# A Database for Tsunamis and Meteotsunamis in the Adriatic Sea
## 3 The Database of the Adriatic Meteotsunamis and Tsunamis (DAMT)  
The understanding of natural phenomena, including tsunamis and meteotsunamis, is essentially based on the deep knowledge of past events. In fact, knowing how many events occurred in the past in a specific region and studying their characteristics help to encourage the study of the more prone coastal areas to assess the hazard and to calibrate models of propagation and inundation. A proper and systematic dissemination of the acquired knowledge is also fundamental to increase the awareness of people living in vulnerable areas. From this perspective, the availability of a database of events is very important because it is a useful tool for increasing public awareness and, when robust information is available, to validate hazard and risk assessments. In the frame of the PMO-GATE project, one of the deliverables is the creation of the database of Adriatic Tsunamis and Meteotsunamis (DAMT), which was carried out by starting from the catalogs available in the literature, particularlt the Italian Tsunami Effects Database (ITED) [1], the Euro-Mediterranean Tsunami Catalogue [2] and the Catalogue of Meteorological Tsunamis in Croatian coastal waters [3]. DAMT was created by selecting and analyzing the information already available in both of the above-mentioned catalogs, as well as including new data acquired in the frame of the PMO-GATE project from the analysis of recent studies, newspapers and websites. As far as tsunamis are concerned, the data available in the catalogues cover a period of time ranging from 1348 to present day [1; 2], while for meteotsunamis, the first information is only available from 1931 onward because for previous events, usually only the year of occurrence was known, and therefore, they were not verifiable or reliable [3]. For each tsunami and meteotsunami observation, the database provides a general description of the event, together with a detailed georeferenced description of the effects observed in each affected location, and offers a complete picture of the geographical distribution of the effects on the coast. In Table 1, the list of tsunamis and meteotsunamis included in DAMT is presented, reporting the main parameters for each event. The data included in DAMT can be retrieved by the public through a web application similar to that used for ITED [1] which allows the user to visualize the georeferenced information on a map. The WebApp, developed in a freely accessible ESRI ArGs online environment, is accessible through this link ([[https://ingv.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=0f465d51001146d79a6c89884a8e5d8c](https://ingv.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=0f465d51001146d79a6c89884a8e5d8c)]([https://ingv.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=0f465d51001146d79a6c89884a8e5d8c](https://ingv.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=0f465d51001146d79a6c89884a8e5d8c))) (accessed on 20 May 2022) without the need for an Esri user account. The DAMT WebApp includes three layers: (1) Adriatic Tsunami Sources (ATS), containing the information on the tsunamis that occurred in the Adriatic Basin, (2) Adriatic Tsunami Observation Points (ATOPs), namely the localities where tsunami effects were observed, and (3) Adriatic Meteotsunami Observation Points (AMOPs), which are the localities where meteotsunami effects were observed. In Figure 1, the main screen of the DAMT WebApp is visible, showing the geographical distribution of the whole dataset contained in the database: tsunamis, where the location coincides with the epicenter of the earthquake that triggered the tsunami (blue squares), tsunami observation points (colored dots in shades of beige) and meteotsunami observation points (red points). Using the layers widget at the top right of the screen, the user can choose the layers to be displayed (_Layer List_). The data contained in DAMT also populates an attribute table, which can be retrieved through the arrow located at the bottom of the main screen (Figure 2).