The seminar will highlight three research efforts developed in Chile during my stay in 2025. First, through collaborations with private organizations, we measured the Kamchatka tsunami as it entered the Valdivia River Estuary in Chile. These unique ADCP measurements included currents and water levels, providing rare observations of tsunami-river-tide interactions. Building on the success of this deployment, we installed two permanent monitoring stations in the Valdivia River to continuously measure water levels, waves, temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen.

Second, I introduce the TRIDENT model (Tides and Rivers Influencing the Dynamic Evolution of Nearshore Tsunamis), a modeling framework designed to simulate the coupling between tsunamis, tides, and river flows. The coupled model is designed for estuaries, tidal channels, and fjords, and it addresses key challenges when simulating these interactions.

Finally, I will present results from a study that links dispersive tsunami wave trains visible in satellite imagery to near-trench earthquake rupture. By analyzing tsunami dispersion in the near-source wave field, this approach provides a new observational footprint for constraining source processes that improves resolving power near the trench compared with traditional seismic, geodetic, and tsunami sensing technologies.

Collectively, these studies demonstrate complementary advances, from field deployment to coupled modeling for hazard prediction to remote-sensing-based discovery, that expand the toolkit for understanding and assessing tsunami hazards and risks.

*Refreshments: 12-12:30 PM, ES&T Atrium