A page full of links to videos and other data on the March 11, 2011, tsunami

See www.jma.go.jp/en/tsunami/ for updates

The people of Japan are in our hearts and minds as they struggle through and recover from this tragic event.


THIS IS THE ONLY POST ON THIS BLOG THAT HAS BEEN CONSTANTLY UPDATED WITH NEW MATERIAL.  I AM USING IT TO STORE AND ORGANIZE VIDEOS IN ORDER TO LOOK AT THE FLUID DYNAMICS. I HOPE THAT OTHERS WILL FIND IT USEFUL!


DISCLAIMER: I CANNOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ADS THAT APPEAR ON YOUTUBE VIDEOS, COMMENTS THAT MAY BE ATTACHED TO THE VIDEOS AND ARE SOMETIMES EXTREMELY OFFENSIVE, NOR FOR CONTENT OF ARTICLES THAT MAY LINK ON TO OTHER SUBJECTS, SUCH AS NEWSCASTS. 
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Cities are listed alphabetically.
When I watch these videos, my heart breaks at the human tragedy. However, to comment on
it for each video requires words laden with value (heart-breaking, sad, tragic,...) and I would
rather not choose that path.  Instead, I hope that everyone shares the sadness in each video and
sends their thoughts and support in appropriate ways. The purpose of this collection of videos
is to establish a base for fluid dynamics analysis, not documentation of the tragedy for documentation sake.

CHIBA

• Chiba, a 5:24 video. Footage is not continuous. Opening shots are of the tsunami. At about 1:30 it switches to footage of people inside buildings during the earthquake.

FUDAI

• NEW 5/19/11: The 51' sea wall, initially viewed as the mayor's folly http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/how-one-japanese-village-944274.html

FUKUSHIMA (NUCLEAR REACTORS AND THEIR EXPLOSIONS)

• Nuclear plant steam explosion at reactor #1:  Watch carefully and you'll see an atmospheric shock wave created by the blast. this is typical of steam blasts, often observed in phreatic or phreatomagmatic volcanic eruptions. This is 47 seconds long.
• Explosion at Reactor #3
• Sketches and explanation from the Washington Post regarding the nuclear reactor events from the Washington Post, March 15.
• A CNN discussion with Malcolm Grimston   saying that "This is no Cherynobl."
• On April 9, a video was released showing a few seconds of when a wave estimated to be 46-48 feet high crashed into the Fukushima nuclear plant.  Unfortunately, there are only a few seconds of footage on this.

Iioka (between Sendai and Tokyo)

• This video is quite highly edited and unfortunately isn't useful for a hydrograph, but during the first minute it shows multiple waves of the tsunami approaching shore and the harbor.  There are very good examples of trailing, higher waves traveling faster and overtaking leading waves. 5:00.

IWAKI

• 2:12 Tsunami comes up a wide channel. Iwaki is about 5 miles inland, west of the ocean.  There are at least two channelized rivers in the city, not sure which one this video is on.

KESENNUMA

• A street level video at Kesennuma Harbor.A white store with blue trim is very distinctive. Video is about 5:15 minutes long. At about 2:45 waves develop and white store is inundated up to top of first floor. At about 3:30 minutes houses begin to be carried away and intensity of the flood is increasing.  Water is still rising on the white store.  Close to 5 minutes, a large building with a distinctive red roof is carried away.
• Here is a second video from Kesennuma, shorter, but shows the same white store with blue trim; this video is 1:38 long.
• A site with two "must-see" videos is here. The first video on this site is 5:44 and shows the tsunami coming into a harbor from the right, and washing around a warehouse, moving down two streets, and taking out a block-long building that was originally perpendicular to the flow.
• More of the same, but for some reason, longer, 6:22.

KAMAISHI 

• Kamaishi, a view of the tsunami coming in and pouring down through one street. 2:15 long. Pouring in and around an apartment building. A tongue and whitewater rapids style flow. If this video is all Kamaishi, it locates the white-crested wave approaching shore that has been visible in other videos where the locale is not identified. However, it is difficult to tell where the various pieces of footage have come from.
• A different view of the events in Kamaishi, viewed from an overpass. 2:08 minutes
• Kamaishi, Japan, 4:39 length.  Photographer on roof top or high road. At about 1:30 the major wave comes down through a narrow side street. At 2:02 it comes through a different side street. At 2:40 buildings begin being swept away, and city becomes obscured by dust or smoke.  More big waves at 3:30. There is also a 2:08 clip of the water in Kamaishi here. Here is a Guardian.co.uk 1:10 minutes TV report on the waves. (This is a similar or the same clip, but shorter at 3:08.)
• The second half of this video (after 1:30) shows footage from Kamaishi (first half is Miyako.)
• For comparison, this video is titled "The after effect of Tsunami" , has a 1.2 m tsunami in Kesennuma Bay generated by the 2010 Chile earthquake.  Very interesting burbling of water up through cracks in a sidewalk or street.

