A theory of the Krakatoa tide gauge disturbances

C. J. R. Garrett

doi:10.3402/tellusa.v22i1.10157

A theory of the Krakatoa tide gauge disturbances

Tellus

Volume 22 (1970): Issue 1

By: C. J. R. Garrett

Open Access

|Jan 1970

Abstract

Tide gauge disturbances detected at many places around the world after the explosive eruption of Krakatoa in 1883 cannot be explained as free ocean waves travelling by the shortest sea route from Krakatoa, but were clearly correlated with the air wave. Previous explanations of the way in which the air wave caused the tide gauge disturbances are shown to be unsatisfactory from the point of view of both theory and observation. It is suggested that these disturbances were in fact free waves generated by the air wave at major changes in depth in the ocean, notably the continental slope. This mechanism is investigated for both normal and oblique incidence of the air wave on a step. The tide gauge disturbances observed after the eruption of Krakatoa are shown to be consistent in arrival time, time scale and amplitude with the predictions of the theory.

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