Opening a window on current research on tsunamis, this book is a selection of 16 contributions out of the 39 presentations given at the 15th International Tsunami Symposium (Vienna, August 1991), i.e. at the last of the international meetings that are organized every second year by the IUGG International Tsunami Commission, and that are the most important, awaited and attended forums for the international scientific community of experts in tsunami sciences. The papers, rigorously scrutinized by an international board of referees, cover the most prominent aspects of current tsunami research, including the experimental observations, and the theoretical, analytical and numerical modelling of the basic phenomena, such as tsunami generation, open-ocean wave propagation, and waves impacting and inundating the coasts. The important social issues of coastal protection and hazard reduction are also dealt with in specific articles. The book contains few technicalities which means that it should be suitable for people involved in tsunami research as well as for a more general public: geophysicists, oceanologists, and Earth scientists.It should also be useful for authorities responsible for social security and natural hazard mitigation plans, and for students who wish to understand and study tsunamis.
