Tsunami

Tsunami Essay

How peaceful and attracting does this beach look like, isn't it just wonderful? Can you imagine going swimming in that salty warm dreamy beach? But if you look at this HAZARD WARNING ZONE sign, and you know what might happen if you INTEND on going to this beach, it is scary to even pass the warning sign, and not go INTO the water, right?

Tsunami, which is also known as seismic waves- and mistakenly called tidal waves because they are not caused by tidal action- are one of the world’s most dangerous waves that begin growing in height from any small number like 10 cm, and continue growing in height up to about 100 feet or more. A tsunami is a lot of waves made in an ocean or other body of water by an earthquake, volcanic eruption, landslide, or meteorite impact. Tsunami waves are tremendous and can travel very quickly, about 700 km/hr, wow, that’s a fast wave! They usually start growing when they reach the coast, and that's where they start slowing down to be able to hit. A short time before the tsunami wave hits, the water near the shore moves away so the tsunami has space. The first wave isn't usually the largest, every 10-60 minutes additional waves come. When it hits the city, Uh-oh! Everyone's doomed!! :( When these HUGE waves splash into the city, a lot of damage happens. Tsunami waves will destroy the buildings, houses that people live in, cars, banks, streets, basically the whole city! The whole city is very important for people to be able to survive in their environment. For example, without buildings they wouldn’t have a healthy place to live in, and without banks they could be going through a crisis and run out of cash, there are so many reasons why the tsunami is extremely dangerous and why it is important for the city to be safe. More importantly, the people need to be safe! What’s a safe city with not people in it?
The environment is another important thing. Tsunamis cause damage to infrastructure, animals and plants due to the fast waves that destroy everything in their path. For example like trees, crops, bushes, plants, and everything living, also animals, species and fish and a lot more!
If you’re thinking that the only way of protecting yourself from a tsunami is by running, you’re wrong. Tsunamis travel a lot faster than humans do, that’s what makes them SO dangerous! There are several tips that I found on the internet on how you can save yourself before a tsunami happens, during the tsunami and after a tsunami. Firstly, you have to know where the closest high-ground is and how you will reach it. You have to get as far inland as you can! You should always plan how to go far away from a tsunami before it actually happens. On the other hand, during a tsunami you should never go to the shore to watch for a tsunami. Don’t get close to at-risk areas until everything is over. Lastly, after the tsunami listen to radios and see what the people say- if they mention any more possibilities that the tsunami will happen, stay away from the shore, and DO NOT go sightseeing. Also, if you are injured or if your stuff is damaged, take notes and take pictures for insurance purposes.

So as you can see, tsunamis are quite dangerous. One article that I read described where the biggest tsunami occurred- and I found out that in 1964, a gigantic, tremendous tsunami about 200,000 square mile area which took place along the source fault has hit the South East coast of Alaska, the Pacific coast of British Columbia, and west coast of the United States. About 119 people got killed in this huge tsunami along the coast of Alaska, and caused 300 to 400 million dollars in damage of Alaska alone.
We should be very aware of them because we know what will happen by even THINKING about all the damage they can cause; The people and the community, the place/country, and the environment and animals and species will all lose their lives.

Because of all the consequences previously mentioned, it is very important to have good integrated measure to predict tsunamis’ appearances and to avoid human disasters.
There are different types of tsunami warning systems. I will describe one type that uses the bottom pressure sensors.

The fact that the presence of a tsunami can be felt on the sea floor can be used to detect the tsunami. By placing a piece of equipment that can sense the seismic waves’ energy on the seabed, we can be able to accurately sense the presence of a tsunami. One example of the tsunami warning system is given on the picture below. It is NOAA Tsunami Warning System

If you look at the diagram, the sensor will rest at the bottom of the ocean. It will continue to measure the pressure. The spike in the pressure in the ocean floor most likely means that a tsunami has just passed over the sensor! Once the measured pressure spikes, the sensor will send a signal to a buoy with a hydrophone and a transmitter. The buoy would be resting on the surface of the water. Once the buoy has received the signal from the pressure sensor, it will transmit VIA satellite to the Early-warning station the information it has. The Early-warning station will be able to inform the endangered areas of coming danger.

