that they cause connected to it, so that you can search it for specific areas of interest. I needed this so that I could find out if my results are reasonable. Also, I have the global distance model that I needed to complete the project. This model is important because it determines the distance between two coordinates on the Earth. It is needed to enable the propagation models to work.

I also have not found some vital information. One such thing is an accurate run-up model. This is essential because without it, I can not be sure the height of the tsunami after it reaches the shore. The height of the tsunami probably is essential to the accurate prediction of the damage it will cause. Another model that I have yet to find is an accurate damage model. This is needed, as it is the basis of my project and I can not complete it without it. I hope to develop one that is as accurate as it can possibly be, based on such facts as tsunami height and the local population. I also needed to find a database with the population densities of the world in it. The population of the area that the tsunami hits will have a direct affect on the damage done by the tsunami. If the place is lowly populated, the real estate isn't worth as much and there are not as many lives to be lost to the tsunami. These things will hopefully be found in time to allow me to complete the project.

I hope to be able to finish this project by the completion date. I hope to at least be able to finish gathering my research and be able to finish gathering results by the time that the final report is due.

Team Members

Team Mail

• Ian Sturdevant

Sponsoring Teachers

• Albert Simon

Project Advisor(s)

• Reese C Sturdevant