Why Do Tsunamis Happen? 🌊

Morning Waves!

Hey Durd, you might wanna look behind you…

Durd, you might wanna run.

Whenever the tide retreats that fast, it can only mean one thing…

A TSUNAMI.

Don't worry, he'll be fine.

But what exactly just happened? What actually are tsunamis?

Well, tsunamis are basically just super big regular waves.

The difference is in where they get their energy from.

For normal waves, they get their energy from the wind blowing them really hard.

But the wind only really affects the surface of the ocean.

So the waves are only tiny.

Tsunami waves, on the other hand, originate underwater…

Something has to happen underwater to release a HUGE amount of energy.

Something like:

An underwater volcano eruption.

A giant underwater landslide.

Or, most commonly, an earthquake on the ocean floor.

This energy from whatever it is travels upwards.

Pushing the water above normal sea level.

This water then falls back down, because gravity.

Which causes it to ripple outwards horizontally, creating waves.

This energy then travels through the water towards the coast.

At like 500 MILES per hour.

Now, at this point, the waves are barely detectable because most of the energy is underwater.

But as the energy gets closer to land, the water gets shallower and shallower.

And the energy needs to go somewhere, so it goes UP!

Creating a giant wave, dragging literally trillions of gallons of water with it.

This is why the tide retreats just before a tsunami hits.

Cause it needs a whole lot of water to make a wave like this:

Like 100 ft tall with enough power to destroy anything in its path up to a mile inland.

So yea, if you see the tide retreat super quickly, probably best to start running towards higher ground…

Stay Cute,
Reece, Henry & Dylan 🌈

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