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
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 ...
Scientists find evidence of tsunamis on Indian Ocean shores long before 2004
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 29, 2008 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A quarter-million people were killed when a tsunami inundated Indian Ocean coastlines the day after Christmas in 2004. Now scientists have found evidence that the event was not a first-time ...
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.
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, ...
Caribbean at risk of tsunami
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Apr 23, 2009 |
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Up to 30,000 residents and tourists could be under threat from a newly discovered tsunami risk in the Caribbean, according to experts in disaster risk management.
Trees won't stop tsunamis, scientists warn
Dec 26, 2008 |
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Claims that coastal tree barriers can halt the might of a tsunami are false and dangerous, a team of international marine scientists said today.
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.
4 years after tsunami: Corals stage comeback
Dec 29, 2008 |
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A team of scientists from the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has reported a rapid recovery of coral reefs in areas of Indonesia, following the tsunami that devastated coastal regions throughout ...
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 ...
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.
Mathematicians provide new insight into tsunamis
Apr 01, 2009 |
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A new mathematical formula that could be used to give advance warning of where a tsunami is likely to hit and how destructive it will be has been worked out by scientists at Newcastle University.
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 ...
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.
Major Pacific earthquake prompts tsunami warning
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Mar 20, 2009 |
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A major 7.9-magnitude earthquake has shaken the South Pacific nation of Tonga and sending people in low lying areas of Fiji fleeing for higher ground after a tsunami warning, according to officials.
Contrary to recent hypothesis, 'chevrons' are not evidence of megatsunamis
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Apr 29, 2009 |
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A persistent school of thought in recent years has held that so-called "chevrons," large U- or V-shaped formations found in some of the world's coastal areas, are evidence of megatsunamis caused by asteroids ...
