According to the National Weather Service’s National Tsunami Warning Center, there is no U.S. East Coast taunami threat from a strong Atlantic earthquake that struck a short time ago.
USGS reports that at 8:09 am ET, a strong 6.9 earthquake struck from a depth of 10 km along the Reykjanes Ridge in the North Atlantic.
“There is no tsunami danger for the U.S. east coast, the Gulf of America states, or the eastern coast of Canada,” wrote the National Tsunami Warning Center in a bulletin, adding, “Based on the earthquake location near the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a damaging tsunami is not expected.”
Tsunamis are giant waves caused by earthquakes or volcanic eruptions under the sea. Out in the depths of the ocean, tsunami waves do not dramatically increase in height. But as the waves travel towards land, they build up to higher and higher heights as the depth of the ocean decreases. The speed of tsunami waves depends on ocean depth rather than the distance from the source of the wave. Tsunami waves may travel as fast as jet planes over deep waters, only slowing down when reaching shallow waters. While tsunamis are often referred to as tidal waves, this name is discouraged by oceanographers because tides have little to do with these giant waves.
A tsunami is a series of waves. The time between wave crests can vary from 5 minutes to an hour. The hazard may persist for many hours or longer after the initial wave. Impacts can vary significantly from one section of coast to the next due to local bathymetry and the shape and elevation of the shoreline. Impacts can also vary depending upon the state of the tide at the time of the maximum tsunami waves.
