Tsunamis
seismic sea waves
Due to the immense amount of energy and mass involved Tsunamis can wipe out cities and people
in 1992 and 1993 over 2,000 people were killed by tsunamis occurring in Nicaragua, Indonesia and Japan. At the time, Indian Ocean nations lacked an ocean-widewarning system, causing the tragedy to strike without warning.Hawaii is good example where early warning systems are in place and has saved lives. In october of 2012 a warning to evacuate was given to hawaii, because of a 7.7 magnatude earthquake in canada. 100,000 people evacuated costal towns and no one was even injured. A warning system is currently being installed in the indian ocean and can give time to those living on coasts to escape the wrath of tsunamis.
What causes a Tsunami?
Earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions and large meteorite impacts all have the potential to generate a tsunami. Earthquakes cause tsunamis by causing a disturbance of the seafloor ,basicly a vibration. since most earthquakes occur by two or more tectonic plates we can predict where Tsunamis will start. Then place buoys that send information like speed of waves to us. Since tsunamis start out with a high velocity we can detect the distance between two buoys and see how much time it takes for the wave to get from one to the other and if it is faster than usual it would be good to evacuate coastal cities. As the ocean floor get shallower, it converts some of its kinetic energy to potential energy causing it to raise in height. Then as it crashes down on the shore it reeks havoc.
Japan Earthquake: Helicopter aerial view video of giant tsunami waves