what is a tsunami like?
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Tsunamis do not necessarily make their final approach to land as a series of giant breaking waves. They may be more like a very rapidly rising tide. This may be accompanied by much underwater turbulence, sucking people under and tossing heavy objects around. Entire beaches have been stripped away by tsunamis.
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A tsunami is a series of waves caused by earthquakes or undersea volcanic eruptions.
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Tsunamis are giant waves caused by earthquakes or volcanic eruptions under the sea. ... While tsunamis are often referred to as tidal waves, this name is discouraged by oceanographers because tides have little to do with these giant waves.
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Tsunami is a Japanese word from a double root: tsu, meaning port or harbour, and nami, meaning wave. ... Tsunamis are fast moving ocean waves which spread across the open water like ripples oh a pond.
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Wind waves have short wavelengths, which are measured in feet, and they can be seen arriving at the shore every few seconds. In contrast, tsunamis have very long wavelengths that are measured in miles, and individual waves arrive minutes to hours apart. Tsunamis are also faster than wind waves.
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A big earthquake is likely to cause a tsunami, though the deadly waves are rare. ... The island of Ishigaki, near Taiwan, suffered a massive tsunami that killed about 12,000 in 1771. The island of Okinawa has no record of a large tsunami during the past millennium, Matsumoto said.
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All earthquakes do not cause tsunamis. There are four conditions necessary for an earthquake to cause a tsunami: The earthquake must occur beneath the ocean or cause material to slide into the ocean. ... The earthquake must cause vertical movement of the sea floor (up to several metres).
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The word tsunami comes from the Japanese word meaning "harbor wave." Tsunamis are sometimes incorrectly called "tidal waves" -- tsunamis are not caused by the tides (tides are caused by the gravitational force of the moon on the sea). Regular waves are caused by the wind.
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Destruction. The amount of energy and water contained in a huge tsunami can cause extreme destruction when it strikes land. ... Most of the damage is caused by the huge mass of water behind the initial wave front, as the height of the sea keeps rising fast and floods powerfully into the coastal area.
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Are there different Types of tsunamis? Yes, there 3 types of tsunamis local, regional and distant. Local tsunamis can reach up 100km from the source of the tsunami so in this case the travel time for the tsunami is usually less than one hour.
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Tsunamis occur as a result of the movement of a huge volume of seawater from the seabed to the sea surface, whereas ocean waves are caused by the movement of wind over the sea surface. ... As a tsunami comes closer to the coast, its speed and wavelength decrease, but its height increases.
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Usually, it takes an earthquake with a Richter magnitude exceeding 7.5 to produce a destructive tsunami. Most tsunamis are generated by shallow, great earthquakes at subductions zones. More than 80% of the world's tsunamis occur in the Pacific along its Ring of Fire subduction zones.
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Earthquakes that generate tsunamis most often happen where Earth's tectonic plates converge, and the heavier plate dips beneath the lighter one. Part of the seafloor snaps upward as the tension is released. ... The falling debris displaces the water from its equilibrium position and produces a tsunami.
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Earthquakes produce tsunamis. Tides and tsunamis are shallow-water waves, even in the deep ocean. The deep ocean is shallow with respect to a wave with a wavelength longer than twice the ocean's depth.
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Ordinary tsunamis have shallow waves out at sea, and the water piles up to a wave height of up to about 10 metres (33 feet) as the sea floor becomes shallow near land.
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Tsunamis are unlike wind-generated waves, which many of us may have observed on a local lake or at a coastal beach, in that they are characterized as shallow-water waves, with long periods and wave lengths. ... A tsunami, on the other hand, can have a wavelength in excess of 100 km and period on the order of one hour.
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Tsunamis can travel up rivers and streams that lead to the ocean. Stay away from rivers and streams that lead to the ocean as you would stay away from the beach and ocean if there is a tsunami. ... Tsunami, earthquake, hurricane—an emergency can develop with little or no warning.