- This is to examine how the tsunami decides whether to inform the public or not!
The tsunami warning system was made to help minimize loss of life and property. It has two sources- the distant source and the local source. Basically, a distant source is when an earthquake happens from one place to another, like from Australia to America, and a local source is when the tsunami happens in the place its’ happening in- for instance, in Alaska.

I've also read some kind of article that explains how elephants in India run to the hills before the tsunami appears in the year 2004. It's amazing how they are capable of hearing the sound waves with much smaller frequency than us people- from 0.001 Hz to 20 Hz. Of course, when they felt it they ran away- maybe people should look more for these natural warning systems, pay more attention to this natural sign and include them with scientific inquiry that they received with some modern kinds of devices.

The global environmental justice between rich and poor countries are known as the powerful and the powerless within the countries. Even though the earthquake and the tsunami are natural phenomena- any natural disaster like volcano eruptions, drouts etc-, there wasn’t anything "natural" about the tsunami disaster and the earthquake disaster. The tsunami before and after is a study of how "natural" disasters can have "unnatural" effects in much poorer regions, going from human made things like poor housing and vulnerable subsistence economies. For example, the Pacific Ocean warning system can warn the Pacific “Ring of fire” countries of an incoming tsunami, but the poorer countries of South and Southeast Asia were not able to afford an Indian Ocean warning system. Now scientists are trying to create a warning system in poorer countries so that they live the same way as rich countries!

After all the online articles and information that I've read, I can conclude that it is very important to have a good emergency infrastructure- which can reach EVERYONE: from fishermen in Indonesia to THE SWIMMER in Hawaii- because that can save a thousand of people's lives!

Bibliography:

1. Pendick, Daniel. "Catching a Tsunami in the Act." Savage Earth. Daniel Pendick,
15 July 2008. Web. 23 Feb. 2011.
tsunami/html/sidebar1.html>.

2. NOAA. "What is a tsunami?" Windows to the Universe. /, 16 Sept. 2007. Web. 27
Feb. 2011. .

3. "The tsunami warning system- how does it work?" Yaquina Bay Communications.
N.p., 10 Aug. 2005. Web. 27 Feb. 2011.
home.cfm?dir_cat=40785>.

4. Claire, Eau. "The waves of devastation." The waves of devastation. N.p., n.d.
Web. 27 Feb. 2011.
tsunami/>.

5. Doesn't, Mention. "Tsunamis." United States search of rescue and Task Force.
N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2011. .

Tsunami in Alaska:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN6EgMMrhdI

Seismograph lab

CREATING A SEISMOGRAPH LAB

Problem:
How to create a seismograph that would properly record the simulated earthquakes.

Guiding Question:
How does the speed of the paper affect the data?

Hypothesis:
If you move the table faster, then the frequency and amplitude of the earthquake waves will be smaller.

Materials:
1. Cardboard box (to hold the paper)
2. Pen (to record the data)
3. String (to hold the pen)
4. Ruler (to hold the pen)
5. Lots of tape (to tape the rulers together)
6. Scissors
7. Notebook (to make the paper higher so the pen can touch it)
8. Chair (to hold the ruler)
9. Table (to make an earthquake)
10. Long paper (to be able to have a lot of trials)

Procedure:
1. Take any cardboard box that is about 40 cm long and 14 cm wide. Put it on a table where you will create the earthquake.
2. Take two rulers of any kind and tape them together to form a 90 degrees angle. Take one end of the ruler and stick it to the side of the seismograph- but make sure you stick them tightly so the rulers will be balanced!
3. For the rulers to be COMPLETELY perfect, take 1-2 heavy metals and tape them on top of one ruler so that the pen is more likely to touch the paper.
4. Take a thick notebook and place it on the cardboard box so that the paper which will be placed on the notebook will be high enough for the pen to touch it.
5. Place a long piece of paper which is about 25 cm long on the cardboard box
6. Then take a school chair and place it on the table- Fix the ruler with the tape into the chair
YOUR SEISMOGRAPH IS CREATED!
7. One partner should shake the table. First he/she should shake the table at slow movement, then at constant movement and finally with strong force. The other partner should move the paper (while the table is shaking) Observe what happens.
8. Repeat the previous steps

This is how your seismograph should look:




Record and analyze:
The data is presented on the pictures of our seismograph


Picture 1:



Picture 2:




Data analysis:
From the pictures above we can see that if we move the paper faster, the graph will look less frequent (like on the first part of the picture.) If we move the paper slower, then the shaking of the table would be fully recorded and the amplitude and frequency will be much higher.

