Bluff
Data kindly supplied by South Port NZ Ltd
Data were recorded at 5-minute intervals.
| Time of arrival of first wave* | 18.4 h |
| Time of arrival of highest wave* | 38.9 h |
| Height of the highest wave | 220 mm |
| Period of the highest wave | 37 min |
* hours after the earthquake.
Commentary
Foveaux Strait between Stewart Island and the South Island is renowned for long waves. Thus, the periods of the tsunami waves are not overly different from the meteorologically-generated long waves observed at Bluff. Indeed, the tsunami looks similar to a rather small, normal event and could not be distinguished from it.
Figure 1. Sumatra tsunami at Bluff showing:
A. long wave record;
B. height of each wave; and
C. period of each wave.
EQ denotes the time of the earthquake (12:59 on 26 December 2004, NZST),
TOA denotes time of arrival of first waves.
Figure 2. Sumatra tsunami at Bluff showing:
A. long wave record;
B. significant (red) and maximum (blue) wave heights;
C. period of significant waves; and
D. distribution of significant wave height with time and period.
EQ denotes the time of the earthquake (12:59 on 26 December 2004, NZST).
How were these calculated?
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