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Tsunami caused by Tonga volcano eruption stumps Japan weather experts

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The JMA (Japan Meteorological Agency) is also in charge of seismic events. Their website is quite good. http://www.jma.go.jp/

7 ( +9 / -2 )

Just goes to show that there is much yet to learn about mother nature!

5 ( +7 / -2 )

Experts say the tsunami may have been caused by the collapse of debris on the ocean floor and boosted by the pressure wave pushing down on the surface of the water.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Shortly before the visible blast, there was likely a collapse of the "dome" causing a large volume of seabed and seawater to be sucked into the crater and then also violently expelled as a combination of steam explosion and volcanic material ejection. This caused a ripple effect, possibly directional vs vertical, and led to impacts of varying magnitudes as waves combined with other waves.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Tonga had another volcanic explosion equal to the previous one

Another “large eruption” has been detected at the Tonga volcano, a Darwin-based monitoring station said Monday, two days after a massive eruption triggered tsunami waves around the Pacific.

https://english.alarabiya.net/News/world/2022/01/17/Another-large-eruption-detected-at-Tonga-volcano-Monitor

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Was perplexed to see footage of a tsunami rushing in on the Tonga coastline at around 5pm that day but even 2 hours later the JMA site had no tsunami warning. They are being pedantic to call it 'tidal change' It WAS a tsunami event. But nope, if the goddam manual says the data doesn't match previous events, nothing is done.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Well, tsunami‘s are known to be caused by water displacement and if one were to look at the size of the eruption itself, I don’t think it should be surprising that a tsunami was created as a result.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

What is even more surprising is that there are a lot of crazies online that start to spread false information that the whole thing was cause by a nuclear test. You can imagine just how stupid that sound.

0 ( +4 / -4 )

But if you read the article, Saipan had almost no increase wave strength, so it is not strange that Japan would think that a tsunami was not headed here!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

It was a shock wave from the huge blast. Why are they stumped?

2 ( +4 / -2 )

I'm a little surprised that they're surprised. When reading about massive volcanic eruptions of the past like Kakatoa and such, I remember corresponding tsunamis being mentioned.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

I think most of the algorithms, system and software used are outdated. Since CPUs cost has down drastically, They should upgrade system and algorithm to predict more accurately. These days we can buy supercomputer equivalent system of 1990s. Tidal wave 2.5 earlier? And calculation difference of 4-5m in Tohoku case is no joke.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Not quite @Zoroto 6:54pm. Changes in atmospheric pressure were felt worldwide, across the Pacific in Alaska to over the polar cap and even as far as Scotland:

Jan 16 https://japantoday.com/category/world/huge-tonga-volcanic-eruption-felt-around-the-world -

The National Weather Service Alaska reported the Alaska Volcano Observatory had recorded the eruption in Anchorage and Fairbanks "6,000 miles from the volcano."

The Fife weather station in Scotland tweeted it was "just incredible to think of the power that can send a shockwave around the world" after the eruptions produced a jump in its air pressure graph.

*- @Zoroto 6:54am: [stumped weather experts] “Not surprising, since volcanic activity and tsunamis have absolutely nothing to do with "weather".*

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Since CPUs cost has down drastically, They should upgrade system and algorithm to predict more accurately. 

If the phenomenon isn't understood, it doesn't matter how powerful the computer is. What data should be measured and what should the algorithms do? As they say, garbage in, garbage out.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Bit of an embarrassment for the JMA to publicly announce they didn't know / expect a Tsunami from volcanic action.

And experts are divided in their opinions??? Yes - but not that volcanos can cause tsunamis.

Multitudes of cases world-wide of Volcanic Tsunamis.

The most famous as @Speed indicated, the eruption of Krakatau producing a 40m monster that killed 36,000 people.

Just because the underlying mechanisms are not 100% understood - although all know water displacement will result in wave/tidal action elsewhere - doesn't mean it should be a surprise.

Could be more a case of JMA hierarchical convolutions.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

The most famous as @Speed indicated, the eruption of Krakatau producing a 40m monster that killed 36,000 people.

But in that case, there was a massive collapse of land into the sea, quite different from this undersea volcano.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

"tsunami waves of up to 90 cm"...

I guess this writer thinks that 90cm is insignificant. It was enough to capsize fishing boats in Japanese ports. So consider this:

Waves were estimated to be as high as 38 meters, the height of a 12-story building.

The 3/11 'ten metre tsunami' reached points on land up to 38m above sea level, the height of a 12 storey building. As the tsunami reaches shallower water, it rears up . If trapped in a narrow inlet, like the ones along Japan's Sanriku coast, or channelled through a canal system, the same process happens, meaning even areas many kms inland may be swallowed by a tsunami.

After looking down over the ruins of Onagawa town in Iwate, with someone who only survived because she left her factory and drove up into the hills to check up on her grandmother, I understood what a 10m tsunami means. I was on a vantage point up a hill, overlooking the town, and a local there explained that the place where we were stood was also hit. By water that swept up the hill with the force of the tsunami and rushed back down to our vantage point from above.

I'm 17m above sea level, and one km from the sea, but I kept an ear out for sudden warnings and updates on Sunday night. Actually the alarm went off over 20 times all through the night, so I didn't have much choice :

2 ( +2 / -0 )

albaleo - thank you.

As I stated just because the mechanisms are not understood at the time, doesn't preclude the real-time occurrence of a tsunami.

The scientists can sort through the data later.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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