Publication

Explaining the physics of tsunamis to undergraduate and non-physics students

Giorgio Margaritondo
2005
Journal Articles

Abstract

After the recent devastating tsunami in southern Asia, I tried to find a simple way to present the physics of this phenomenon to students-in particular, the origin of the dispersion relation and the consequent wave properties. Being unable to locate a suitable source for a truly elementary approach, I developed the simple derivation presented here by extending to shallow-water waves a clever capillary wave model recently developed by Behroozi and Podolefsky (2001 Eur..1. Phys. 23 225). The main properties of tsunami waves can thus be obtained with an elementary and straightforward procedure suitable for undergraduates in physics and other disciplines.

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https://infoscience.epfl.ch/entities/publication/20d36ebf-19b4-4019-bb60-cddf8a8b7f42

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Giorgio Margaritondo
2005
Journal Articles

Abstract

Official source

https://infoscience.epfl.ch/entities/publication/20d36ebf-19b4-4019-bb60-cddf8a8b7f42

About this result

Related concepts (17)

Tsunami

A tsunami ((t)suːˈnɑːmi,_(t)sʊˈ- ; from 津波, tsɯnami) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explosions (including detonations, landslides, glacier calvings, meteorite impacts and other disturbances) above or below water all have the potential to generate a tsunami.

Tsunami warning system

A tsunami warning system (TWS) is used to detect tsunamis in advance and issue the warnings to prevent loss of life and damage to property. It is made up of two equally important components: a network of sensors to detect tsunamis and a communications infrastructure to issue timely alarms to permit evacuation of the coastal areas. There are two distinct types of tsunami warning systems: international and regional.

2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami

On 26 December 2004, at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+7), a major earthquake with a magnitude of 9.1–9.3 struck with an epicentre off the west coast of northern Sumatra, Indonesia. The undersea megathrust earthquake, known by the scientific community as the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake, was caused by a rupture along the fault between the Burma Plate and the Indian Plate, and reached a Mercalli intensity up to IX in some areas.

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