In the open ocean where the water is deep, tsunamis will typically travel greater than 700km/hr. When they reach shallow water, like all waves, they lose energy and slow down. The amount of speed the tsunami loses depends on the rate of shallowing. Go from deep to shallow very quickly, the tsunami loses less speed, than going from deep to shallow over a very long distance
Still, they are travelling at tens of kilometres an hour when they hit the beach, so don’t be trying to out run any you see
Dustin’s got it covered. 🙂
Tsunami waves slow down as the reach shallower water, but they also get bigger in size, which means they are still extremely dangerous.
Just in case anyone is interested, the Japanese word tsunami means “harbour wave” in English. Tsunami is definitely more catchy!
Hi Jamesy,
In the open ocean where the water is deep, tsunamis will typically travel greater than 700km/hr. When they reach shallow water, like all waves, they lose energy and slow down. The amount of speed the tsunami loses depends on the rate of shallowing. Go from deep to shallow very quickly, the tsunami loses less speed, than going from deep to shallow over a very long distance
Still, they are travelling at tens of kilometres an hour when they hit the beach, so don’t be trying to out run any you see
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Dustin is right, again 🙂
0
Dustin’s got it covered. 🙂
Tsunami waves slow down as the reach shallower water, but they also get bigger in size, which means they are still extremely dangerous.
Just in case anyone is interested, the Japanese word tsunami means “harbour wave” in English. Tsunami is definitely more catchy!
0