On the construction and use of a Paleo-DEM to reproduce tsunami inundation in a historical urban environment: the case of the 1755 Lisbon tsunami in Cascais

• Autor(a) principal: Wronna, Martin
• Data de Publicação: 2017
• Outros Autores: Baptista, Maria Ana Carvalho Viana, Götz, Joachim
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.21/7983
• topic: Paleo-DEM reconstruction; Historical accounts; Tsunami hazard assessment; Antique maps

In this study, we present a methodology to reconstruct a Paleo Digital Elevation Model (PDEM) to simulate the propagation of a tsunami similar to the one that occurred on the 1st November 1755 in Cascais, Portugal. The method combines historical data, GPS-measurements, and presentday topographic data to build the PDEM. Antique maps were geo-referenced and altitudinal information was reconstructed using historic descriptions. We used old documents to estimate the original landscape of several sites. Analyses and interpretation of these sources of information served to attribute and approximate elevations of both geomorphologic landforms and building features. We used antique maps to rebuild the boundaries of old river mouths and water courses. Finally, we use GPS-RTK to implement obtained elevation data along creek mouths to interpolate in channelled areas to get their slope. Using this methodology and a numerical tsunami simulation code, we reproduced a 1st November 1755-like flooding in Cascais, Portugal. Our results show that using the PDEM, we can reproduce the inundation described in all of the historical accounts.