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Definition: tsunami from The Penguin Dictionary of Science

A series of water waves formed when a large body of water, such as an ocean, is rapidly disturbed, for example by an underwater earthquake. When the waves arrive at shallower depth, they slow down and so form huge destructive walls of water which crash down on beaches. The Boxing Day 2004 Tsunami caused the largest recorded death toll from such an event with at least 250,000 lives lost in South East Asia.


tsunami

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
(tsʊnä'mē), series of catastrophic ocean waves generated by submarine movements, which may be caused by earthquakes , volcanic eruptions, landslides beneath the ocean, or an asteroid striking the earth. Tsunamis are also called seismic sea waves or, popularly, tidal waves. In the open ocean, tsunamis may have wavelengths of up to several hundred miles and travel at speeds up to 500 mi per hr (800 km per hr), yet have wave heights of less than 3 ft (1 m), which pass unnoticed beneath a ship at sea. The period between the crests of a tsunami's waves varies from 5 min to about 1 hr. When tsunamis approach shallow water along a coast, they are slowed, causing their length to shorten and their height to rise sometimes as high as 100 ft (30 m). When they break, they often destroy piers, buildings, and beaches and take human life. The wave height as they crash upon a shore depends almost entirely upon the submarine topography offshore. Waves tend to rise to greater heights along gently…
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From The Conversation: An Independent Source of Analysis from Academic Researchers
Friday’s earthquake off Mexico was the largest in that region in over a century, and will add pressure to a region already being battered by several other natural disasters. The earthquake occurred off the west coast of southern Mexico 69 km below the surface, with a magnitude of 8.1, making it the…
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Full text Article Tsunami

From Guide to Global Hazards
A tsunami occurs when a submarine earthquake...
The most destructive waves on Earth are driven not by wind but rather are generated by a violent displacement of the ocean bed. Tsunami (the word is both plural and singular) are large, long, water waves caused by underwater earthquakes (seaquakes), submarine volcanic eruptions or landslides. They…
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Offshore earthquakes may not cause as much building damage through ground shaking but they can inflict terrible destruction through the generation of the giant sea waves known as tsunami. These are generated when a submarine earthquake imparts a sharp jolt to a large area of sea floor, sending waves…
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In 1998 a tsunami in Papua New Guinea destroyed...
The so-called tidal waves, properly termed tsunami, are not associated with tides but with submarine earthquakes or volcanic eruptions. A sudden shift in the ocean floor caused by vertical movements along a fault line may create a wave at the surface of the ocean. These waves can travel at up to 720…
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The process of stress accumulation between...
Abstract Tsunamis are rare events compared with typhoons and floods but can be extremely devastating. In the past 100 years, 58 tsunamis have claimed more than 260,000 lives; averaging more than 4600 deaths per occurrence. This rate is much higher than any other natural disaster including storms…
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Full text Article tsunami

From Science Encyclopedia: Encyclopedia of Marine Science
NOAA has deployed 39 Deep-ocean Assessment and...
A seismic sea wave generated by sudden displacements in the seafloor resulting from landslides or volcanic activity is called a tsunami. It is a Japanese word meaning “harbor wave.” These natural hazards are common along the Ring of Fire, coasts found along the Pacific plate associated with a…
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Full text Article tsunami,

From The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea
Creation of a tsunami
a Japanese term ( tsu , harbour, nami , wave) for waves triggered by earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, or large meteorites splashing down in the ocean. They are sometimes mistakenly called tidal waves but they are nothing to do with tides . They are very large scale versions of the…
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Full text Article Tsunami

From The Encyclopedia of Tourism and Recreation in Marine Environments
The word tsunami originates from a Japanese word meaning ‘great wave in harbour ’ (Fredericks, 2002, p. 3). These waves brought great destruction to Japanese harbours and villages. Tsunamis are composed of a single wave or a series of waves. They are not dangerous at sea, but become perilous and…
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Full text Article tsunami

From Encyclopedia of Earthquakes and Volcanoes
Movement of rock on a submarine fault during an...
A tsunami is a wave generated in a body of water by a physical disturbance. The wave may be produced by an earthquake, by a volcanic eruption, by an underwater landslide or by several other processes. Tsunamis are known, erroneously, as “tidal waves,” although tides are not a factor in their…
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Full text Article tsunami

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
(tsʊnä'mē), series of catastrophic ocean waves generated by submarine movements, which may be caused by earthquakes , volcanic eruptions, landslides beneath the ocean, or an asteroid striking the earth. Tsunamis are also called seismic sea waves or, popularly, tidal waves. In the open ocean, …
| 648 words
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