AGU: Geophysical Research Letters

 

Editors' Highlight

Concurrent arrival of the 2004 Sumatra tsunami and storm-generated waves on North America's Atlantic coast

The 26 December 2004 Sumatra-Andaman earthquake generated a catastrophic tsunami that caused heavy damage and fatalities in coastal areas around the Indian Ocean. The tsunami also propagated throughout the world's oceans, making it the first such event to be observed with the continuous observations of widespread oceanic monitoring networks. Thomson et al. (2007) analyzed more than 100 tide gauge records from the Atlantic coast of North America and found that the tsunami was identified in most outer tide gauges from Florida to Nova Scotia. Maximum heights for northern regions were between 32 and 39 cm, while southern regions experienced wave heights between 15 and 33 cm. However, along the shores of Maine and Nova Scotia, the arrival of the tsunami coincided with the presence of tsunami-like waves generated by a major storm tracking northward along the U.S. eastern seaboard. The combined waves reached heights in excess of 1 m. The authors warned that though the northern Atlantic Ocean has low tsunami hazards, tsunamis from distant seismic events could threaten coastal infrastructure and habitat when the waves coincide with winter storm waves.

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