PRODUCING TSUNAMI SIMULATIONS WITH ARCGIS PRO AND ADOBE CREATIVE SUITE

Tsunamis are a relatively rare occurrence in Washington State, with few observed events and none causing significant damage within the last 50 years. This leads to less awareness and understanding of tsunami hazards compared to other more frequent hazards that a community may face. In addition, Washington’s numerous interior waterways are incredibly complex, which make tsunami wave behavior challenging to understand, let alone model or forecast. Efforts to educate the public on tsunami hazards has so far focused entirely on the end result of maximum inundation and velocity of the hazard. However, this only paints a small part of the picture and leaves so much of the complexity and nuance of a tsunami event to the wayside, forgotten. We seek to better inform the public and provide them with knowledge of not just how big or fast the tsunami will be, but what to expect during a tsunami, including that the waves behave unexpectedly as they move through our waterways, and why some communities might be left relatively untouched while another may be completely devastated. Using time series data produced by numerical models of tsunami inundation and current velocity, we created simulation videos as an informative product for public tsunami hazard communication. We utilized tools in ArcGIS Pro and the Adobe Creative Suite to produce a final product that is informative, visually appealing, and fully accessible to the public. We overcame several challenges while creating these simulation videos, and the completed product received positive and constructive feedback upon public release.