Meteotsunami

Some Meteotsunami events
Area Country Wave height (m) Fatalities
Vela Luka (1978)[1][2] Croatia 5.9 0
Nagasaki Bay (31 March 1979)[2] Japan 5 3
Pohang Harbour Korea 0.8
Longkou Harbour China 3
Ciutadella Harbour (15 June 2006)[2] Spain 4
Gulf of Trieste Italy 1.5
West Sicily Italy 1.5
Malta Malta 1
Chicago, IL (26 June 1954)[2] USA 3 7
Daytona Beach (3-4 July 1992)[3][2] United States of America 3.5 0

A meteotsunami or meteorological tsunami[4] is a tsunami-like wave of meteorological origin. Meteotsunamis are generated when rapid changes in barometric pressure cause the displacement of a body of water. In contrast to "ordinary" impulse-type tsunami sources, a travelling atmospheric disturbance normally interacts with the ocean over a limited period of time (from several minutes to several hours).[5]

Only about 3% of historical tsunami events (from 2000 BC through 2014) are known to have meteorological origins, although their true prevalence may be considerably higher than this because 10% of historical tsunamis have unknown origins, tsunami events in the past are often difficult to validate, and meteotsunamis may have previously been misclassified as seiche waves.[2]

These types of waves are common all over the world and are better known by their local names: rissaga (Catalan), milghuba (Maltese), marrobbio (Italian), abiki (Japanese), šćiga (Croatian).[5]

They are restricted to local effects because they lack the energy available to significant seismic tsunami. However, when they are amplified by resonance effects they can be hazardous.[5] A meteotsunami that struck Nagasaki Bay on 31 March 1979 achieved a maximum wave height of 5 meters; there were three fatalities.[2]

See also

References

  1. National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program. "Meteotsunami Fact Sheet". Weather.Gov. National Weather Service. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Bailey, Kathleen; DiVeglio, Christopher; Welty, Ashley. "An Examination of the June 2013 East Coast Meteotsunami Captured By NOAA Observing Systems (NOAA Technical Report NOS CO-OPS 079)" (PDF). NOAA.Gov. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
  3. Becky Oskin (December 12, 2012). "Freak 'Meteotsunamis' Can Strike On A Sunny Day". Huffington Post. Retrieved August 6, 2013.
  4. Tsunami Glossary 2008, UNESCO
  5. 1 2 3 Monserrat, S.; Vilibíc I.; Rabinovich A.B (2006). "Meteotsunamis: atmospherically induced destructive ocean waves in the tsunami frequency band" (PDF). Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences 6 (6): 1035–1051. doi:10.5194/nhess-6-1035-2006. Retrieved 23 November 2011.

External links

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