9 U.S. Towns Ready for Atlantic Tsunami

[Dover]

Feb 5, 6:40 AM EST



By RUSS BYNUM
Associated Press Writer

9 U.S. Towns Ready for Atlantic Tsunami


MIDWAY, Ga. (AP) -- Standing outside his home 100 yards from the Atlantic Ocean, John T. Woods III has a hard time imagining it - a towering tidal wave one day crashing over the dock where a lone fisherman recently cast his line.

Yet emergency managers here in Liberty County soon plan to post a warning sign near Woods' house depicting a stick man running uphill from a monstrous wave and declaring the surrounding area a "Tsunami Hazard Zone."

The closest thing that Woods, a lifelong Georgia coast resident, has been to a natural disaster was Hurricane David, a Category 2 storm that caused no devastation in 1979. Tsunamis, he says, "have never been a factor."

"I really think it's a waste of time," said the 47-year-old shrimper. "But you never know."

While tsunamis are primarily considered a threat on the Pacific Coast, emergency officials are paying closer attention to the potential for killer waves on the Atlantic Coast since the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that killed more than 200,000 people in 11 countries...cont'd


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EAST_COAST_TSUNAMI?SITE=COCOL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-02-05-06-40-23

_________________________________________________________________


Mega-tsunami to devastate US coastline

A tsunami wave higher than any in recorded history threatens to ravage the US coastline in the aftermath of a volcanic eruption in the Canary Islands, UK and US scientists will report today. Locations on both African and European Atlantic coastlines - including Britain - are also thought to be at risk.
The new research, a collaboration between Dr. Simon Day of the Benfield Greig Hazard Research Centre at UCL and Dr. Steven Ward of the University of California, reveals the extent and size of the mega-tsunami, the consequence of a giant landslide that may be triggered by a future eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano.

Previous research by Simon Day and colleagues predicted that a future eruption would be likely to cause a landslide on the western flank of Cumbre Vieja. A block of rock approximately twice the volume of the Isle of Man would break off, travelling into the sea at a speed of up to 350 kilometres per hour. The disintegration of the rock, this earlier study predicted, would produce a debris avalanche deposit extending 60 kilometres from the island. The energy released by the collapse would be equal to the electricity consumption of the entire United States in half a year.

The new model - which provides further insights into the consequences of the collapse - predicts that the landslide would create an exceptionally large tsunami with the capability to travel great distances and reaching speeds of up to 800 kilometres per hour. Immediately after Cumbre Vieja's collapse a dome of water 900 metres high and tens of kilometres wide will form only to collapse and rebound. As the landslide continues to move underwater a series of wave crests and troughs are produced which soon develop into a tsumani 'wave train' which fuels the waves progress. After only 10 minutes, the model predicts, the tsunami will have moved a distance of almost 250 kilometres.

cont'd

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2001-08/ucl-mtd082301.php


Further documentation:

http://www.swvrc.org/lapalma.doc

[bdamomma]

1. nothing is a waste of time if you are going to save lives.

[Dover]

2. When I saw this story (below) for the first time a few years ago

my first thought was that, barring a natural event, this landslide might also be vulnerable to an act of 'terrorism'.

Mega-tsunami to devastate US coastline

A tsunami wave higher than any in recorded history threatens to ravage the US coastline in the aftermath of a volcanic eruption in the Canary Islands, UK and US scientists will report today. Locations on both African and European Atlantic coastlines - including Britain - are also thought to be at risk.
The new research, a collaboration between Dr. Simon Day of the Benfield Greig Hazard Research Centre at UCL and Dr. Steven Ward of the University of California, reveals the extent and size of the mega-tsunami, the consequence of a giant landslide that may be triggered by a future eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano.

Previous research by Simon Day and colleagues predicted that a future eruption would be likely to cause a landslide on the western flank of Cumbre Vieja. A block of rock approximately twice the volume of the Isle of Man would break off, travelling into the sea at a speed of up to 350 kilometres per hour. The disintegration of the rock, this earlier study predicted, would produce a debris avalanche deposit extending 60 kilometres from the island. The energy released by the collapse would be equal to the electricity consumption of the entire United States in half a year...cont'd

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2001-08/ucl-mtd082301.php

[dysfunctional press]

9. that was my thought as well...

terrorists, or even other countries w/nukes who wanted to fuck up the U.S. could try to trigger a landslide.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

3. Earthquakes HAVE HAPPENED in the Atlantic

An earthquake estimated at 7.7 hit Charleston, SC in 1886, and there was a huge killer earthquake in Lisbon, Portugal in the eighteenth century.

