Influence of the Heterogeneity of the Seismic Source on the Timely Detectability of a Tsunami: Implications for Tsunami Early Warning in the Central Mediterranean

This paper investigates two different scenarios of earthquake-generated tsunamis in the central Mediterranean. In particular, the studied tsunamis are generated along the Hyblean-Malta escarpment by two faults being identical in geometry and focal mechanism but having different slip distributions. Synthetic tide gauge records are computed along the coasts placed in the near-field (eastern Sicily) and in the far-field (western Greece). Additional virtual offshore (deep sea) buoys are introduced and the computed water elevation time histories are discussed. We comment on the results trying to highlight the main differences between the two cases and their consequences for tsunami early warning.