Meteotsunamis produced by high frequency atmospheric pressure forcing

Long-term and high resolution sea level data (2008-2014) have been analyzed to investigate the link between meteotsunamis and atmospheric pressure variability. The peak to peak amplitude of meteotsunamis at periods of 10-30 min can be as high as 1.5 m, approximately 70% of the tidal variation. Analysis shows that the correlation coefficient between high frequency oscillations in pressure (> 0.01 min-1) and meteotsunamis can be up to ~0.8 in winter and spring seasons, supporting that atmospheric forcing is a most important driving force for generating meteotsunamis. One identified source during the period is the arrival of continental cold air masses, affecting the meteorology and subsequent meteotsunamis in Taiwan regions. The established correlation can then be used to predict and quantify the probability of meteotsunamis in operational forecast products and long-term climate simulations.