Both the propagation velocity and the direction of atmospheric waves are important factors for analyzing and forecasting meteo-tsunami. In this study, a total of 14 events of meteo-tsunami over 11 years (2006-2016) are selected through analyzing sea-level data observed from tidal stations along the west coast of the Korean peninsula. The propagation velocity and direction are calculated by tracing the atmospheric disturbance of each meteo-tsunami event predicted by the WRF model. Then, the Froude number is calculated using the propagation velocity of atmospheric waves and oceanic long waves from bathymetry data. To derive the critical condition for the occurrence of meteo-tsunami, supervised learning using a logistic regression algorithm is conducted. It is concluded that the threshold distance of meteo-tsunami occurrence, from a propagation direction, can be calculated by the amplitude of air-pressure tendency and the resonance factor, which are found using the Froude number. According to the critical condition, the distance increases logarithmically with the ratio of the amplitude of air-pressure tendency and the square of the resonance factor, and meteo-tsunami do not occur when the ratio is less than 5.11 hPa/10 min.
Meteo-tsunamis are tsunamis that are typically caused by strong atmospheric instability (e.g., pressure jumps) in low pressure systems, but some meteo-tsunamis in winter can be caused by local atmospheric instability in high pressure systems (e.g., the Siberian High). In this study, we investigated a meteo-tsunami event related to a high pressure system that occurred during winter on the Yellow Sea in 2005. Sea level data from tidal stations were analyed with a high-pass filter, and we also performed synoptic weather analyses by using various synoptic weather data (e.g., surface weather charts) collected during the winter season(DJF) of 2005. A numerical weather model (WRF) was used to analyze the atmospheric instability on the day of the selected event (21 Dec. 2005). On the basis of the results, we suggest that the meteo-tsunami triggered by the high pressure system occurred because of dynamic atmospheric instability induced by the expansion and contraction of the Siberian High.
A meteo-tsunami occurred along the coastline of South Korea on 31 March 2007, with an estimated maximum amplitude of 240 cm in Yeonggwang (YG). In this study, we investigated the synoptic weather systems around the Yellow sea including the Bohai Bay and Shandong Peninsula using a weather research and forecast model and weather charts of the surface pressure level, upper pressure level and auxiliary analysis. We found that 4-lows passed through the Yellow sea from the Shandung Peninsula to Korea during 5 days. Moreover, the passage of the cold front and the locally heavy rain with a sudden pressure change may make the resonance response in the near-shore and ocean with a regular time-lag. The sea-level pressure disturbance and absolute vorticity in 500 hPa projected over the Yellow sea was propagated with a similar velocity to the coastline of South Korea at the time that meteo-tsunami occurred.