Special issue  

Tsunamis can produce catastrophic damage on vulnerable coastlines, following major earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, or atmospheric disturbances. In the last 15-20 years tsunami science has assumed an essential role within the geophysics community. In past years, the previous special issues on tsunamis focused on relevant topics also motivated by the two most significant events that have occurred in the instrumental era, which are the 2004 Sumatra-Andaman (Mw 9.2) and the 2011 Japan (Mw 9.0) earthquakes and tsunamis. These events triggered many studies and allowed a significant advance in understanding tsunami processes, specifically for large subduction seismic events.

Nevertheless, since 2015, several tsunamigenic events have occurred worldwide, involving megathrust events (e.g. Mw 8.3, Illapel 2015), crustal events (Mw 8.1, Kaikoura 2016), mixed earthquake-landslides events (Palu 2018), or volcanic eruptions (Anak Krakatau 2018), generating “unexpected” tsunamis in some cases. Indeed, some of these were contradictory and thus opened new research tracks towards a new understanding of the tsunamigenic processes. In addition, the study of these events and of relatively smaller events like the ones that occurred in the Mediterranean Sea (e.g. Mw 7.0, Samos 2020) contributed and are still contributing to inform the current tsunami hazard models and enhance the tsunami warning systems.

This special issue aims at collecting papers about tsunami science in a broader sense, promoting a multidisciplinary approach in the study of this natural phenomenon and focusing on

• tsunamigenic source processes (earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, or atmospheric disturbances);
• geological and geophysical characterization of tsunami sources;
• numerical modelling (e.g., tsunami generation and propagation, dynamic seismic rupture simulations);
• experimental modelling and analysis (e.g. material properties of incoming sediments to the trench);
• reconstruction of historical tsunamigenic events;
• tsunami hazard, vulnerability, and risk assessment;
• tsunami early warning.

A special welcome is extended to multidisciplinary contributions covering any of the aforementioned aspects, encompassing field data, geophysical models, regional hazard studies, observation databases, numerical and experimental modelling, risk studies, real-time networks, operational tools, and procedures towards a most efficient warning.