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Tsunami

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Tsunami

Tsunamis most often occur as a result of earthquakes, the movement of text plates under

the seawater that occur thousands of miles away from the coast. As the ocean floor shakes and

shifts, energy is released and can lift millions of tons of water above and create tsunami waves.

A tsunami can spread far from its source located deep in the ocean, spreading from one side

ocean basin to another. Across the open-ocean tsunami waves move like big flat waves. In the

deep ocean, tsunami waves are barely noticeable on the surface of the water. However, below the

surface of the water is a large wall of water that moves very fast. The speed of the underground

water wall can be higher than five thousand miles per hour (the speed of a jet plane). Tsunami

waves become a danger only when they move inland. As the wave approaches shallow water, its

velocity decreases and it becomes compressed, which leads to an increase in the height of the

wave. The first sign of a tsunami near the epicenter of an earthquake could be a sudden

withdrawal of water from the beach. However, soon after the withdrawal of water comes a flood

of water (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2009).

The tsunami wave does not look like a normal wave, it looks like a violent flood of water

and can be up to 30 feet deep. The wave can spread 1,000 feet or more on land and has the power

to lift rocks, knock people off their feet, overturn vehicles, and knockdown houses (Woods Hole

Oceanographic Institution, 2009). The 9 Mw earthquake caused a major devastating tsunami in

Japan on March 11, 2011 (Koshimura & Shuto, 2015), at a depth of 15.2 miles and a distance of

231 miles from Tokyo (CNN Editorial Research, 2021). This tsunami hit the Pacific coast of

Japan and devastated many coastal communities. The wave flooded 561 km2 of land along the

coast of Japan, hitting 602,200 residents of whom 3.5% died (Koshimura & Shuto, 2015). It was

estimated that the wave was 38 meters high (Reid, 2019) and that the water dragged about 5
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million tons of debris into the sea. In the following years, the water brought a large number of

household items, boats, and many other things to the Canadian and American coasts (Oskin,

2017).

Some of the strange things identified as debris from the 2011 Japan tsunami are a Harley-

Davidson motorcycle (found on the coast of Canada), a wooden village sign (Hawaiian coast), a

soccer ball (the coast of Alaska), a rowing boat (coast of California), and a fishing boat that was

first spotted off the coast of Canada. A large number of things stay in the water for a long time,

and many reach the shore unnoticed (BBC News, 2016). A tsunami first leads to the withdrawal

of water from the shore and then to the outpouring of a large amount of water in the coastal

areas. The power of water waves is great and can lift and carry with it large objects. The objects

reach the open water because the receding water pulls them with it. Then the water fragments

carry on and they reach distant shores (Ridddle, 2020).

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References

BBC News. (2016, March 9). Japan’s tsunami debris: Five remarkable stories.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35638091

CNN Editorial Research. (2021, April 14). Japan earthquake - Tsunami fast facts. CNN.

https://edition.cnn.com/2013/07/17/world/asia/japan-earthquake---tsunami-fast-facts/

index.html#:%7E:text=March%2011%2C%202011%20%2D%20At%202,earthquake

%20ever%20to%20hit%20Japan.

Koshimura, S., & Shuto, N. (2015). Response to the 2011 great east Japan earthquake and

tsunami disaster. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical,

Physical and Engineering Sciences, 373(2053), 20140373.

https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2014.0373

Oskin, B. (2017, September 13). Japan earthquake & tsunami of 2011: Facts and Information.

LiveScience. https://www.livescience.com/39110-japan-2011-earthquake-tsunami-

facts.html

Reid, K. (2019, May 7). 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami: Facts, FAQs, and how to help.

World Vision. https://www.worldvision.org/disaster-relief-news-stories/2011-japan-

earthquake-and-tsunami-facts#:%7E:text=The%20Great%20East%20Japan

%20Earthquake,of%20a%2012%2Dstory%20building.

Ridddle. (2020, August 16). How giant tsunamis work? [Video]. YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7UULBTArLY

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. (2009, October 8). Anatomy of a Tsunami [Video].

YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StdqGoezNrY