Prof. Frederic Dias' Tsunami Research makes Waves
Professor Frederic Dias from UCD School of Mathematical Sciences has co-authored a paper warning that small coastal islands, long thought to be tsunami barriers for the mainland, may in fact amplify the waves.
The paper, entitled "Can small islands protect nearby coasts from tsunamis? An active experimental design approach" is published in, “Proceedings of the Royal Society A”. 200 computer simulations were carried out mimicing a tsunami hitting a coast with a small island off shore, with none indicating that the presence of the island protected the coast. Instead, the tsunami's energy was amplified by up to 70%.
The paper has garnered significant media attention with coverage from Smithsonian Magazine to Der Spiegel, The Korea Herald to the Discovery Channel, Yahoo news and many others.
