October 1, 2018, Meteotsunami in the South Kuril Islands Region

Due to the deployment of autonomous bottom hydrostatic pressure gauge recorders in the bays of Shikotan and Kunashir islands, data were recorded on the most significant meteotsunami in Russia’s Far East region (the oscillation range was 1.9 m in Dimitrova Bay, which is the largest instrumentally recorded value). This event was caused by a rapidly moving (together with a cyclone) atmospheric front in the northeastern direction, the pressure jump in which was 7 hPa. Intense oscillations in the bays of the South Kuril Islands continued for several hours mainly at resonance frequencies. They posed a hazard comparable to moderate seismic tsunamis. Numerical modeling has shown that the motion of atmospheric fronts at speeds of 90–120 km/h along the coast of the Lesser Kuril Ridge caused a noticeable response both on the Pacific shelf and in the South Kuril Strait, which was amplified in the bays due to resonance effects.