TSUNAMI

INTRODUCTION

Tsunami is a chain of immense ocean waves which can reach a height of five (5)

meters that occur naturally due to the displacement of large volume of water caused by

the wake of an underwater earthquake. Tsunami waves could be produced by anything

that disturbs a large amount of water.

Figure 1: A tsunami reaches Miyako

City, overtopping seawalls and flooding

streets in Iwate Prefecture, Japan, after

the magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck

the area March 11, 2011 (Taylor, 2016).

Tsunami is a term derived from Japanese words that means harbor wave,

because of the devastating impact these waves have had on low lying coastal

communities. Some people refer to tsunamis as tidal waves, but this word is a

misleading description because, unlike true tides, tsunamis are not formed by the

gravitational pull and rotation of celestial bodies. According to the Department of

Science and Technology, there are two (2) types of tsunami generation: Local

tsunami and Far Field or distant tsunami. Local tsunamis are confined to coasts within a

hundred kilometers of the source usually earthquakes and a landslide or a pyroclastics

flow. It can reach the shoreline within two (2) to five (5) minutes. Far field or distant

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tsunamis can travel from one (1) to twenty-four (24) hours before reaching the coast of

the nearby countries.

Figure 2: The diagrams show how

tsunamis are generated when an

earthquake occurs under the sea

(PHIVOLCS-DOST)

These three (3) are the causes of Tsunami: Earthquakes. Most tsunami are

caused by large earthquakes on the sea floor when slabs of rock move past each other

suddenly, causing the overlying water to move. The subsequent wave is moving from

the point of origin of the earthquake. Landslides. In the ocean, just like on shore, there

may be a landslide. There are more prone to submarine landslides in areas of the sea

which are steep and laden with sediment, (e.g. at the edge of the continental slope). A

large volume of sand, mud or gravel can drift down the slope when an undersea

rockslide occurs perhaps after a nearby earthquake. This movement will release the

water, which may cause a tsunami to spread across the ocean. Volcanic eruptions.

Less often, tsunamis have been triggered as a result of volcano eruptions. There are a

number of ways in which this happens:

 A destructive collapse of coastal, island and underwater volcanos which leads to

massive landslides.

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  Pyroclastic flows, consisting in dense mixtures of hot blocks, pumice, ash and

gas which are plunged down the volcanic slope towards the sea where they carry

water inland.

 A caldera volcano collapsing after an eruption causing overlying water to drop

suddenly. (Geoscience Australia, 2016)

Figure 3: Tsunamis are

caused by large

displacements of water in

the ocean.

Image copyright and source

Image by Byron Inouye

TSUNAMI EFFECTS AND CHANGES TO THE EARTH’S SPHERES

The naturally occurring event of a tsunami is many times detrimental to the

places it affects. It is not possible to stop or control the tsunamis, as in most disasters.

There are no great things that could be done to limit their damage.

Tsunamis can have an important effect on Earth's geosphere, both in terms of

physical damage to the landscape as well as surface and geological changes. It is also

capable of transporting sediment and debris from one place to another, which could

affect the landscape and alter the characteristics of the coast. When tectonic plates are

collapsed in earthquakes, tsunamis may change the Earth's lithosphere structure. It may

be used as an agent of coastal erosion and weathering (Nikole D, 2023).

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 Tsunamis bring a wave of ocean water to the region, sometimes engulfing large

geographical areas. When the ocean water arrives on shore, groundwater may become

flooded and possibly contaminated with microaerobic bacteria, viruses, parasites or

chemicals that can have adverse impacts on humans' health (Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention, 2014).

Tsunamis are not just a cause of loss of human life, they also harm insects,

animals, plants and natural resources. The landscape is altered by the tsunami. It's

uprooting trees and plants, it's cutting down animal habitat such as nests for birds. Land

animals are killed by drowning and sea animals are killed by pollution if dangerous

chemicals are washed away into the sea, thus poisoning the marine life.

A tsunami can create waves of

gravity that fly into the Ionosphere, a

region in Earth's atmosphere where

there is strong concentrations of ions

and electrons which may have an

effect on radio propagation (Wei,

2017).

Figure 4: Maximum wave amplitude for the October 28, 2012 Haida Gwaii

Tsunami computed with the MOST forecast model. The insets show the space-time

TEC variations at 2 epochs within 27 mins interval (08:10 to 08:37 UT - October 28,

2012) at the sub-ionospheric points for 5 satellites showing TIDs, overplotted the

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tsunami MOST model. The TIDs are consistent in time and space with the tsunami

waves.

The concluding effects, the geosphere is capable of inducing earthquakes, and if

they happen underwater could be a trigger for another natural disaster such as

tsunamis (hydrosphere). By absorbing them in the water, and then being dragged out to

sea, these tsunamis can destroy parts of Earth's biosphere like plants, people or

animals (Lamartiniere, 2019).

Tsunamis have a devastating effect, and it takes very long to get over. Tsunamis

have such a large effect on the land masses they hit due to the fact that it is abnormal

and is a natural disaster that people, animals, and plants are unprepared for. The

positive feedback loop initially begins with the lithosphere and its plates shifting,

colliding, and overlapping with one another to release immense amounts of energy into

the hydrosphere causing a wave that then goes on to hit land and destroy and kill the

biosphere in that region perpetuates a cycle of destruction and terror. Tsunamis and

energy produced by massive waves of destruction have an impact on the atmosphere

as well. Technology continues to advance in its ability to accurately predict earthquakes

and tsunamis; tsunamis are predicted within a short period of time with little time to

prepare for such a catastrophe as a tsunami.

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 REFERENCES

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Atlantic.

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tsunamis

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https://www.cdc.gov/disasters/tsunamis/waterquality.html

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Wei, Y. (2017, June 19). NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL).

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