![]() When an earthquake occurs, instruments called seismographs record the seismic (earthquake) waves that travel through the earth. Scientists are always on the alert for the next tsunami event. They detect and monitor tsunamis when they occur, predict when they will arrive at affected coastlines, and continue to provide updated information about tsunamis throughout their duration. Scientists at the Center rapidly detect phenomena that cause tsunamis and assess their tsunami potential. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) provides warnings of tsunamis to the public and to organizations responsible for public safety in coastal areas of Hawai’i (since 1949), the Pacific Ocean (since 1965), the Indian Ocean (since 2005), and the Caribbean Sea (since 2006). What to do in Case of a Locally Generated Tsunami.What to do in case of a Distant Tsunami.Five people were killed by the wave, included three people on the shore of Khantaak Island at Yakutat Bay’s entrance and two people on a boat in Lituya Bay. The wall of water this produced reached nearly 1720 feet in the air-which is higher than the Willis Tower in Chicago. It occurred when a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck the Fairweather fault, dislodging 90 million tons of rock into the bay. On July 9, 1958, Alaska’s Lituya Bay was hit by the largest megatsunami ever recorded. It crashed into the side of Mount Margaret before splashing back down into the basin below. The landslide remains the largest on record, and the 820-foot tsunami that followed is the third-largest in history. When the quake struck, the north side of the volcano broke apart and fell into Spirit Lake. Helens eruption in Washington on May 18, 1980, also resulted in a tsunami. The earthquake that caused the infamous Mount. Like Lituya Bay, Icy Bay features steep walls carved out by a retreating glacier, which contributed to the tsunami’s intensity. Fortunately, no humans were close enough to be impacted by the event. Following a landslide, the 633-foot wave cleared 8 square miles of forest from Wrangell St.-Elias National Park and Preserve. The remote fjord of Icy Bay, Alaska, saw a historic megatsunami on October 17, 2015. Experts still aren’t sure what caused the 1936 tsunami, but an underwater rockslide is one possible culprit. The largest wave topped out at around 490 feet. Eyewitnesses described three giant waves rolling in from Crillon Inlet one after the other at speeds around 22 mph. Lituya Bay’s second-biggest tsunami on record hit on October 27, 1936. Its steep walls and proximity to the Fairweather fault line are a recipe for destructive waves. Lituya Bay has been the site of multiple megastunamis throughout history. Tree ring counts show it occurring in late 1853 or early 1854, and trimlines (the point in the valley where trees were wiped away) indicate a maximum height of 394 feet. This megatsunami that hit the T-shaped fjord on the southeastern edge of Alaska was likely caused by a landslide. The water reached the top of the coastal hills on the Hitu Peninsula, indicating the tsunami peaked around 328 feet. The seismic event sent a massive wave crashing into Ambon Island, where it killed more than 2000 people. On February 17, 1674, an earthquake struck the Maluku Islands in the Banda Sea. ![]() The first megatsunami to be documented in detail in Indonesia remains one of the largest tsunamis on record. The mountains surrounding Karrat Fjord are still unstable, and an even bigger landslide-caused tsunami could be in Greenland's future. Experts believe the event was triggered by a warming climate thawing the glacial landscape. ![]() The megatsunami killed four people and swept 11 buildings into the ocean. A landslide on Karrat Fjord sent a 295-foot-tall wall of water into the fishing village of Nuugaatsiaq on June 17. Greenland rarely sees tsunamis, but it was hit by one of the biggest waves on record in 2017. Here are the tallest megatsunamis ever recorded. The tsunamis on this list aren’t necessarily the deadliest or most destructive, but they do dominate one category: sheer magnitude. When they reach land, they can decimate entire towns in minutes. The most powerful tsunamis move as fast as jet planes across the open ocean and grow as tall as skyscrapers. But when the inciting event is strong enough, the results can be disastrous. Defined as a wave caused by a disturbance like an earthquake, landslide, or volcanic eruption, tsunamis often reach just a few inches in height, according to NOAA.
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