MIYAKO

• This video shows where the blue containers visible in some videos originated. 1:49.
• Tsunami damage in Miyako (audio is in Japanese). This is a CNN video on March 12 showing the devastation of Miyako. It is about 30 seconds long.
• Note 04/12/11: We think that this video is NOT Miyako, but is Kamaishi based on the blue-green crane in the background. Needs further checking: This video is shows the similarity of the tsunami in Miyako to river waves, but unfortunately has breaks so that it isn't possible to get a hydrograph from it. 2:14.
• This is a video from Russia Today of water, ships and cars spilling over a seawall (from left to right after the introductory footage) 1:59 long.  Ships topple onto street that is now flooded and get stuck jammed under a freeway. Does this connect with the 9:03 video above?
• The first 1:30 of this video is labeled Miyako, which is the basis for my placing the one above in Miyako.  The second half shows events in Kamaishi

MINAMISANKRIKU

• Breaking waves of tsunami and wave in Minami Sankriku (Note on 3/29/11: This was a CNN video of Minami Sankriku, it is not listed as not available). This is a YouTube video of a news broadcast using the same video as well as several other short views, 2:37 long. 
• The Guardian, has footage from Minamisankriku, Miyako, Kamaishi, and Kesennuma that can be helpful in identifying some of the cities that are unidentified in other footage.
• A 5:29 video.  This is labelled Nakatsugawa City, but the discussion seems to put it in Minamisankriku. The ending of this video shows people still on low ground as the tsunami arrives, and it is not clear that they survive.  Again, my thoughts and prayers for the Japanese people in this tragedy.

NODA, IWATE

• This 1:41 video shows incredible footage of the first tsunami waves coming into a bay and onto shore. Amazing that the photographers got out alive because they were apparently right at shore level when they shot this video.

NATORI CITY

• Natori was one of the cities closest to the earthquake epicenter, and was completely destroyed.  This is a 0:16 second simulation of the tsunami there.
• See the 12:58 video under "The tsunami at sea" below; there is a caption that says that the big wave approaching shore is at the mouth of the Natori river, which flows near Sendai City." 

OIRASE

• The second video on the "must-see" site (referred to in the Kesennuma section) is in the smaller box at the bottom of that post.  It is a 9:03 minute/seconds video of the tsunami, here. The comments by viewers say that this was recorded at Aomori Prefecture. This one starts with 2 minutes of footage of the tsunami approaching the shore. The photographer is very close to the ocean and focuses on a marina and boats. Water ebbs and flows in and out of the marina. About 5:30 good footage of a whirlpool that develops between incoming and outgoing water. Another wave of the tsunami arrives at about 6' 30".  The water never gets more than a few meters depth until about 8 minutes when the major event appears to start. This may be one of the best videos for getting a hydrograph of the pulses of the tsunami.  Even though the boats are tossed around in the marina, they are not transported inland until, possibly, the end of the video. At the end of this video water is pouring over  ledges, and I think that I've seen another video somewhere that picks up on this location (black water flowing over ledges), but I don't know where I saw that.
• Here is a BBC video about the sea wall at Oirase, and how it saved the town.

OTSUCHI

• This site that has a collection of videos with the cities labelled.  
• It includes Kesennuma (6:22), Otsuchi (10:33), Kamaishi,  and some others, and a lot of videos from the 2004 Indonesian tsunami.e
• This video from Otsuchi is by Brian Barnes and is nearlycontinuous film starting with some earthquake footage, and then as they flee in a car after the earthquake. Note the footage when they say "must be a broken water main."  This comment is in several videos and indicates a good likelihood of liquefaction, not a broken water main. Starting at 4:00 minutes, it is a view of the harbor from a hill top as the tsunami enters the harbor. At about 6:00 he switches from viewing the harbor to looking at the city, which has already started flooding.
• This site has a lot of added video from Barnes.
• *NEW on 4/27/11: A 4:00 continuous video by Sea Shepherd's Cove Guardians of the arrival and evolution of the tsunami in Otsuchi.  Excellent footage showing the evolution of a big whirlpool about half way through. At about 3:50 there is a closeup of a stranded ship quite high above the wavers, and it isn't clear from the video how it got there.

