The giant waves are called tsunamis. They are of enormous height and width, arising in the ocean under the influence of water (most often due to earthquakes). The word itself comes from the Japanese language, where it consists of two characters - "wave" and "bay". It was Japan and other countries with access to the Pacific Ocean that became victims of killer waves. The Pacific region witnessed a wave in the world that hit the coast of American Alaska.

Top 1. Tsunami in Lituya Bay, 1958

Lituya Bay is located in the northeastern part of the Gulf of Alaska. The bay is separated from the outlet to the ocean by a strait about 500 meters wide. Lituya Bay is about 11 kilometers long and about 3 kilometers wide. Cenotaph Island is located in the center of the bay.

The catastrophe was provoked by the earthquake that took place on July 9, 1958. It caused a rockfall on the Gilbert Glacier northeast of the bay. About 30 million cubic meters rock and ice fell into the eastern part of the bay from a height of about 900 meters. A tsunami caused by a rockfall hit both shores of the bay and Cenotaph Island. Scythe La Gaussi, located near the epicenter of the wave, was almost completely washed away. The wave height was 524 meters. The tsunami uprooted most of the trees in the passage area.

Five people became victims of the huge wave. Two of them were caught by a tsunami on a fishing boat. The people who left the bay on that fateful day on two more ships miraculously survived and were picked up by rescuers.

Top 2. Indian Ocean, 2004

The 2004 tsunami went down in history as the deadliest - more than 230 thousand people became victims of the anger of nature. The beginning of the giant wave was laid by an underwater earthquake with a magnitude of 9 points. Tsunami waves hitting land reached a height of thirty meters.

Radar satellites recorded an underwater tsunami, whose height after the earthquake was about 60 centimeters. Unfortunately, these observations could not help prevent a catastrophe, because it took several hours to process the data.

Sea waves have reached the coast different countries at different times. The first blow immediately after the earthquake struck the north of Sumatra. The tsunami reached Sri Lanka and India only an hour and a half later. Two hours later, the waves hit the shores of Thailand.

Tsunami waves led to human casualties in the countries of East Africa: Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania. Sixteen hours later, the waves reached the town of Struisbaa on the coast of South Africa. A little later, tidal waves up to a meter high were recorded in the area of ​​the Japanese scientific station in Antarctica.

Part of the tsunami's energy escaped into the Pacific Ocean, where tidal waves were recorded on the coast of Canada, British Columbia, Mexico. In some places, their height reached 2 and a half meters, which exceeded the waves recorded off the coast of some countries located closer to the epicenter.

Most affected by the tsunami:

• Indonesia. Three waves hit the northern part of Sumatra less than half an hour after the earthquake. According to the testimony of survivors, the waves exceeded the height of the houses.
• Andaman and Nicobar Islands (India), where more than 4 thousand people died.
• Sri Lanka. The waves reached a height of 12 meters. The passenger train "Queen of the Sea Coast" became the victim of the tsunami. His death was the largest railway disaster in modern history and claimed more than 1,700 lives.
• Thailand. Waves, the height of which was second only to those that hit Sumatra, destroyed the southwestern coast of the country. There were many tourists from other countries at the scene of the tragedy. More than three thousand people died and another five thousand are missing.

Top 3. Japan, 2011

In March 2011, an underwater earthquake struck the ocean east of Honshu Island. It triggered a tsunami that devastated the coast of Honshu and other islands in the archipelago. The waves reached the opposite coast of the Pacific Ocean. In the coastal areas of South American countries, an evacuation was announced, but the waves did not pose a big threat.

The waves reached the islands of the Kuril ridge. The Emergencies Ministry evacuated several thousand Russian citizens from the coastal areas of the islands. Waves up to three meters high were recorded near the village of Malokurilskoye.

The first tsunami waves hit the Japanese archipelago within half an hour after the end. The highest elevation was recorded near the city of Miyako (north of Honshu) - 40 meters. The coast took the heaviest blows within an hour after the earthquake.

The tsunami damaged three Japanese prefectures in Honshu. Also, the cataclysm provoked an accident at the nuclear power plant. The city of Rikuzentakata was actually washed into the ocean - almost all the buildings were submerged. The tragedy of 2011 claimed the lives of more than 15 thousand inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago.

