 A scientific look |
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A tsunami (pronounced tsoo-nah-mee) is a wave train, or series of waves, generated in a body of water by an impulsive disturbance that vertically displaces the water column. Earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, explosions, and even the impact of cosmic bodies, such as meteorites, can generate tsunamis. Tsunamis can savagely attack coastlines, causing devastating property damage and loss of life. http://www.ess.washington.edu/tsunami/general/physics/physics.html
How tsunamis differ from wind-generated waves? See this illustration to understand the difference: http://www.ess.washington.edu/tsunami/images/tsulg.jpg
Extended study :
(Source: http://www.ess.washington.edu/tsunami/toc.html)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This visualization from Kenji Satake at the Active Fault Research Center in Tsukuba, Japan, highlights the crests and troughs of the tsunami waves as they travel across the Indian Ocean and refract around islands and interfere with each other. The red color means that the water surface is higher than normal, while the blue means lower.
(Source: http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/visualization/collections/tsunami.html) |
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