Tsunami's eerie warning sign

New York Daily News ^ | 12/28/04 | WILLIAM SHERMAN

[kattracks]

Five to 10 minutes before it strikes, a tsunami usually gives a powerful warning that's hard to miss from the shore.

It's not a roiling wave coming in, but the reverse - all the water in view going out to sea in the most massive and powerful undertow imaginable.

"If you're standing on the beach, the water can recede all the way out to the horizon," said Brian Yanagi, Hawaii's program specialist for earthquakes and tsunamis.

"Our biggest worry is for surfers, swimmers and Boogie Boarders because that giant undertow starts quickly and moves out at about 30 mph, pulling everything down beneath the surface.

"If you're standing in waist-high water or even less, it will pull you out and down and kill you," he said.

Those on the shore have 10 minutes to reach high ground before the tsunami waves - actually walls of tumbling water - strike.

On April 1, 1946, before a tsunami struck the town of Hilo on the eastern shore of Hawaii island, the town's entire mile-wide harbor drained into the ocean.

"People came rushing down to see what happened, there were fish flopping around on the ground - and then the wave hit," said Ray Novell, spokesman for Hawaii's Civil Defense Department. More than 150 were killed in that incident.

That first killer wave is just the beginning of the tsunami. The big damage is caused by the third, fourth or fifth wave, according to Yanagi.

An undersea earthquake causes seismic shocks that produce numerous waves, each more powerful than the previous one in the cycle of massive undertows and debris gathered up and into the incoming waves, Yanagi said.

A tsunami can last from 30 minutes to 10 hours depending on the power and configuration of the original quake.

Originally published on December 28, 2004

[kattracks]

[William of Orange]

another reminder that mother nature is a far greater force than mankind ever will be, and we should remember.

[Critical Bill]

[goldstategop]

Simple physics. All that displaced water has to go somewhere. And so it goes to the most vulnerable low-lying area imaginable. They showed a tsunami on Miami:CSI a couple of weeks ago. As long you're on high ground, you're safe.

[Critical Bill]

Prince William Sound, Alaska, earthquake of March 27

photos

[Critical Bill]

Oops those Prince William Sound, Alaska photos are here

[SamAdams76]

Don't be so sure about that. Just over 100 years ago, people were saying it was impossible to fly. I'm sure future technology can control earthquakes and tsumamis. Probably by drilling holes in certain areas to relieve pressures.

Nature can and will be conquered.

[Critical Bill]

Probably by drilling holes in certain areas to relieve pressures.

That's the best idea I have heard of to date. They just need the technology to determine where pressure build-up's are in the earths mantle/crust.

[BunnySlippers]

Tsunami bump

[William of Orange]

That's the best idea I have heard of to date. They just need the technology to determine where pressure build-up's are in the earths mantle/crust.

won't drilling holes create the very tsunami's that you want to prevent?

[Critical Bill]

The part about his recent Tsunami is about what happened to all those divers/surfers and sunbathers. What a horrific experience. Imagine scuba diving and all of a sudden being sucked out to sea with all the coral rushing past you, and while you still have functioning scuba equipment, being unable to fathom what the hell is happening. A nightmarish experience I don't even want to contemplate.

[Critical Bill]

won't drilling holes create the very tsunami's that you want to prevent?

No sure how? We would be talking about 1 meter wide holes that would gradually release pressure.

[Proud_texan]

Here's a first hand report from a swimmer in Sri Lanka. Very different from what's described in this article.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26784-2004Dec26.html?nav=hcmodule

[shubi]

I doubt if a few holes would help.

[Route101]

Maybe these countries should have taught their people geology 101.......

[Max in Utah]

Or Tsunami 101.

[twntaipan]

Maybe, but there hadn't been a tsunami in the Indian ocean since 1883, and with no living memory of an event, and extreme poverty, there would be little understanding of geology 101 or tsunami 101.

[Phsstpok]

Good article, but the image included continues one of the big misconceptions people have in trying to imagine Tsunamis. As I understand it there generally isn't a huge wave curl, like pictured, or like you see in surfing films. Go back to what these used to be called: Tidal Waves.

I've been told it's better to imagine the tide, coming in and going out, but at a much accelerated rate and up to 30 feet above and below normal (that's the outflow described). Yes, there are waves associated with this, but they are on top of this large surge of water. It's the surge that kills, just like in hurricanes.