Probably, the low population of Alaska was the reason why the largest wave in the world did not lead to massive loss of life. Today, the earthquake and tsunami observation system has been improved, which helps to reduce the number of victims during disasters. But coastal residents are still at risk from the unpredictable behavior of the ocean.

Monster waves, white waves, killer waves, wandering waves - all this is the name of one scary phenomenon that can take a ship by surprise. TravelAsk will tell you about the world's largest waves.

What is special about giant waves

Killer waves are fundamentally different from tsunamis (and we will definitely tell you about the largest tsunamis). The latter come into effect as a result of natural geographic disasters: earthquakes or landslides. A giant wave appears suddenly, and nothing foreshadows it.

Moreover, they were considered fiction for a long time. Mathematicians even tried to calculate their height and peculiarity of dynamics. However, the cause of the giant waves has not been established.

Giant Wave First Recorded

For the first time, such an anomaly was recorded on January 1, 1995, on the Dropner oil platform in the North Sea off the coast of Norway. The wave height reached 25.6 meters, and it was nicknamed - the Dropner wave. In the future, space satellites were used to conduct research. And within three weeks, 25 more giant waves were recorded. In theory, such waves can reach 60 meters.

The tallest killer waves in history

The most gigantic wave in history was noted on the territory of the Agulhas Current (South Africa) in 1933 by sailors from the American ship "Ramapo". Its height was 34 meters.

In the mid-Atlantic, the Italian transatlantic liner Michelangelo was hit by a killer wave in April 1966. As a result, two people were washed into the sea, and 50 were injured. The ship itself was damaged.

In September 1995, the Queen Elizabeth 2 liner recorded a 29-meter wandering wave in the North Atlantic. However, the British transatlantic ship turned out to be not one of a timid dozen: the ship tried to "saddle" a giant that appeared right on the course.

In 1980, the encounter with the white wave ended in tragedy for the British dry-cargo ship Derbyshire. The wave broke through the main cargo hatch and flooded the hold. 44 people were killed. It happened off the coast of Japan, the ship sank.

On February 15, 1982, in the North Atlantic, a huge wave hit a drilling platform owned by Mobil Oil. She knocked out the windows and flooded the control room. As a result, the platform overturned, killing 84 crew members. This is a sad record to date for the number of deaths from a killer wave.

In 2000, the British cruise ship Oriana was hit by a 21-meter wave in the North Atlantic. Before that, a distress signal was received on the liner from a yacht damaged by the same wave.

In 2001, all in the same North Atlantic, a giant wave hit the luxury tourist liner Bremen. As a result, a window on the bridge was broken, because of this, the ship was in drift for two hours.

Dangers on the lakes

Wandering waves can also appear on lakes. So, on one of the Great Lakes, the Upper, there are Three Sisters - these are three giant waves that follow each other. The ancient Indian tribes who lived in this territory also knew about them. True, according to legends, the waves appeared due to the movement of a giant sturgeon that lived at the bottom. The sturgeon was never found, but the Three Sisters appear here and now. In 1975, the dry cargo ship "Edmund Fitzgerald", the length of which was 222 meters, sank precisely because of a collision with these waves.

Where do giant waves come from?

What caused the appearance of most waves in the oceans and seas, about the energy of the waves and about the most gigantic waves.

The main reason for the appearance of ocean waves is the effect of winds on the water surface. The speed of some waves can develop and even exceed 95 km per hour. The ridge can be separated from the ridge by 300 meters. They travel enormous distances along the surface of the ocean. Most of their energy is consumed even before they reach land, perhaps bypassing the deepest place in the world- The Mariana Trench. And their sizes are getting smaller. And if the wind calms down, then the waves become calmer and smoother.

If there is a strong breeze in the ocean, then the wave height usually reaches 3 meters. If the wind begins to become stormy, they can become 6 m. With a strong storm wind, their height can already be higher than 9 m and they become steep, with abundant splashes.

During a storm, when visibility is difficult in the ocean, the wave height exceeds 12 meters. But during a severe storm, when the sea is completely covered with foam and even small ships, yachts or vessels (and not that fish, even biggest fish) can simply get lost between the 14 waves.

