The December 2018 Anak Krakatau Volcano Tsunami as Inferred from Post-Tsunami Field Surveys and Spectral Analysis

Abstract

Copyright © The Author(s) 2019. We present analysis of the December 2018 Anak Krakatau tsunami in Sunda Strait, Indonesia, from a combination of post-tsunami field surveys, bathymetric changes and spectral analysis of the tsunami tide gauge records. Post-tsunami surveys revealed moderate tsunami height along the coast of Sumatra and Java with maximum surveyed runup of 13.5 m and maximum inundation distance of 330 m. At small islands located close to the volcano, extreme tsunami impacts were observed indicating not only a huge tsunami was generated by large amounts of collapse material which caused notable changes of seafloor bathymetry, but also indicates the role of those small islands in reducing tsunami height that propagated to the mainland of Indonesia. Our spectral analysis of tide gauge records showed that the tsunami’s dominant period was 6.6–7.4 min, indicating the short-period nature of the 2018 Sunda Strait tsunami.