Posted on 12/28/2004 1:48:01 AM PST by 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
"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.
YUP.
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'.
You got it .
Believe itthat'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.
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.
"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. ;)
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.
CSI is absolutely the last place I would trust for scientific facts. Except for maybe the Creationists' web-sites.
We would be dealing with something far beyond man's capabilities that will never be achieved no matter how long man remains on this planet.
LOL!
Though I'm a lot more concerned about pleasing FATHER GOD
than worrying about 'Mother Nature.'
THX.
That little three foot wave causes the water to rush out (away) from land. The same for the big wave, just a lot more.
And if you blow the timing, you get a radioactive tsunami hitting the shore.
A classic scene. Niven said that he got thousands of letters asking if the surfer survived. His response:
"OK, I didn't see him hit the building."
Check out the videos on the bottom left Here
I think you are right.
Thanks for yet another voice of the great Poohbah sanity!
"We would be talking about 1 meter wide holes that would gradually release pressure."
Wow, you already have provided engineering specifications for earthquake prevention.......You're good.
Wouldn't it be more effective to inject ice water to solidify the earth's core?
Something like Koolade?
A classic scene. Niven said that he got thousands of letters asking if the surfer survived. His response:
"OK, I didn't see him hit the building."
Loved that scene.
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