Tsunami inundation modeling and mapping using ALTM- and CARTOSAT-derived coastal topographic data

Abstract

Coastal topography is the principal variable that affects the movement of the tsunami wave on land. Therefore, land surface elevation data are critical to a tsunami model for computing extent of inundation. Elevation data from India's remote sensing satellite CARTOSAT-1 are available for the entire Indian coastline, while elevation data collected using Airborne Laser Terrain Mapper (ALTM) are only available for selected sections of the coastline. This study was carried out to evaluate the suitability of CARTOSAT-1 and ALTM elevation data sets in the tsunami inundation modeling. Two areas of the coastal Tamil Nadu that were severely affected during the December 2004 tsunami and surveyed extensively for mapping the extent of inundation were selected as the study areas. Elevation data sets from ALTM, CARTOSAT-1 and field measurement collected using Real-time Kinematic GPS (RTK-GPS) were compared for these areas. The accuracy of ALTM and CARTOSAT-1 data, the significance of interpolation methods and data used on model outputs were studied. The analysis clearly revealed that the elevation accuracy of CARTOSAT-1 data (+/−2m) was much lower than ALTM data (+/−0.6m). However, it was found that despite the differing elevation accuracy, both ALTM and CARTOSAT-1 can be used to produce tsunami inundation maps for open coasts with an accuracy of 185 m (2 grid cells) at 75% and 50% confidence level, respectively.