Of course, then there's Larry Niven's description of a surfer trying to surf the 1,000 meter mega tsunami from a comet impact in the Pacific Ocean in Lucifer's Hammer. He almost made it. Nose bleed from the G forces and all. If only that high rise condo hadn't been built a half mile in from Malibu Beach....

[OKSooner]

Maybe nuclear bombs set off in the tsunami just as it's approaching shore to disperse it and vaporize the water into the atmosphere?

That might work.

[dirtboy]

Don't be so sure about that. Just over 100 years ago, people were saying it was impossible to fly. I'm sure future technology can control earthquakes and tsumamis. Probably by drilling holes in certain areas to relieve pressures.

The entire island of Sumatra moved laterally in this earthquake. Drilling vertical holes wouldn't relieve anything.

It's more likely that we'll be able to forecast major quakes and get people out of harm's way.

[wildehunt]

7th Grade Earth Science..

[William of Orange]

the article's writer is one William Sherman, any relation to the famous namesake?

[RandallFlagg]

Yeah, nothing would help because......


IT'S ALL BUSH'S FAULT!

(I'm seriesly wondering how soon they'll be screaming this, again)

[429CJ]

I could not believe my ears yesterday when I was watching CrossFire on CNN. Al Sharpton was apparently the guest liberal and he asked if global warming might have something to do with the tital wave!!

[RandallFlagg]

I wonder what would have happened in librat circles if Michael Crichton walked on the set and slapped Al.

[gitmo]

This was posted by EnjoyingLife on another thread.

April 1946: Tsunami inundating Hilo, Hawaii. Note the man on pier (lower left).
This disaster provided impetus for C&GS (Coast & Geodetic Survey) to establish the tsunami warning system.

Source: http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/historic/c&gs/theb2705.htm
Big photo: http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/historic/c&gs/images/big/theb2705.jpg
Credit: NOAA Photo Library, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Adminstration (NOAA), United States Government

[chiller]

I'm not buying the preceding undertow idea, either, whereas the general rapid rise of water levels as described by the WaPost reporter --without large waves--makes more sense.

I can't imagine a tsunami creating a vacuum out in front of its path, which is what it would take to create an undertow, unless a huge wave pulled water from below, stacked it up high, creating room for an undertow.

Man oh man. Nature is mind blowing. Think of the force of a little 3 foot wave you've played in that's tossed you around and magnify it times a a million billion!

[Quix]

There are some fringe claims that big quakes and eruptions can be triggered by Tesla's sorts of technologies.

I know of NO claims or even serious wild fantasies that they can be prevented.

Everything I've ever read asserts that the energies, dynamics, quantities of masses and energies involved are vastly wayyyyyyyyyy beyond man's dinking with remotely successfully.

And that's not even considering God's hand in the affairs of men. I believe God is in the process of pulling back the veil and showing man just how puny man's capacities are--and how overblown man's arrogance is.

I'd be extremely surprised if you held onto a shred of your perspective within 55 years max.

[Quix]

The depths and temperatures involved are beyond conceiving of any technology to work at those depths even in wild fantasies currently.

[Quix]

Temperatures and pressures would prevent getting anything that would remotely hold it's shape a fraction of the distance.

The massive temperatures and pressures involved would require 10's of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of such drill holes.

It would be much more possible to move Los Angeles to Mars.

[dfwgator]

Nature can and will be conquered.

All we need is for President Bush to sign the Kyoto Treaty. (/sarcasm)

[Quix]

If the goal were saving lives on the shore, it would be rather counter productive!

And, would probably take a lot of tactical nukes hitting the water in a line at precisely the right point and timing.

Sounds like another unrealistic wild fantasy, to me.

[Quix]

How about just knocking him out cold. More fitting.

[Quix]

WOULD YOU PLEASE consider coming to this thread and setting them straight on the wildly astronomical impossibilities of drilling holes etc. and preventing such quakes and tsunamis? Several posters seem convinced that we'll have it all solved by technology before too long. Sigh.

[Labyrinthos]

the article's writer is one William Sherman, any relation to the famous namesake?

Don't you mean Sherman Williams?

[pbear8]

Firsthand account from a our friend in Phuket

Date: 12/27/04 19:52:21
Subject: Mr. Tsunami

Hello all:

Figured it would be easier to send out a mass email (I will answer everyone's as well in time).

Things have been a bit crazy and the pix look better than what it is like.
Where to began? I didn't even know there was a quake. I was at our dive shop teaching a course, I happened to be in the pool which was lucky for me. I was getting out of the pool with a student when all hell broke lose.

