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Japanese /tsu N Mi/ Ɑ Large Lake Earthquakes Volcanic Eruptions Underwater Explosions Nuclear Devices Glacier Calvings Meteorite Impacts

A tsunami is a series of waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, usually in an ocean. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, meteorite impacts, and other events above or below water can generate a tsunami. Tsunami waves have a much longer wavelength than normal sea waves and can resemble a rapidly rising tide. Tsunami waves generally consist of a series of waves lasting from minutes to hours that can have wave heights of tens of meters and affect entire ocean basins, as demonstrated by the deadly 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

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29 views

Japanese /tsu N Mi/ Ɑ Large Lake Earthquakes Volcanic Eruptions Underwater Explosions Nuclear Devices Glacier Calvings Meteorite Impacts

A tsunami is a series of waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, usually in an ocean. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, meteorite impacts, and other events above or below water can generate a tsunami. Tsunami waves have a much longer wavelength than normal sea waves and can resemble a rapidly rising tide. Tsunami waves generally consist of a series of waves lasting from minutes to hours that can have wave heights of tens of meters and affect entire ocean basins, as demonstrated by the deadly 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

Uploaded by

Ajitha
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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A tsunami (plural: tsunamis or tsunami; from Japanese:

, lit. "harbor wave"; English pronunciation: /tsu


nmi/) , also known as a seismic sea wave, is a series
of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a
large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large
lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and
other underwater explosions (including detonations of
underwater nuclear devices), landslides, glacier
calvings, meteorite impacts and other disturbances above
or below water all have the potential to generate a
tsunami. In being generated by the displacement of water,
a tsunami contrasts both with a normal ocean wave
generated by wind and with tides, which are generated by
the gravitational pull of the Moon and the Sun on bodies of
water.
Tsunami waves do not resemble normal sea waves,
because their wavelength is far longer. Rather than
appearing as a breaking wave, a tsunami may instead
initially resemble a rapidly rising tide, and for this reason
they are often referred to astidal waves, although this
usage is not favored by the scientific community because
tsunamis are not tidal in nature. Tsunamis generally
consist of a series of waves with periods ranging from
minutes to hours, arriving in a so-called "wave train".Wave
heights of tens of meters can be generated by large
events. Although the impact of tsunamis is limited to
coastal areas, their destructive power can be enormous
and they can affect entire ocean basins; the 2004 Indian
Ocean tsunami was among the deadliest natural disasters

in human history with at least 230,000 people killed or


missing in 14 countries bordering the Indian Ocean.

2011 TOHOKU EARTHQUAKE & TSUNAMI


The Greek historian Thucydides suggested in his late-5th
century BC History of the Peloponnesian War, that
tsunamis were related to submarine earthquakes, but the
understanding of a tsunami's nature remained slim until
the 20th century and much remains unknown. Major areas
of current research include trying to determine why some
large earthquakes do not generate tsunamis while other
smaller ones do; trying to accurately forecast the passage
of tsunamis across the oceans; and also to forecast how
tsunami waves would interact with specific shorelines.

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