Tsunamis. It is not just the height of the wave but the power behind it.

[uppityperson]

Not to make any sort of comparison that might be inappropriate, but it is not just the size but the power driving it.

Back from the gutter. A 2 ft wave will break on the shore and go back out. A 2 ft tsunami is not just that 2 ft high and 2 ft wide wave but 2 ft high and a much bigger width wave. Hence the power behind it.

Back into the gutter to consider what this means in my daily life.

[TheCowsCameHome]

1. Traveling at 480+ mph give it serious power

That's a factor.

Never underestimate the power of the sea.

[uppityperson]

2. Yup. too many think of a tsunami as a towering wave, a regular big wave, when it isn't

It has a lot of power behind it. Speed and quantity.

dang my mind is filthy today

[malaise]

3. To think the big one is overdue here in

Jamaica.

Still Sendai was hit first by a 20ft wave and then a 33ft wave. That is frightening big time.
add

[Warpy]

4. Also, it's not just a wave that breaks and recedes

it's the massive quantity of water behind it that just keeps coming and coming, as we saw live last night as it advanced several kilometers inland over flat farmland barely above sea level.

As anybody who's ever had a roof leak knows, water always wins.

[jdlh8894]

5. water always wins

No,Mother Nature always wins.

[uppityperson]

9. that is exactly what I meant. it's not just a wave but a really long batch of water

that keeps coming, has lots of water and power behind it. It isn't the stereotypical hollywood big breaking wave but a really long wave.

[Warpy]

11. Right, you don't get hit with a wall, but you do get hit with a full length freight train

[uppityperson]

16. Exactly. You might be able to see over it very easily, but the length and volume and strength

keeps on coming.

[Rex]

6. So, let me see if I understand correctly.

The ocean floor lifted up and displaced the water that turned into a tsunami? Sorry if that sounds simple to some here, but I want to understand how it occurred.

Thanks.

[Gaedel]

7. Imagine a saucer of water

You jiggle the saucer from side to side.

[Rex]

8. Ah ic

Thank you, that explains it for me. :hi:

[JetJaguar]

10. The water goes up, gravity says get back down here.

Now the water to the sides says I'm getting out of here.

When this thousand(s) foot compression wave hits the sea shelf wall

now it has nowhere to go but up. Again gravity says get back here.

About half the water spills back into the ocean, the rest spills on

the sea shelf which is only hundreds of feat deep.

The water now attempts to level out but its more than the shelf can hold.

[Posteritatis]

12. And it's easy to forget that a cubic meter of water weighs one ton

A few hundred thousand - or a few hundred million - of those all moving in the same direction will keep moving in that direction for quite some time.

[CJvR]

13. I think the...

...best way to describe it is as a temporary raising of the sea level. A 10 meter tsunami isn't a breaking wave it is an elevation of the sea level, like the storm surge infront of big cyclones.

[ReggieVeggie]

14. Water weighs 8 pounds per gallon

Now multiply that by 1,000,000 times. Now you can see why a tsunami can be so devastating.

[musette_sf]

15. Having been awoken this morning by police sirens

and loudspeaker announcements of evacuation, these thoughts were the ones in my mind today.

"3 foot waves" don't sound like much until you consider the physics. Fortunately all is well so far today, but one must keep the physics in mind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVX0MSRRPEE