Sensing Our Planet: The Indian Ocean: Indian Ocean Tsunami

The Indian Ocean Tsunami of December 26, 2004 is considered to be one of the largest natural events in Earth's recorded history with close to 250,000 deaths. The tsunami was caused due to a 9.0 magnitude earthquake with its epicenter near the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. Here, the earthquake caused by the subduction of the Indian plate under the Burma microplate caused the seafloor to rupture by nearly 1000 km in length and to displace the seafloor by nearly 10 m (estimates by the USGS). Great volumes of the ocean was displaced along the line of rupture and waves as high as 15 m were recorded in some places. The waves traveled as much as 5000 km from the epicenter.

We attempt to document the movement of such large volumes of the ocean by studying various parameters at the time of and immediately after the tsunami.

Net Primary Productivity (Data from NOAA Aqua Modis)