Interesting facts about tsunamis
A tsunami is a series of waves that form in the ocean after earthquakes, landslides, or volcanic eruptions. Its waves will increase as they approach shallow water and land, and can reach speeds of up to 900 km / h (this is the speed that modern aircraft fly at).
1. Whenever there is an earthquake, large landslides or volcanic eruptions, a tsunami may occur. The amount of energy released also affects how high the waves will be.
Scientists also suggest that in addition to earthquakes, landslides and volcanic eruptions, meteorites can cause them when they hit the ground. They believe that some meteorites caused devastating tsunamis in the past, but no one has been able to capture them.
2. Shortly before a wave forms, ocean water recedes several hundred meters. This is a dangerous signal that a tsunami is about to begin.
Experts say that when the ocean recedes, a wave can hit the coast in as little as 5 minutes. But at the same time, this natural phenomenon should not be confused with tidal waves that occur every day.
3. Waves are quite small in remote areas from land. But once they reach land or shallow water, they increase in size rapidly. The largest tsunami waves caused by this natural disaster can reach a height of 30 meters, which will cover the entire beach area, including some buildings.
But why do they move through the water without changing their size, and when they approach land, they become larger? The thing is that these are not ordinary waves. This is more of the energy that moves through the water. That energy has to go somewhere, and it won't slow down until it's in shallow water or hits land.
4. If a person somehow got into the very center of the wave, then in no case should you try to swim away from it. Firstly, it will still pull him towards itself, that is, in the opposite direction. Secondly, a person will spend a lot of energy trying to swim away from the tsunami, thereby reducing his chance of survival. The best thing to do would be to grab some floating object (if there is one) and swim in the direction of the wave.
5. The strongest tsunami happened in December 2004 and took the lives of about 280,000 people. This cataclysm was so strong that it affected 14 countries of the Indian Ocean region.
The reason for the death of such a large number of people is the lack of a warning system and preparation for evacuation. Moreover, during this event, many people rushed to the beach to watch the tsunami when the water went far from the shore.
6. The Pacific volcanic ring of fire accounts for up to 80% of all tsunamis in the world. It is the most seismically active area in the world and one of the most volcanically active regions. There are 328 active volcanoes out of 540 known on the planet.
7. Some animals are known for being able to predict natural disasters and begin to evacuate days or hours in advance of the occurrence of a cataclysm. This happens before earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, storms and even tsunamis.
Scientists still can not really understand how animals feel the approaching catastrophe.
8. Although about 500 thousand earthquakes occur annually, only about 100 thousand are at least somehow noticeable. Moreover, out of these 100 thousand, only 1-2 have sufficient power to cause a tsunami. In some years, 2-3 tsunamis occur, in some years there are none. If we talk about the average figure, this is 1-2 such natural disasters per year.
9. The outstanding ancient Greek historian Thucydides studied the cause of a high and destructive wave in the Gulf of Mali in 426 BC. The tsunami that hit the coasts of the Malian and Euboean Gulfs simply devastated them. Studying this problem, Thucydides came to the conclusion that an earthquake could be the cause of such high waves. Thucydides also became the first person to describe it as a natural disaster. The ancient Greek historian Herodotus, on the contrary, believed that these were the antics of Poseidon.
10. Palm trees can easily survive a tsunami wave. The thing is that palm trees have very strong and flexible trunks. Moreover, their root system is not similar to the root system of ordinary deciduous trees. Their roots are very thin and cover a large area, making the tree very difficult to uproot.
Palm trees can withstand tsunamis and even the strongest hurricanes, which is why these trees are planted close to the coast in countries that are most prone to these disasters.
11. This word comes from the Japanese language "tsu" and literally translates as "harbor, port" and "nami" - "wave".
12. Japan is one of the countries that are most susceptible to "big wave attack". All Japanese schoolchildren learn in the classroom how to behave and what to do in case of a tsunami warning. Japan is spending about $20 million to maintain its disaster warning system.
13. The largest wave ever recorded had a height of 524 meters and was observed on July 9, 1958 in Lituya in southeast Alaska.
14. In 1995, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) began developing the Deep Sea Tsunami Assessment and Reporting (DART) system. Each DART station consists of a specialized buoy located on the surface of the water and equipment located on the bottom, which registers pressure (BPR). Information from the BPR gets to the DART station, and it, accordingly, transmits the information to the satellite, which then redirects it to operators in the NOAA Centers.
15. Huge waves cause severe soil corrosion and poison fresh water sources. This is due to the high salt content in sea water. Therefore, the soil, faced with this natural disaster, becomes unsuitable for agriculture, and fresh water becomes unsuitable for consumption.
And today we decided to take a closer look at this natural phenomenon. In this article we have collected the most interesting facts about the tsunami.