People came running by us screaming and yelling about a wall of water. I turned around and just saw water and water and water. The beach was gone, cars were being thrown over walls and motorbikes were being rushed down the streets.

Things subsided rather guickly but then the uncertainty sank in. Actually getting tired of the word aftershock!!!

Phi Phi Islands, Similans and most beaches are gone. If you own a hotel on the beach or restaurant you are gone. Our shop got hit hard, water rushed through the glass but everyone got out. Thankfully we are a dive shop so most of our stuff/inventory can be cleaned and dried off;-)

I walked away ok, only lost my phone (new one with same number before). I was pretty happy though I found both my sandals!! Anyway it was a lot more terrifiying and scary then I'm telling but all is well.

Sorting things out now. If you plan on visiting hold off a few months;-) Been in a lot of natural disasters but I'm pretty confident when I say I don't want to be seeing anymore 10 metre waves. Phuket was actually lucky we were so close otherwise things could of been A LOT worse (India/Maldives I think took the brunt of things).

Hopefully things get back to "normal" in a few weeks to a month at least routine wise because the tourists are gone. Thanks for the emails. I'll respond to everyone soon.

[Vision]

"If you're standing on the beach, the water can recede all the way out to the horizon"

I gotta see a picture of that

[Psycho_Bunny]

"If you're standing on the beach, the water can recede all the way out to the horizon,"

If you're standing on a beach and the water starts to recede and you stand there long enough to watch it recede off into the horizon, Natural Selection is about to give you what you deserve for being a moron.

[downtoliberalism]

Maybe nuclear bombs set off in the tsunami just as it's approaching shore to disperse it and vaporize the water into the atmosphere?
---

This tsunami was 600 miles wide. Does a nuclear bomb consume 600 miles?

[FatherofFive]

"Maybe nuclear bombs set off in the tsunami just as it's approaching shore to disperse it and vaporize the water into the atmosphere?
That might work."

Too funny! People talked about using nuclear devices to stop hurricanes, as well. The lack of basic scientific knowledge is mind-numbing.

[Quix]

YUP.

[Godzilla]

WOULD YOU PLEASE consider coming to this thread and setting them straight on the wildly astronomical impossibilities of drilling holes etc. and preventing such quakes and tsunamis?

Unfortunately there are those who hopes in technology far surpass the reality (I'm still waiting for my flying car). For the record, we are talking about a displacement on the TECTONIC scale over a length of probably several hundred kilometers laterally and miles deep over a fault plane surface of thousands of square miles (at least). We cannot yet predict times and locations for earthquakes, let alone identify where to drill a boring to some how 'relieve the pressure'.

[Critical Bill]

I can't imagine a tsunami creating a vacuum out in front of its path, which is what it would take to create an undertow, unless a huge wave pulled water from below, stacked it up high, creating room for an undertow.

You got it .

[Fabozz]

"I can't imagine a tsunami creating a vacuum out in front of its path, which is what it would take to create an undertow, unless a huge wave pulled water from below, stacked it up high, creating room for an undertow."

Believe it—that's exactly what happens. Water in a wave mostly moves vertically, not horizontally. A wave doesn't consist of water moving across the ocean, but rather of energy moving across the ocean. This energy causes the water to rise up, which creates a low-pressure area underneath the wave that draws water in.

Out in the open ocean, the water drawn up mostly comes from water driven out by the downrush of the adjacent troughs. However, at the shore, the ground slopes up. Water still flows downhill even in the ocean, so more of the water drawn up by the wave comes from "uphill" (i.e., closer to shore). This is what causes the undertow with normal waves; a monster wave like a tsunami has a monster undertow.

[dfwgator]

And even if we could do something like that, what would be the consequences. Messing with nature is never a good idea, it will always have the final word.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

"It would be much more possible to move Los Angeles to Mars." I'd vote for that!

Yep. We truly are guests on this Big Blue Marble. Mother Nature never runs out of ways to flick us off her back like the thoughtful fleas we are. ;)

[citizen]

Drilling holes won't stop tectonic plates from drifting & colliding.

I doubt it would help with volcanos either, the scale of these events is simply way to big for man to deal with.

[WildTurkey]

They showed a tsunami on Miami:CSI a couple of weeks ago.

CSI is absolutely the last place I would trust for scientific facts. Except for maybe the Creationists' web-sites.

[P from Sheb]

"If you're standing on the beach, the water can recede all the way out to the horizon,"

Reminds me of the Far Side: "Nature's Subtle Sings of Danger" where the diver feeds a school of fish which then suddenly vanish.