The waves hit

Large waves gradually erode the shores. Small waves can slowly line the beach with sediment. The waves hit the banks at a certain angle, therefore, the sediment washed away in one place will be carried out and will be deposited on another.

During the strongest hurricanes or storms, such changes can occur that huge sections of the coast can be significantly transformed suddenly.

And not only the coast. Once, in 1755, very far from us, waves of 30 meters in height blew Lisbon off the face of the earth, submerging the city's buildings under tons of water, turning them into ruins and killing more than half a million people. And it happened on a big Catholic holiday - All Saints Day.

Killer waves

The largest waves are usually observed along the Needle Current (or the Agulhas Current), which is off the coast South Africa... It was also noted here and the highest wave in the ocean... Its height was 34 m. In general, the largest wave ever seen was recorded by Lieutenant Frederick Margot on a ship heading from Manila to San Diego. It was February 7, 1933. The height of that wave was also about 34 meters. These waves were nicknamed "killer waves" by the sailors. Typically, an unusually high wave is always preceded by an equally deep trough (or dip). It is known that a large number of ships disappeared in such hollows-dips. By the way, the waves that form during the tides are not connected with the tides. They are caused by an underwater earthquake or volcanic eruption on the sea or ocean floor, which creates the movement of huge masses of water and, as a result, large waves.

The most common cause of waves in oceans and seas is wind: gusts of air move the surface layers of water at a certain speed. So, the wind can disperse a wave at a speed of 95 km / h, the raised water column can reach 300 meters in length. Such waves are able to overcome gigantic distances, but, as a rule, the wave energy is extinguished in the ocean, dissipating long before land. When the wind dies down, the waves in the ocean become shallower and smoother.

Patterns of wave formation

Wave length and height depend not only on wind speed. The influence and duration of wind exposure is great, and it also matters how much of the territory was covered by it. There is a logical correspondence: the maximum wave height is 1/7 of its length. For example, a breeze with a force above average forms waves, the height of which reaches 3 meters, a hurricane, which has a large area, raises waves up to about 20 meters.

Big wave formation

In 1933, sailors of the American ship "Ramapo" in the South African current of Agulhas noted the highest normal wave - it reached a height of 34 m. Waves of this height are popularly called "Killer waves", since even a large vessel can easily fall through and get lost in the distances between their crests. Theoretically, the height of such ordinary waves can reach 60 m, but in practice, such waves have not yet been recorded.

In addition to the normal, that is, the wind origin of waves, other reasons for the generation of waves are known:

• earthquake
• eruption
• fall of large meteorites into the ocean
• landslides leading to an abrupt change in the coastline
• trial nuclear weapons or other human activity

Tsunami

Tsunamis have the largest waves. In essence, it is a serial wave caused by a certain pulse of enormous power. Tsunami waves are quite long, the dips between the peaks can reach more than 10 km. For this reason, a tsunami in the open ocean is not a big danger, since the wave height rarely reaches 20 cm, only in some (record) cases can they reach 1.5 m. But the tsunami speed is tremendous - the waves propagate at a speed of 800 km / h. In the open sea from a ship, such waves are almost impossible to notice. Tsunami waves acquire their monstrous strength as they approach the coastline. Reflecting from the coast, the waves are compressed in length, and their destructive energy does not disappear anywhere. As a result, the wave amplitude grows - their height. Of course, such waves are much more dangerous than wind waves, since they reach much higher heights.

The reasons for the most terrifying size of the tsunami are significant disturbances in the topography of the ocean floor. These can be tectonic shifts or faults, in the event of which a billion tons of water at the speed of a jet plane travels over huge distances (as much as tens of thousands of kilometers). And it happens abruptly, immediately. A catastrophe is inevitable when a multibillion-dollar mass of water reaches the shore. Then the colossal energy of the waves is first directed to build up the amplitude, and then falls on the coast with the entire powerful wall of water.

Bays with high shores are most often prone to dangerous tsunamis. Such places are real traps for serial waves. What is characteristic and at the same time scary is that the tsunami almost always flies suddenly, visually the sea can be the same as during low tides, high tides or an ordinary storm, so people do not even think about timely evacuation. Unfortunately, special warning systems for the approach of giant waves have not been developed everywhere.

