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Tsunami Wave Dynamics Explained: A Receding Sea with a Loud Roaring Sound
Learn how tsunami waves are generated, propagate across the ocean, and interact with coastal areas
Tsunamis occur as a series of giant waves. Tsunami waves differ vastly from regular waves due to their origin, energy, and behaviour.
Sources that generate tsunami waves
While regular waves are generated by wind, tsunami waves are generated by underwater disturbances that cause a sudden displacement of a large volume of water in the ocean.
Undersea earthquakes
About 80–90% of tsunamis result from tectonic plate movements, especially at subduction zones where one plate is forced under another. This sudden vertical shift in the seafloor lifts trillions of tons of water in the entire water column, generating massive tsunami waves!
The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake with a magnitude of 9.1–9.3 on the Richter scale caused the worst tsunami in history! The epicentre was the west coast of northern Sumatra, Indonesia. The energy released…
