Numerical analysis of local tsunami heights and arrival times of the 2024 Noto Peninsula Tsunami

On January 1 2024, an earthquake with Mw 7.5 occurred directly beneath the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. Locally large tsunami inundation and run-up heights were observed along the Noto Peninsula and the Hokuriku coastline. This study conducted sensitivity analyses of tsunami height and arrival time to fault segment and tsunami ray tracing to reveal the local characteristics of tsunami amplification under the complex bathymetry specific to the Sea of Japan. The results show that the regions that recorded large tsunamis during this earthquake do not have unique amplification characteristics specific to this earthquake; instead, they are largely determined by the characteristics of the seafloor topography and the location of the source region. For countermeasures against future coastal earthquake tsunamis, it is important to know coastal regions where tsunami heights can be locally large and to estimate tsunami heights and arrival times in the regions by considering both the faults potentially causing tsunamis and the local bathymetry.