Seismically active territories are also tsunami risk zones. The word "tsunami" itself is of Japanese origin, since earthquakes are very frequent here and waves of various scales and sizes constantly attack the islands. There are real giants among them, and they lead to human casualties. The 2011 earthquake, which occurred in the east of Honshu Island, gave rise to a powerful tsunami up to 40 m high. Japan has not yet known such earthquakes. The disaster had dire consequences: the monstrous power of the waves struck the strongest blows along the entire eastern coast of the island, killing more than 15 thousand people with the earthquake, several thousand people are considered missing to this day.

A large-scale disaster on the islands of Java and Sumatra in 2004 turned into a tsunami, which was generated by the strongest earthquake in the Indian Ocean. According to various sources, from 200 to 300 thousand people died - this is 1/3 million. Today the tsunami in the Indian Ocean is recognized as the most destructive in the world.

The record holder for the amplitude of waves was tsunami "Lituya", which happened in 1958. It swept across the Lituya Bay in Alaska at a speed of 160 km / h. The cause of the highest tsunami in the world was a huge landslide. The wave height reached 524 m.

Tsunamis have been a nightmare for the inhabitants of the islands throughout the ages. These multimeter waves with huge destructive force swept away everything in their path, leaving behind only bare earth and debris. The statistics of monstrous waves have been conducted by scientists since the nineteenth century, during this period more than a hundred tsunamis of various strengths have been recorded. Do you know what were the biggest tsunamis in the world?

Tsunami: what is it?

It is not surprising that the Japanese first coined the term "tsunami". They suffered from giant waves more often than all, because the Pacific Ocean gives rise to the largest number of destructive waves than all other seas and oceans combined. This is due to the features of the topography of the oceanic bottom and the high seismicity of the region. In Japanese, the word "tsunami" consists of two characters for bay and wave. Thus, the very meaning of the phenomenon is revealed - a wave in the bay, sweeping away all life on the coast.

When was the first tsunami recorded?

Of course, tsunamis have always suffered. Ordinary island inhabitants came up with their names for the killer waves and believed that the gods of the seas punished people by sending destructive waves to them.

For the first time, a tsunami was officially recorded and explained at the end of the sixteenth century. This was done by the monk of the Jesuit church José de Acosta, he was on the territory of Peru, when a wave about twenty-five meters high hit the shore. She swept away all the settlements around in a few seconds and advanced ten kilometers inland.

Tsunami: causes and consequences

The most common causes of tsunamis are earthquakes and underwater volcanic eruptions. The closer the epicenter of the earthquake is to the coast, the stronger the killer wave will be. The largest tsunamis in the world, which were recorded by mankind, could develop speeds of up to one hundred and sixty kilometers per hour and exceed three hundred meters in height. Such waves leave no chance for survival for any living creature caught in their path.

If we consider the nature of this phenomenon, then briefly it can be explained as the simultaneous displacement of a large number of water masses. Eruptions or earthquakes sometimes raise the ocean floor by several meters, which causes the water to vibrate and form several waves radiating from the epicenter in different directions. Initially, they do not represent something terrible and deadly, but as they approach the coast, the speed and height of the wave increases, and it turns into a tsunami.

In some cases, tsunamis are formed as a result of giant landslides. During the twentieth century, about seven percent of all gigantic waves arose for this reason.

The consequences of the destruction that left behind the largest tsunamis in the world are terrible: thousands of human victims and hundreds of kilometers of land filled with debris and mud. In addition, in the disaster area, there is a high probability of spreading infectious diseases due to lack drinking water and decay of the bodies of the dead, the search for which is not always possible to organize in the shortest possible time.

Tsunami: Can You Escape?

Unfortunately, the global tsunami warning system is still imperfect. At best, people learn about the danger a few minutes before the wave hits, so it is necessary to know the signs of impending disaster and the rules of survival during a cataclysm.

If you are on the sea or ocean coast, then keep a close eye on earthquake reports. A shaking of the earth's crust with a magnitude of about seven on the Richter scale that occurred somewhere nearby may serve as a warning of a possible tsunami strike. The sudden ebb tide gives the approach of the killer wave - the ocean floor is quickly exposed for several kilometers. This is a clear sign of a tsunami. Moreover, the further the water goes, the stronger and more destructive the incoming wave will be. Often such natural disasters are anticipated by animals: a few hours before the cataclysm, they whine, hide, try to go deep into the island or mainland.

