Tsunami's eerie warning sign

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

[New Perspective]

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!

Having went to college for Oceanography we studied these. The waves move at 500 to 600 mph usally just below the surface. When you see a wave break, it rises up when it's energy is transfered upwards due to shallowing. Thus the water goes up with the energy. Since it is building at such a fast rate it needs to draw more water, which it gets from in front of it. As it grows it draws water and keeps moving forward. We also need to remember the huge amount of water that was transfered from the top of the techtonic plate to the lower plate. Not all the water moves, just some of it, while it's energy is the driving force.

I have spoken to people who actually rode a small tsunami into a restaurant window on Long Island. It was the result of severe sharp turns by large oil tankers steaming to the docks for unloading.

[zoobee]

Riptides....don't they also pull you out?

[The Black Knight]

Umm, even more funny is that a nuclear bomb would make a GIGANTIC tsunami.

[Poohbah]

Describing the apartment building coming at the surfer like a giant flyswatter was perfect.

[OKSooner]

Thanks for getting the joke. I suppose I should have used one of those goofy sarcasm tags.

[firewalk]

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[Centurion2000]

Describing the apartment building coming at the surfer like a giant flyswatter was perfect

The best thing about that book was it went into detail about the aftereffects of the impact unlike most other disaster books.

Another good set of books you might like is James Hogan "Cradle of Saturn"

Uses a lot of Velikovsky's whacked theories but good reading for seeing how absolutely fragile our civilization is.