We start out today with a short meeting with members of the International Tsunami Survey Team (ITST). This group is focused on tsunami deposits and tsunami geology. The challenge has been to find good transects that have been undisturbed by cleanup activity. We also meet with Masahiro Yamamoto, the Senior Advisor to the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO. I’m currently on the advisory team that Masahiro heads to revise the ITST post event survey guide. The first ITST guide was completed in 1998 and focused primarily and getting water height measurements. A lot has changed in the tsunami field since 1998 – technology and tools, scope, and involvement of many more disciplines. The revisions was supposed to be completed and ready for review by the end of March – one more thing the Japan tsunami postponed.

Then it’s back to Tokyo on the Shinkansen. It’s a clear day and everything looks normal from the window of the train. We discuss report strategies and next steps. One of the biggest challenges I have found in post event reconnaissance is distilling the information and getting reports written in a timely way. As soon as I returned, I’ll be inundated by all the work that has piled up over the past ten days, plus the items that were overdue before I left. I want to get a draft report done today while everything is still fresh in my mind and I still understand what my field notes refer to.