Such earthquakes are rare, but when they happen, they're major.

[dysfunctional press]

10. just because there are earthquakes- it doesn't mean there'll be tsunami...

it has more to do with the geography of the ocean floor.

[Uncle Roy]

11. Has there ever been an Atlantic tsunami in all of recorded history?

I don't remember ever reading about one.

Have geologists ever found evidence of an Atlantic tsunami in the geological record of the past thousands of years? I don't remember ever reading about that, either. (Interestingly enough, they HAVE found geological evidence of pre-historical tsunamis in the Pacific Northwest, and they consider this to be evidence of occasional humungous earthquakes from the big subduction-zone fault just off that coast).

None of the above means that "it can't happen here", but given the number of things we already have to worry about in this life. like getting hit by a car while crossing the street, or getting hit by lightening when venturing forth from under the bed, I'd assign getting hit by an Atlantic tsunami while courting melanoma at the beach a pretty low priority in my worry-list.

Roy

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

12. Yes -- the Lisbon one cited above. See link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1755_Lisbon_earthquake

[Uncle Roy]

14. Thanks for the reference. I had heard of the Lisbon Earthquake, but didn't realize

that there was a tsunami associated with it. Given the size of the quake (estimated 9.0) and Lisbon's coastal location, it doesn't surprise me that there was a "local" tsunami, but this part was interesting:

Tsunamis up to 20 metres (66 ft) in height swept the coast of North Africa, and struck Martinique and Barbados across the Atlantic. A three-metre (ten-foot) tsunami hit the southern English coast. Galway, on the west coast of Ireland, was also hit, resulting in the partial destruction of the "Spanish Arch".

and the following speculation is really intriguing:

The geological causes of this earthquake and the seismic activity in the region continue to be discussed and debated by contemporary scientists. Some geologists have suggested that the earthquake may indicate the early development of an Atlantic subduction zone, and the beginning of the closure of the Atlantic ocean. Indeed, the only other recorded earthquakes of this size have been megathrust earthquakes involving subduction, making it all but certain that the Lisbon event was a megathrust earthquake as well.

The Atlantic has opened and closed several times over the years, and is currently still opening at the rate of 1 inch per year or so, with a "spreading zone" running down the middle (do the Canaries sit atop this thing?) This is the first mention I've ever seen of the possible start of a closing cycle.

Interesting stuff! But I still don't think there's much point in worrying about Atlantic tsunamis.

Roy

[Solon]

17. We should be properly prepared for natural disasters...

Doesn't matter what the natural disaster is, nor how often it occurs. For Tsunamis, this means that for coastal communities, have designated evacuation routes, a warning system, and public protocols in place to deal with the disaster. Tsunamis can be triggered by various events, not just Earthquakes, they just start them up. The Indian Ocean Tsunami was so big because an underwater landslide was triggered by the quake. There are plenty of cliffs and geologically active zones near the Canary Islands, Portugal, and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge to be a cause for concern.

Also, as far as the Atlantic itself, well, let's just say that the continents starting to move back together, very slowly.

[eppur_se_muova]

13. Possibly Bristol in 1607 -- 2000 died.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=228&topic_id=27004&mesg_id=27004

[Strelnikov_]

16. Maybe

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2717647#2718099

This year the group started using Google Earth, a free source of satellite images, to search around the globe for chevrons, which they interpret as evidence of past giant tsunamis. Scores of such sites have turned up in Australia, Africa, Europe and the United States, including the Hudson River Valley and Long Island.

. . .

Hither Hills State Park on Long Island has a chevron whose front edge points to a crater in Long Island Sound, Dr. Abbott said. There is another, very faint chevron in Connecticut, and it points in a different direction.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

19. HA! I knew those damn oil companies were behind it! Damn Chevron! -nt

[Dover]

4. Earthquakes from just off of Japan sent waves to U.S. west coast

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/files/specials/interactives/_international/tsunami1106/index.html?SITE=COCOL&SECTION=HOME

[achtung_circus]

5. Kick for home

they don't care what I read there.

[nashville_brook]

6. seen those signs in Indian Harbor Beach and couldn't figure out

what the hell made them "ready" when Satellite to the north and Indialantic to the south weren't.

now i know. $500 worth of megaphones.

