Differentiating Tsunamis from Atmospheric-Induced Events Using Coastal High-Frequency Radars

On October 14, 2016, a real-time tsunami warning was automatically issued by the High-Frequency radar of Tofino, on the west coast of British Columbia, Canada. This warning was based on the observation of an anomalous pattern in surface currents traveling towards the shore. However, subsequent analyses showed that this event was more likely an atmospheric-induced phenomenon than a "real" tsunami. In this paper, we investigate the use of wind direction inferred from HF measurements to differentiate in real-time between genuine tsunamis and "tsunami-like" events resulting from severe atmospheric conditions.