Earth and the Environment

How big do tsunamis get?

Link to this answer

CloseClose

Link to this answer

Share this credible answer with others. Simply paste this code into your blog or Web page:

<a href="http://qanda.encyclopedia.com/question/big-do-tsunamis-get-99037.html" >How big do tsunamis get?</a>
E-mail this answer Link to this answer

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).

Answer verified with
Get more facts and information about tsunami . Or, view the full encyclopedia entry from The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition.

Similar questions: What is the typical wavelength of a tsunami? Are tsunamis bigger at sea than near land? What is the typical size of a tsunami? [ Hide these questions ]

Related research questions

Related research articles

Tsunami: triggers expanded warning system.
Magazine article from: BOAT/U.S. Magazine ...and what would I do if it did? Some...if the boat can get out of the marina...Islands in 1946. That tsunami struck the Big Island of Hawaii...to detect a 1960 tsunami originating in Chile...scale. The resulting tsunami hit Alaska, the...and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART) ...
Tsunami terror.
Magazine article from: Odyssey ...frequent cause of a big tsunami is submarine...so with a local tsunami. When a local tsunami approaches a coastline...height, and then get steeper. The process...the December 2004 tsunami, the total energy...First, most tsunamis do not form such giant...
SURVIVING A TSUNAMI.(Disasters)(If the big one hits Oregon, experts say you're...
Newspaper article from: The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR) ...only warning you may get is the violent shaking...thing Oregonians can do to prepare for a tsunami...stopped shaking when the tsunami strikes. There is no...says Jay Wilson, tsunami and earthquake coordinator...notice for long-range tsunamis will do us no good in a short...
Living within tsunami hazard zones.(General News)(Reactions to and...
Newspaper article from: The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR) ...entrance explaining tsunamis. "We have to...if you feel a big earthquake - one...the reaction to tsunami preparedness is...tsunami would do to Oregon. That...decide what to do with the information...in the houses get crushed." State...possibility of another tsunami on ...
Did Tsunami Warning Reach Samoa On Time?
Transcript from: NPR All Things Considered ...09-30-2009 Did Tsunami Warning Reach Samoa...sure that it did. We do know that our bulletin...efforts made to try and do some education in...to countries, they get that, and then how do they try to transmit...s how the alert gets out. So it's a...those yesterday. The biggest ...
See all results at HighBeam

HighBeam gives you access to newspaper, magazine, and trade journal articles plus press releases, facts, information, and biographies from thousands of sources.