How are we able to track/predict if an earthquake will produce/create a Tsunami and in turn estimate how big the wave will be and how long it will take to hit a coastline?

Question

There was a magnitude 8.1 earthquake off New Zealand’s coastline and a tsunami warning has been issued with predictions of how big the wave will be in places and when it will hit. How are scientists able to predict this?

Edit: Grammar and spelling lol

In: Earth Science

Answer 1

Seismometers measure how strong the amplitude is. If you have sensors scattered about, you can quickly determine speed and direction of the wave/energy as it passes over them. These pieces of information let you estimate when, where, and how big the wave might be.

Answer 2

Not my area of expertise. The magnitude tells us basically how much energy was in the earthquake then we know how much water that can move which can tell us how big the wave would be. Think of your hand under water in a bathtub the more force you put into moving your hand the more waves you make in the tub. Earthquakes happen more along fault lines and there are a few different types of fault lines and knowing that may make a difference as well.

Answer 3

In addition to comments below, there is a networks of buoys in the Pacific Ocean that measures wave height, wave velocity and sea level (and atmospheric details), and communicate this data back to the National Tsunami Warning Center via satellite. If you’re interested, search for DART buoys and NTWC.