Abstract
Since 2011, UNESCO - Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC)
Experts Meetings and CaribeWave exercises have resulted in a variety of
tsunami models of credible scenarios that would impact the Caribbean and
adjacent regions. However, results generated from such scenarios were
not readily available to potential users such as emergency management
officials and decision makers. During the 12th Session of the Tsunami
and Other Coastal Hazards Warning System for the Caribbean and Adjacent
Regions (ICG/CARIBE-EWS) in May 2017, a formal recommendation was
adopted for the working group on Hazard Assessment to compile the
aforementioned tsunami scenarios with their associated tsunami energy
plots in addition to other valuable tsunami data products from NOAA’s
National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), and World Data
Service (WDS) for Geophysics. In response to this recommendation, the
Caribbean and Adjacent Regions Tsunami Sources and Models (CATSAM) map
viewer was developed by NCEI/WDS and the Universidad Nacional, Costa
Rica. CATSAM is intended to be a tool for modelers and hazard assessment
professionals, based on the UNESCO/IOC led efforts on defining tsunami
potential within the region. It provides the seismic parameters to
reproduce the scenarios, as well as how they overlap with the Global
Historical Tsunami Database developed and maintained by NCEI/WDS. CATSAM
currently has 41 defined rupture geometries and 13 energy plots divided
into 15 sub-regions. The map viewer was implemented using the ArcGIS API
for JavaScript, built upon geospatial services published with ArcGIS
Enterprise. While CATSAM is an initiative of the ICG/CARIBE-EWS,
upcoming IOC/UNESCO Experts Meetings on tsunami sources for Pacific
subregions could provide an augmented collection of tsunami scenarios
for other tsunami prone areas of the world.