A tsunami is usually caused by a powerful earthquake under the
ocean floor. This earthquake pushes a large volume of water to the surface, creating waves. These waves are the tsunami. In the deep ocean these waves are small. As they approach the coast these waves get bigger and more dangerous. Tsunami waves can cause tremendous damage when they reach land. A tsunami can also be triggered by a volcanic eruption, landslide, or other movements of the Earths surface.
HOW DO TSUNAMI'S IMPACT THE ENVIRONMENT?
Tsunamis impact the environment in many different ways. The first way that they impact the environment is for animals, if they arent living in their specific areas, they could die. Also vegetation can be hurt in areas due to saltwater intrusion. When strong waves hit coral reefs in the water, some of it comes off. Lastly, due to saltwater invasions in the ground water, Tsunamis and other major floods have occurred. For example, if a whale or a dolphin is out at sea, a tsunami cant hurt it. But, a fish close to shore can be thrown out of the water and onto the beach. The word Tsunami is a Japanese word represented by two characters: Tsu and nami.
Tsu means harbour and nami means wave. A tsunami can last for SEVERAL hours. The biggest wave recorded was it can be as great as 10 meters, even 30 meters in some cases, and it can move inland for several hundred meters. Also Tsunamis are very dangerous to be around, so if you are around one go to the highest point near you and stay there until further notice. Secondly, when an earthquake shook the floor beneath the Indian Ocean in December 2004, resulting tidal waves devastated the shores of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, and other countries. This had left approximately 300,000 people dead and damages. This tsunami was the second largest Tsunami/earthquake recorded in the history. Also if you know a friend that is near by you should go tell them to go somewhere safe.
Detecting tsunami How the detection process works An undersea earthquake causes disturbance to both the sea floor and body of ocean above it. Seismic waves (in red) travel much faster than tsunami waves away from the earthquake source. Earthquakes are detected through a network of seismic monitoring stations. Any resulting tsunami are then verified by sea-level monitoring stations and deep-ocean tsunami detection buoys. The seismic monitoring stations can determine the location and depth of earthquakes that have the potential to cause tsunami. The sea-level gauges and deep-ocean detection buoys measure any abnormal changes in sea level to verify if a tsunami has been generated.
Deep-ocean tsunami detection buoys Deep-ocean tsunami detection buoys are one of two types of instruments used by the Bureau to confirm the existence of tsunami generated by undersea earthquakes. These buoys observe and record changes in sea-level out in deep ocean. This enhances the capability for early detection and real time reporting of tsunami before they reach land. These systems are capable of measuring sea-level changes of less than a millimetre in the deep ocean. A typical tsunami buoy system comprises of two components, the pressure sensor anchored to the sea floor and the surface buoy. The sensor on the sea floor measures the change in height of the water column above by measuring associated changes in the water pressure. This water column height is communicated to the surface buoy by acoustic telemetry and then relayed via satellite to the JATWC.
Landslide This article is about the geological phenomenon. For other uses, see Landslide (disambiguation).
Computer simulation of a "slump" landslide in San Mateo County, California (USA) in January 1997 A landslide, also known as a landslip (see also mudslide), is a geological phenomenon which includes a wide range of violent ground movements, such as rockfalls, deep failure of slopes and shallow debris flows, which can occur in offshore, coastal and onshore environments. Although the action ofgravity is the primary driving force for a landslide to occur, there are other contributing factors affecting the original slope stability. Typically, pre-conditional factors build up specific sub-surface conditions that make the area/slope prone to failure, whereas the actual landslide often requires a trigger before being released.
contingency plan Part of the Business terms glossary: What is a contingency plan? In business continuity and risk management, a contingency plan is a process that prepares an organization to respond coherently to an unplanned event. The contingency plan can be also used as an alternative for action if expected results fail to materialize. A contingency plan is sometimes referred to as "Plan B."