Conclusion:
We can conclude that our hypothesis is correct. If the paper movement is faster, then it will decrease the amplitude of our earthquake waves. In a good designed seismograph you SHOULD NEVER MOVE THE PAPER FAST BECAUSE YOU CAN LOSE THE HIGH FREQUENCY AND THE AMPLITUDE OF THE EARTHQUAKE. I can conclude that this is very important to design a good speed of the paper (it should be slow). Also, the pen has to be strongly tight so that it doesn’t move with the paper. Thirdly, the height has to be exactly corresponding so that the pen doesn’t push on the paper.

Further inquiry:
I have a couple of things to warn myself for the future. Firstly, we unfortunately didn’t take pictures of everything we observed, we should also have done several trials and record each of them ; In the future, I advice myself to do an easy and hard shake with a slow and fast movement of the paper. However, in this case we should have seen the validity of our data and we should have had a good conclusion.

Labs and other Homework

Guiding Questions:
How can you locate an earthquake's epicenter?

Hypothesis:
You locate an earthquake's epicenter by finding the center of three different cities to see where the crossing point is- the edge or point where they cross is the epicenter.


Analyze & Conclude:

1. Observe the three circles you have drawn. Where is the earthquake's epicenter?
The earthquake's epicenter is somewhere between Mississippi and Alabama.

2. Which city on the map is closest to the earthquake's epicenter? How far, in kilometers, is this city from the epicenter?
The city closest to the earthquake's epicenter is Mobile which is in Alabama. It is approximately 100 km.

3. In which of the three cities listed in the data table would seismographs detect the earthquake first? Last?
The closest city city to the epicenter is Houston Texas, the next closest city to the epicenter is Chicago Illinois, and the farthest city from the epicenter is Denver Colorado.

4. About how far from San Francisco is the epicenter that you found? What would be the difference in arrival times of the P waves and S waves for a recording station in San Francisco?
San Francisco is about 3,000 km away from the epicenter. The difference of arrival times of the P waves and S waves for recording station is 4 minutes and 40 seconds.

5. What happens to the difference in arrival times between P waves and S waves as the distance from the earthquake increases?
The difference in arrival times between P waves and S waves increases as the distance from the earthquake increases.

6. When you are trying to locate an epicenter, why is it necessary to know the distance from the epicenter for at least 3 recording stations?
It is necessary to know the distance from the epicenter for at least 3 recording stations because we need to find the crossing points of all three. If you have two circles, then you will have two possible points of earthquakes.


MORE TO EXPLORE:

When I looked at figure 18 (earthquake risks in the U.S) I wasn't quite sure what my earthquake risk is, but in my opinion, the point is not about the highest risk, I assume this is the white gray color. When I looked at the map of earth's Lithospheric plates, I could assume that the cause of the earthquake in this area is in compression of the North and South American plates.

Research the city where you come from to see if there are any Earthquakes which have occurred in your area and if so when and how often? What magnitude are they?
The last recent earthquake that happened in Serbia was in Kraljevo in November the 3rd. It happened about 2 hours after midnight and it was 5.4 degrees by the Richter magnitude scale. The epicenter was 10 kilometers North from Kraljevo in a village called Vitanovac, unfortunately 2 people died during the earthquake. The strongest earthquakes in Serbia was not with the epicenter in Belgrade, but they were located mostly in central Serbia and their average magnitude (the strongest one) is approximately 5.7 degrees of the Richter magnitude scale. The first one was detected in 1893 with the epicenter in Sviljanac which was 5.7 degrees.