[DixieBlue]

7. Anyone else get the feeling Mother Earth is

really pissed off?

I know these things happen all the time, but the rate of catastrophic natural occurrences seems really large. I, of course, have no scientific data to support that, just the news reports and all that National Geographic I've been reading the last few years.

[OKthatsIT]

20. Earth, and Solar System is approaching the GALACTIC PLANE

We are undergoing massive electromagnetic and gravitational activity.
Stardust is flowing like a river through our solar system.
Gravity forces from moving through the Galactic Plane are unknown to science.
The Galactic Center is very active, cosmic storms and waves are possible.
The Sun is moving towards its own cycle of solar maximm over the next 5yrs.
Human emotion may effect the electromagnetic functions of Earth.
Earth's internal stresses are building up due to all the above.

We could be witnesses a polar shift soon. This is not an exageration.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

8. how do we prepare for this?

[Strelnikov_]

15. Ancient Crash, Epic Wave (Mega-Tsunami Every 1000 Years?)

This could be one of the most significant geophysical findings in generations. The 'impact' of this theory on the sustainability of modern industrial society, as currently configured, is monumental. Imagine the loss of most of the Pacific rim cities in an instant. Loss of the entire Persian Gulf or Atlantic basin (including GOM) petroleum infrastructure, in an instant. With these events having a, say, 1/2000 chance of occurring any given year.

As a comparison, I work in an industry (dams/hydrology/hydraulics) where we design for a safety factor of anywhere from 1/500 to 1/10,000 (dam upstream of ‘urban’ area) chance of occurring any given year. I began thinking about the frequency of tsunami following stories of the Indian Ocean tsunami where indigenous tribes understood that the water pulling away from shore signaled a need to move inland, fast. This knowledge was obviously passed down by oral history, which indicates to me tsunami on the scale of the one two years ago may be a lot more frequent than we think. The problem is a limited record to estimate the frequency of infrequent, extreme events.

When these (theorized) objects struck in the past, humans far enough away from the impact and resultant waves simply had land to colonize a few generations later. In our modern interconnected industrial society, the effects will be felt throughout all but the most undeveloped parts of the world in the form of economic collapse, famine, and more than likely conflict as the warlords inevitably try to grab what they can in the chaos. Consider that 80% of the world’s population lives within 200 ft. of sea level. We may have one more reason for industrialized society to move a significant enough amount of its resources away from the oceans to provide some redundancy.

It all may come to nothing, but the evidence presented so far is intriguing.


Ancient Crash, Epic Wave
By Sandra Blakeslee
November 14, 2006

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/14/science/14WAVE.html?ex=1321160400&en=35b395ffd080eb47&ei=5090
. . .

Most astronomers doubt that any large comets or asteroids have crashed into the Earth in the last 10,000 years. But the self-described “band of misfits” that make up the two-year-old Holocene Impact Working Group say that astronomers simply have not known how or where to look for evidence of such impacts along the world’s shorelines and in the deep ocean.

Scientists in the working group say the evidence for such impacts during the last 10,000 years, known as the Holocene epoch, is strong enough to overturn current estimates of how often the Earth suffers a violent impact on the order of a 10-megaton explosion. Instead of once in 500,000 to one million years, as astronomers now calculate, catastrophic impacts could happen every 1,000 years.

The researchers, who formed the working group after finding one another through an international conference, are based in the United States, Australia, Russia, France and Ireland. They are established experts in geology, geophysics, geomorphology, tsunamis, tree rings, soil science and archaeology, including the structural analysis of myth. Their efforts are just getting under way, but they will present some of their work at the American Geophysical Union meeting in December in San Francisco.

. . .

Dr. Masse analyzed 175 flood myths from around the world, and tried to relate them to known and accurately dated natural events like solar eclipses and volcanic eruptions. Among other evidence, he said, 14 flood myths specifically mention a full solar eclipse, which could have been the one that occurred in May 2807 B.C. Half the myths talk of a torrential downpour, Dr. Masse said. A third talk of a tsunami. Worldwide they describe hurricane force winds and darkness during the storm. All of these could come from a mega-tsunami.

[AngryAmish]

18. I am certain that Northlake, IL is tsunami safe

Also I think Tunnel City, Wi is safe too.

Certification is just a piece of paper.