RIKUZENTAKATA

• The first video in this series is Rikuzentakata, I don't know where the second one is, and the one after the commercial is Sendai, then the whirlpool,

SENDAI (AND VICINITY)

• Note: In these videos, there are some obvious greenhouses, which are useful for getting a scale.  Four greenhouses cover 56 meters as best we can estimate.
• This is the first of a two part series on the tsunami in Sendai (15:00), and this is the second part (12:58). The second video shows a very interesting phenomenon with a part of the tsunami that has broken traveling ahead of the main wave.
• Tsunami with dark lobes engulfing Sendai and the greenhouses, viewed from helicopter. 1:00 long.
• A sequence of videos taken from a helicopter showing the flow lobes and greenhouses 35 seconds long. Illustrates the "debris flow" character of the flow inland. Not as good as the 1:00 above.
• Tsunami flowing right to left over freeway; buildings on fire, looks like it could be Sendai but not sure.  Mostly in farmland.
• NASA Earth Observatory image 2 near Sendai on March 12
• International Space Station image of Sendai taken March 14
• Here is an excellent USGS site with photos of Sendi in 2010 during a tsunami field conference.  There is also some information about the 2011 devastation.
• NEW 4/29/11 New video released by the Japanese Coast guard today shows tsunami in Sendai airport and around Sendai.
• NEW 09/04/11 I just found this 5:30 video of the debris-laden tsunami around Sendai. . At about 4:00 it shows dewatering creating a fairly clear flow running out ahead of the heavily laden debris flow. It is not easy to watch.

SINCHI

• Train cars in Sinchi; This is a CNN video taken near a train yard showing trains thrown around like match sticks. Mud may be indicative of liquefaction. Narrator says that the waves were up to 7.3 m high. About 1 minute long.

TOKYO

• This is not tsunami video, but the most remarkable video of ground motion during the earthquake and liquefaction due to the earthquake.  This phenomenon has never before been document like this. Eyewitness to cracks opening and closing, and liquefaction.

THE TSUNAMI AT SEA FROM BOATS/HELICOPTER

• A video of the tsunami at sea taken from a Coast Guard cutter--35 seconds long. It shows two waves--one at 15 seconds, one at 25 seconds. It looks as if there may be more on the horizon. Here is a longer version with one wave at 35", another at 49 seconds.
• This is a ground level view of the tsunami coming on-shore toward the camera.
• There is excellent helicopter footage of the tsunami approaching Sendai. At 3:50 the biggest wave overtakes the receeding earlier waves.
• The caption to this video says that the wave is approaching the mouth of the Natori River, which flows near Sendai city. time=12:58.
• (For fun, this is a 5:24 video of the March 1, 2010 Chile tsunami at Laguna San Rafael, Chile. It's awesome in the first two minutes and gives you a feel for the tsunami on the open ocean, and then looking from the open ocean onto the back of the tsunami as it builds up and crashes against the ice.)

"WHIRLPOOL"

• This site claims that the large whirlpool with a ship near its center is at Oarai City, Ibaraki Prefecture.  It says that the vortex lasted several hours and was formed as the waters receded. There is a very interesting video at the bottom showing the damage in a number of places that I had not seen anywhere else.
• Whirlpool, good aerial footage.
• Another view of the whirlpool; 1:18 long

UNKNOWN LOCATIONS AND/OR COMPOSITE VIDEOS

• The opening seconds of this one shows cars being thrown over a wall like matchsticks. 1:19 long; Not sure that all of the scenes in this one are in the same town.
• This video shows a number of the towns above, and is set to beautiful music.  As one viewer commented, it is a requium.
• NEW April 28, 2011. This is a Youtube site that has 37 videos.
• NEW 080911. A few new videos here.

OTHER MISCELLANEOUS HELPFUL MATERIAL

CENTERS FOR TSUNAMI RESEARCH:

• NOAA (U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)
• The official NOAA event page. March 11, shows the tsunami propagating across the Pacific according to their models. The NOAA forecast video of the original tsunami is similar.
• USGS (U.S. Geological Survey)
• University of Washington Tsunami Center
• Here is a source of PUBLIC DOMAIN images of the tsunami from the U.S. Navy.
• Here is the USGS photo gallery.
• Here is a teaching-resource site from Arizona State University. You may have to scroll down to find it, Issue 10.

BEFORE AND AFTER SHOTS

• Here is a link to a 360 view of damages in Iwate Prefecture, Google Earth.
• Before and after air photos from Google via ABC
• NASA Earth Observatory image 1 on March 13
• More before and after, from CNN on 3/16
• Before and After Earth Observatory shots of the Kitakami River
• Spectacular NYTimes series of before and after photos (use the slider left and right). March 15.
• The Boston Globe also has a site called "Big Picture" with photographs well-labelled by town; useful for trying to identify locations of videos.

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MATERIAL BELOW HERE IS WORKING MATERIAL

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I NEED TO GO BACK TO THIS SITE AND GET MORE VIDEOS.

This SEO site has a number of videos with identification of the cities where they were taken.