Tsunami
hideA tsunami (津波?) (pronounced /(t)suːˈnɑːmi/) is a series of water waves (called a tsunami wave train) that is caused when a large volume of a body of water, such as an ocean, is rapidly displaced. The Japanese term is literally translated into "harbor wave."
Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explosions (detonations of nuclear devices at sea), landslides and other mass movements, bolide impacts, and other disturbances above or below water all have the potential to generate a tsunami. Due to the immense volumes of water and energy involved, the effects of tsunamis can be devastating.
The Greek historian Thucydides was the first to relate tsunami to submarine quakes, but understanding of the nature of tsunami remained slim until the 20th century and is the subject of ongoing research.
Many early geological, geographical, and oceanographic texts refer to tsunamis as "seismic sea waves."
Some meteorological conditions, such as deep depressions that cause tropical cyclones, can generate a storm surge, called a meteotsunami, which can be several metres above normal tide levels. This is due to the low atmospheric pressure within the centre of the depression. As these storm surges come ashore, they may resemble (though are not) tsunamis, inundating vast areas of land. Such a storm surge inundated Burma (Myanmar) in May 2008.
For more information about Tsunami, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with tsunami
Going vertical: Fleeing tsunamis by moving up, not out
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Dec 14, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- In the minutes after a strong earthquake struck offshore of the Indonesian city of Padang on Sept. 30, fears of a tsunami prompted hundreds of thousands of residents to evacuate the coastal ...
Samoan Tsunami wave was 46 feet high
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Dec 04, 2009 |
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(AP) -- The tsunami that killed more than 200 people in the Samoan islands and Tonga earlier this year towered up to 46 feet (14 meters) high - more then twice as tall as most of the buildings it slammed into, scientists ...
Mystery of the Solar Tsunami -- Solved (w/ Video)
Nov 19, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Sometimes you really can believe your eyes. That's what NASA's Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) is telling researchers about a controversial phenomenon on the sun known as ...
Samoan tsunami was too close to prevent deaths: research
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Nov 05, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Samoa's tsunami detection, monitoring and warning system works well and could not have prevented the more than 100 deaths caused by the devastating tsunami that hit the region on September 29, a major international ...
Fortuitous research provides first detailed documentation of tsunami erosion
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 27, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- For the first time, a group of scientists working in the Kuril Islands off the east coast of Russia has documented the scope of tsunami-caused erosion and found that a wave can carry away ...
Tsunami waves reasonably likely to strike Israel
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 26, 2009 |
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"There is a likely chance of tsunami waves reaching the shores of Israel," says Dr. Beverly Goodman of the Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences at the University of Haifa following encompassing geoarchaeological research ...
Tsunami evacuation buildings: another way to save lives in the Pacific Northwest
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 19, 2009 |
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Some time soon, a powerful earthquake will trigger a massive tsunami that will flood the Pacific Northwest, destroying homes and threatening the lives of tens of thousands of people, says Yumei Wang, a geotechnical ...
Colossal quake may hit Sumatra in 30 years: geologist
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 15, 2009 |
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A colossal earthquake may hit Indonesia's Sumatra island within 30 years, triggering a tsunami and making last month's deadly temblor look tiny by comparison, a geologist has warned.
Killer earthquakes shake scientific thought
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 11, 2009 |
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A sudden cluster of massive earthquakes which has shaken Asia-Pacific communities and likely left thousands dead has also jolted some scientists, who are starting to question conventional thought.
Australian continent to blame for Samoa, Sumatra quakes
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 08, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The recent earthquakes in the Pacific and Indonesia have one University of Queensland researcher questioning whether the two are related.
Space Radar Reveals Topography of Tsunami Site
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 02, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Two color-coded perspective views of the Independent State of Samoa (left) and American Samoa (right), generated with digital elevation data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, illustrate ...
New Sumatra quake takes seismologists by surprise
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 01, 2009 |
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The huge earthquake that hit Sumatra occurred at a deep, unexpected location, illustrating the dangerously complex geological mosaic in this area, a seismologist told AFP on Thursday.
Conditions combined for devastating tsunami
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Sep 30, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Because of a lethal combination of geology and geography, the people of American Samoa didn't stand much of a chance. Almost every condition that triggers bad tsunamis was in place this time, generating ...
A New Cloaking Method: This is not a 'Star Trek' or 'Harry Potter' Story (w/ Video)
Aug 17, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- University of Utah mathematicians developed a new cloaking method, and it's unlikely to lead to invisibility cloaks like those used by Harry Potter or Romulan spaceships in "Star Trek." Instead, ...
Pacific tsunami threat greater than expected
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Jul 20, 2009 |
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The potential for a huge Pacific Ocean tsunami on the West Coast of America may be greater than previously thought, according to a new study of geological evidence along the Gulf of Alaska coast.
