Japan disaster was two tsunamis rolled into one
The March tsunami in Japan was uniquely devastating, spawning waves of over 130 feet which traveled up to six miles inland. While the massive 9.0 earthquake is certainly to blame for the damage, the sheer strength of the quake may not have been the sole contributor to the tsunami’s might. Satellite imagery is now providing evidence that the tsunami that hit Japan began as two different waves, which merged far out at sea and traveled together towards the coast of Japan. The merging was aided by the seafloor geography, which pushed the waves together. While this effect has long been suspected, the March waves were the first to demonstrate this merging, and the study of this disaster might help projection of future hazard maps.