To survive a tsunami, it is necessary to leave the dangerous area as soon as possible. Do not take a lot of things with you; drinking water, food and documents will be enough. Try to get as far from the coast as possible or climb to the roof of a multi-storey building. All floors after the ninth are considered safe.

If the wave nevertheless overtakes you, then find an object that you can hold on to. According to statistics, most people die when the wave begins to return back into the ocean and carry away all the objects that come across. Keep in mind that a tsunami almost never ends in one wave. Most often, the first will be followed by a series of two or even three new ones.

So when were the biggest tsunamis in the world? And how much destruction did they bring?

This disaster does not fit any of the previously described coastal incidents. To date, the megatsunami in Lituya Bay has become the most gigantic and destructive in the world. Until now, eminent luminaries in the field of oceanology and seismology are arguing about the possibility of a repetition of such a nightmare.

Lituya Bay is located in Alaska and juts out into the land for eleven kilometers, its maximum width does not exceed three kilometers. Two glaciers descend into the bay, which became the involuntary creators of a huge wave. The 1958 tsunami in Alaska was caused by an earthquake on July 9th. The power of the tremors exceeded eight points, which caused a huge landslide to descend into the waters of the bay. Scientists estimate that in a matter of seconds, thirty million cubic meters of ice and rocks fell into the water. Parallel to the landslide, a subglacial lake sank thirty meters, from which the released water masses rushed into the bay.

A huge wave rushed to the coast and circled the bay several times. The height of the tsunami wave reached five hundred meters, the raging element completely demolished the trees on the rocks along with the ground. IN currently this wave is the highest in the history of mankind. Amazing fact is that as a result of the powerful tsunami, only five people died. The fact is that there are no residential settlements in the bay, at the time of the arrival of the wave in Lituya there were only three fishing boats. One of them, together with the team, immediately sank, and the other was lifted to the maximum height by the wave and carried into the ocean.

2004 Indian Ocean avalanche

The 2004 Thailand tsunami shocked everyone on the planet. As a result of the destructive wave, more than two hundred thousand people died. The cause of the disaster was the earthquake in the Sumatra region on December 26, 2004. The tremors lasted no more than ten minutes and exceeded nine on the Richter scale.

A thirty-meter wave swept with great speed over the entire Indian Ocean and circled it, stopping near Peru. The tsunami affected almost all of the island states, including India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Somalia.

After killing several hundred thousand people, the 2004 tsunami in Thailand left behind destroyed homes, hotels and several thousand local residents who died as a result of infections and poor-quality drinking water. At the moment, this tsunami is considered the largest in the twenty-first century.

Severo-Kurilsk: Tsunami in the USSR

The list of "The largest tsunamis in the world" should include the wave that hit the Kuril Islands in the middle of the last century. An earthquake caused a twenty-meter wave in Pacific... The epicenter of tremors with a magnitude of seven points was one hundred and thirty kilometers from the coast.

The first wave arrived in the city about an hour later, but most of the locals were in hiding in the higher elevations away from the city. Nobody warned them that the tsunami was a series of waves, so all the townspeople returned to their homes after the first. A few hours later, the second and third waves hit Severo-Kurilsk. Their height reached eighteen meters, they almost completely destroyed the city. As a result of the cataclysm, more than two thousand people died.

Killer wave in Chile

In the second half of the last century, the inhabitants of Chile were faced with a terrible tsunami, which killed more than three thousand people. The cause of the giant waves was the most powerful earthquake in the history of mankind, its magnitude exceeded nine and a half points.

A wave twenty-five meters high covered Chile fifteen minutes after the first aftershocks. During the day, she covered several thousand kilometers, destroying the coast of Hawaii and Japan.

Despite the fact that mankind has been "familiar" with the tsunami for a long time, this natural phenomenon is still one of the poorly studied. Scientists have not yet learned how to predict the appearance of killer waves, therefore, most likely, in the future, the list of their victims will be replenished with new deaths.