RE: [Paddlewise] Tsunamis

From: Steve Holtzman <sh_at_actglobal.net>
Date: Thu, 30 Dec 2004 08:45:34 -0800
The following link has some good information on how Tsunamis form, travel,
and what happens when they get to land.
http://www.geophys.washington.edu/tsunami/general/physics/physics.html

I was watching a special on the Weather Channel the other day that mentioned
that the height of most Tsunami's in deep water on the open ocean is only
about 10 - 20 cm. As a result on a boat, you wouldn't even know it. However,
the wave is traveling at speeds of up to 400 mph and the wave length can be
200 miles. That is a lot of water! When it reaches the shallow water at
shore, it will typically rise to a wave height of 10 - 30 meters.

The energy involved together with the physical volume of water, appears to
be what causes all of the damage.

Steve Holtzman
***************************************************************************
PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed
here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire
responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author.
Submissions:     PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net
Subscriptions:   PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net
Website:         http://www.paddlewise.net/
***************************************************************************
Received on Thu Dec 30 2004 - 08:45:57 PST

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:31:19 PDT