Library Guides: Geology: Tsunamis

Tsunamis

Tsunamis are sea waves that result from the movements of the seafloor caused by earthquakes, submarine or subaerial landslides or volcanic explosions. They can also be caused by coastal landslides, such as the one that occurred in Lituya Bay, Alaska in 1958. The most notable tsunami occurred December, 26, 2004, caused by the magnitude 9.2 earthquake that struck the area off of Indonesia near the Andaman Islands. It generated a tsunami that spread over the entire Indian Ocean, killing over 250,000 people. Because tsunamis are waves that are caused by Earth movements, tsunami information is available from many different agencies, including the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Geological Survey. The following sites provide information about tsunamis.

Life of a Tsunami
This U.S. Geological Survey web site provides a very basic explanation of how tsunamis form. It explains tsunami in 4 parts: initiation, split, amplification and runup. Each part has a brief, easy to understand explanation with an illustration. The site also provides links to a web site containing quicktime video animations of tsunami behavior in northern and central California. The videos, which compress 2 ½ hours of wave activity into 30 seconds, show that the energy of a tsunami is reflected back out to sea, where it can continue to interact and re-build.
Tsunami Links
This is a very well-organized set of links to information about tsunamis developed by the U.S. Geological Survey's Pacific Coastal & Marine Science Center. The links, which are divided into sections, include general information, tsunami hazards and preparation, popular publications, warning systems, USGS tsunami publications, outside publications, research, Caribbean tsunami information and refers users to NOAAs Tsunami Research Center's links page. It also includes a few links to earthquake resources.
Tsunami and Earthquake Research at the USGS
This site, which is also part of the USGS Pacific Coastal & Marine Science Center, contains links to resources on tsunami research at the U.S. Geological Survey. It includes links to a number of animations of tsunamis throughout the world, including recent events, past tsunamis, numerous animations, panoramas showing tsunami damage, and models of possible tsunami activity that might result from an earthquake along the U.S. Pacific Northwest coast.
National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration Tsunami
This NOAA web site contains a lot of general information about tsunamis, including a brief tsunami vocabulary, YouTube videos of recorded tsunamis, summaries of NOAA activities and plans regarding tsunamis and links to information on other agencies web sites. It also has information on tsunami warnings and hazards, educational resources and tsunami animations. The education page has a link to a page called Tsunami Information for Kids which includes a video, games, and coloring books as well as other educational resources and links.
NOAA Center for Tsunami Research
This web site, also from NOAA, focuses on the NOAA's research efforts regarding tsunamis. It is more technical than the Tsunami web site, and includes information on tsunami forecasting and hazard assessment, the Deep Ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART) monitoring system, a list of historical tsunami events, and an information page with separate pages on tsunami education, data, links and frequently asked questions.