TSUNAMIS

Tsunamis



Tsunamis

Introduction

Atsunami is a sequence of ocean swell that sends surges of water, occasionally reaching heights of over 100 feet (30.5 meters), up on land. These walls of water can cause prevalent decimation when they smash into ashore.

These awe-inspiring swell are normally caused by large, undersea earthquakes at tectonic plate boundaries. When the sea floor at a plate boundary increases or falls abruptly it replaces the water above it and launches the rolling swell that will become a tsunami. Most tsunamis, about 80 per hundred, happen inside the Pacific Ocean's “Ring of Fire,” a geologically hardworking locality where tectonic shifts make volcanoes and earthquakes common. Tsunamis may furthermore be initiated by undersea landslides or volcanic eruptions. They may even be commenced, as they often were in Earth's ancient past, by the impact of a large meteorite plunging into an ocean. (Haugen 2005)

Discussion

Tsunamis are different wind-generated waves. Tsunamis proceed as shallow-water waves. Asignal becomes the shallow-water signal when ratio between water deepness and its wavelength gets very small. Tsunamis can be generated when ocean floor suddenly deforms and vertically displaces overlying water. Tectonic earthquakes are the particular kind of earthquake that are connected with earth's crustal deformation; when these earthquakes occur beneath sea, water above deformed area is displaced from its stability position. Waves are formed as displaced water mass, which acts under pressure of gravity, attempts to regain its balance. When large localities of ocean floor elevate or collapse, the tsunami can be created. (Tsunami 2005)

Tsunamis can be caused by undersea volcanoes, coastal landslides or even meteors, but most are created by underwater earthquakes like one that struck Indian Ocean in December. Two giant tectonic plates, which have been impelling against each other for thousands of years, eventually shift. The left plate has been sliding under right few centimeters per year, until top plate sprung up, lifting 60 feet along 1000 mile range and displacing millions of tons of water. (Waltham 2005)

The huge mass of water surged to surface spreading outward in waves. The Tsunami moved about 500 mph. The wave slowed down down as it come to superficial waters, and intensified its power into lesser and more destructive ways. Advancing water can rise 100 feet and flood areas more than 1000 feet from shore before forming dangerous receding current. Tsunamis can be generated when sea floor shifts in an abrupt way and vertically displaces overlaying water from its equilibrium position. Waves are formed as water tries to regain equilibrium. The main factor, which determines initial size of tsunami, is amount of vertical sea floor deformation. (Haugen 2005)

The Indian Ocean has more probabilities of Tsunami than Pacific Ocean, but of 11 countries affected, only and Indonesia had an Early Warning System in place. Thousands of lives could've been kept, if this system was in place. Samith Dhamasarof, Director of Meteorology Division in Thailand, was criticized and even forbidden from entering exclusive tourist areas, for being damaging to tourism, by creating an awareness of danger of these ...