Why does the ocean recede prior to a tsunami? Where does the water go?

Question

Why does the ocean recede prior to a tsunami? Where does the water go?

In: Planetary Science

Answer 1

Here’s a [gif](https://www.acs.psu.edu/drussell/Demos/waves/Water-v8.gif) of how individual particles move within ocean waves.

Notice as the wave approaches, the yellow dot actually gets pulled back and up into the wave. Tsunamis are so big, they pull all the water off the beach for quite a long ways before the crest of the wave gets to land.