At 6:58 a.m. Sunday in Indonesia, an earthquake of epic power rumbled deep beneath the waters of the Indian Ocean in a location near the juncture of three tectonic plates. U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist Julie Martinez said a 620-mile section along the boundary of the plates shifted, triggering ocean waves that spread outward at speeds in excess of 400 m.p.h.
Unnoticeable in the open ocean because they are only a few inches high and 10-40 miles wide, those waves steepen and rise in shallow water and surge ashore as tsunamis (literally, “harbor wave” in Japanese) sometimes 200 feet in height. Their destructive power is immense, and the havoc wrought along densely populated shorelines is mind-boggling.
Earthquakes and tsunamis are not meteorological events; they are not caused by, nor do they affect, the Earth’s atmosphere.
WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center staff provide daily coverage of weather in the Chicago area.
