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Physics of waves

Warning from the deep

Insights from the emerging field of branched flow are directing us towards a way of anticipating the effects of tsunamis. A framework linking bathymetric fluctuations to wave physics marks a promising step forward.

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Figure 1: Branched flow seen in a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration wave energy map produced after the 2011 Sendai earthquake in Japan.

© NOAA CENTRE FOR TSUNANI RESEARCH

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Correspondence to Eric Heller.

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Heller, E. Warning from the deep. Nature Phys 12, 824–825 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys3558

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