Tsunami, features and articles | Educational Science

Nov 30, 2004

Tsunamis in History

Some of the biggest, most destructive and deadliest tsunamis on record: 8,000 years ago: A volcano caused an avalanche in Sicily 8,000 years ago that crashed into the sea at 200 mph, triggering a devastating tsunami that spread across the entire Mediterranean Sea. There are no historical records of the...

Jan 31, 2005

Tsunami Earthquake Three Times Larger Than First Thought

A new analysis of the December earthquake that caused disastrous tsunami waves to strike Asia and Africa finds it was three times more powerful than earlier measurements suggested. This would make it the second largest earthquake ever instrumentally recorded. Seismologists Seth Stein and Emile Okal from Northwestern University said Tuesday...

Dec 31, 2004

Tsunami Didn't Redraw Asian Coastlines

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) _ Aerial images of tsunami-battered coastlines suggest the world map may be changed forever, with chunks of land sinking into the sea. But did the quake and the killer wave it spawned really significantly reshape the Indian Ocean's outline? Scientists say probably not. Almost all the apparent...

Dec 31, 2004

Tsunami Special Report

The earthquake and tsunami of Dec. 26, 2004 combined to create a disaster in Asia that is among the worst in recorded history. Though significant tsunamis are rare, it was not the first event of its kind. Tsunamis have proven incredibly deadly in the past. In 1896 a tsunami caused...

Dec 31, 2004

Caribbean to Get Tsunami Warning System as Scientists Fret

Last month's tsunami-causing earthquake in Indonesia has scientists exploring seafloors and fault lines in an effort to predict where and when a similar disaster could occur. While it is unlikely that such a catastrophe will strike the Atlantic Coast of the United States, there is growing concern that a series...

Sep 30, 2006

Wave of Destruction: Asian Tsunami Disaster

Kalutara, Sri Lanka (Before) (Image credit: Digital Globe)This image shows the area detail of the coast of Kalutara, Sri Lanka prior to the Tsunami disaster. This before photograph was taken almost a year earlier, on January 1, 2004. Map Overview: Earthquake Spawns Tsunamis (Image credit: USGS)The Earth’s solid surface floats...

Dec 31, 2006

Tsunamis: The Grave, Global and Unpredictable Threat

In an eerie repeat of an event two months ago, thousands of resident in Japan fled to higher ground this weekend after a faraway magnitude 8.2 earthquake triggered a tsunami warning. Only small and relatively harmless waves developed this time, as in November. The warnings came in part because of...

Aug 31, 2009

Tsunami Warning System Didn't Help Samoans

WASHINGTON -- At 6:48 a.m. local time, an earthquake shook the floor of the Pacific Ocean. Seismometers detected a magnitude 7.9 quake and alerted the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii. By 7:03, the center had sent out a warning bulletin. An earthquake of this size has the potential to...

Sep 30, 2010

Tsunamis Send Mysterious Waves into Atmosphere

Tsunamis leave a destructive and often deadly stamp on land, but they also make a surprising and poorly understood impression high above the Earth. Now scientists are turning their gaze upward in the hunt for signs of these as-yet mysterious atmospheric gravity waves generated by tsunamis, in an effort to...

Jan 31, 2010

How Long it Takes a Tsunami to Travel Across the Ocean

Estimated travel time for the tsunami generated by the 8.8-magnitude earthquake in Chile. The location of the earthquake is shown as a yellow star. Officials with the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the times are estimates, and that waves can continue for an hour or more after the initial wave...

Nov 30, 2011

'Merging Tsunami' Amped Up Japan Destruction

The massive tsunami generated by the March 2011 earthquake off the coast of northeastern Japan was a merging tsunami — a type of tsunami long thought to exist, but seen now for the first time, scientists report. The magnitude-9.0 Tohoku-Oki temblor, the fifth-most powerful quake ever recorded, triggered a tsunami...

Feb 28, 2011

Aftereffects: How Japan Can Improve Its Earthquake, Tsunami Defenses

Japan's buildings may have mostly survived the massive 8.9 magnitude earthquake that struck last Friday, but thousands of people died because of the deadly tsunami that followed and swept away entire coastal towns. Now the Japanese have the chance to rebuild even stronger defenses to safeguard the lives of its...

Aug 31, 2018

Warnings Abounded Before Massive Alaska Landslide and Tsunami

A massive landslide and tsunami that denuded the slopes of an Alaskan fjord could reveal warning signs that could help predict future disasters. In a new paper, researchers described the geological fingerprints of the tsunami, which tore through Taan Fjord on Oct.17, 2015, at an estimated 100 mph (162 km/h)....

Mar 12, 2012

Deep Ocean Floor Can Focus Tsunami Waves

As the waves of a tsunami approach a coastline, the topography of the seafloor near the coast plays a major role in determining how large those waves become and what places get hit harder than others. For example, when the waves of the massive tsunami generated by last year's magnitude...

Mar 23, 2012

Japan Tsunami Holds Lessons for Pacific Northwest

Though some 20,000 people perished or are considered missing after Japan's massive earthquake and tsunami last year, the toll in human lives could have been far worse, one researcher says, noting that a similar event occurring in the U.S. Pacific Northwest could be far more deadly. The magnitude 9.0 earthquake...