| MadSci Network: Physics |
Greetings:
Your project is very interesting and your question is very detailed and
complicated. I would recommend that you contact an expert on the subject
about your questions. At the level of detail that you are seeking, first
hand information is the best.
The Los Alamos National Laboratory has been modeling this type of problem
for many years. One of the modeling experts is Charles Mader. Information
about his project and contact information are listed below.
Best regards, Your Mad Scientist
Adrian Popa
==============================================================
Charles L Mader
E-mail Address clm@lanl.gov
Work Phone +1 505 667 4399
Fax Number +1 505 667 1483
Street Address
Los Alamos National Laboratory
MS B214 T-14 : DETONATION THEORY & APPLICATION
Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545
Group T-14 : DETONATION THEORY & APPLICATION
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos, New Mexico
RESEARCHERS MAKING WAVES AT LOS ALAMOS
WASHINGTON, D.C., Jan. 7, 1998 -- Los Alamos National Laboratory researchers
are demonstrating the enormous damage of an asteroid strike -- not from an
impact on land but from tsunamis caused by an asteroid hitting Earth's
oceans. Computer models show how impacts of various sizes will generate
waves that could devastate entire coastlines on several continents. A
surveillance and defense system could prevent such a disaster.
Astrophysicist Jack Hills of the U.S. Department of Energy's Los Alamos
National Laboratory presented his findings today at a news conference and a
scientific session at the Washington, D.C.,meeting of the American
Astronomical Society.
A tsunami is a fast-moving ocean wave, usually caused by underwater
earthquakes or volcanic eruptions, that runs up on a coastline, causing
widespread damage. A tsunami retains its destructive energy while it travels
enormous distances. When the wave strikes a continental shelf, its speed
decreases and its height increases. An asteroid impact would induce a series
of waves that could scour thousands of miles of coastline with walls of
water and roiling debris.
Hills and his colleague Charles Mader use a detailed numerical simulation
with a one kilometer spatial resolution and comparative data from historical
tsunami events.
The Los Alamos model estimates that an asteroid three miles across hitting
the mid-Atlantic would produce a tsunami that would swamp the entire upper
East Coast of the United States to the Appalachian Mountains. Delaware,
Maryland and Virginia would be inundated, including Long Island and all the
coastal cities in this region. It would also drown the coasts of France and
Portugal.
Alternately, Hills' model shows how much of Los Angeles and Waikiki would be
lost if the same rock cratered the ocean between Hawaii and the West Coast.
Fortunately, Earth is likely to take a hit from an object that large only
once every 10 million years. However, the chance of a strike by a relatively
small asteroid is two or three thousand times more
likely, or once every few thousand years.
Try the links in the MadSci Library for more information on Physics.