Tsunami may have hit East Coast earlier in June

[Wonkis]

Kind of interesting. A thunderstorm-fueled "tsunami?"

 

 

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A storm that blew through earlier this month might have triggered a rare phenomenon for the East Coast: a tsunami.

Tsunami-like conditions were observed June 13 at more than 30 tide gauges along the East Coast, Bermuda and Puerto Rico, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said. The highest peak amplitude was recorded in Newport, R.I, where it reached just under a foot above sea level. Gauges in Kiptopeke, Va., and Atlantic City, N.J., recorded similar peaks, according to NOAA.

‘‘From North Carolina up through Massachusetts, we can find that signal, even though it’s very small, which tells us there was something going on,’’ Mike Angove, head of NOAA’s tsunami program, said Tuesday. ‘‘We’re trying to piece this back together.’’

 

A strong storm moved through the region and offshore that day, and scientists were trying to determine if it played a role.

 

Angove stopped short of saying it was a tsunami, but acknowledged it had specific characteristics of one. NOAA’s West Coast/Alaska Tsunami Warning Center posted a statement calling it a tsunami.

Brian Coen was spearfishing at Barnegat Inlet in Ocean County, N.J., around 3:30 p.m. on June 13, when he saw a strong outrush of water as the tide went out, according to a description provided by NOAA. He said it carried divers over submerged rocks that serve as a breakwater. The rocks, normally three to four feet deep, eventually were exposed, he said.

 

Then, according to NOAA, Coen saw an approximately 6-foot wave come in. It carried the divers back over the breakwater and also swept three people off rocks that are usually five to six feet above sea level. Two of them needed medical attention.

 

Chuck Ebersole, steward at Wickford Yacht Club in North Kingstown, R.I., said he saw a strong current of about 7 knots, or 8 miles per hour, going out through a channel into Narragansett Bay. Normally, he said, the current is 1 to 2 miles per hour. The current was so strong that one large boat pulled its cleat out of the dock, he said.

 

Full article (Boston.com)

 

Providence Journal

[Baroclinic Zone]

I believe this has been confirmed that there was one and it was caused by the residual MCS that passed through the Mid-Atlt.

[Ginx snewx]

I believe this has been confirmed that there was one and it was caused by the residual MCS that passed through the Mid-Atlt.

great video and pics around although there might be another cause being investigated, a slump off the NJ continental coast

http://jaymanntoday.ning.com/profiles/blogs/weekly-blog-tsunami-s-moment-of-impact-letter-from-jetty-survivor

[Typhoon Tip]

I believe this has been confirmed that there was one and it was caused by the residual MCS that passed through the Mid-Atlt.

 

 

How is that possible  -- the ocean is vast.  An atmospheric pressure perturbation necessary to displace that much water would ...no.  I doubt the correctness of that study. 

 

If there was tsunamis, it is more likely that it was cause by an under water geological event ...probably a land slide somewhere out at sea that displaced the water.  Maybe they ought to check around the Canary Islands.   

 

On the Great Lakes, there is a phenomenon known as a siege wave, but it can only happen there because the lakes volume allows it to have very rapid wind-wave response, such that a big storm can pile waves up out ahead, and then when the storm clears the eastern part of the lake, the water sloshes back... But there aren't really slosh mechanics out in the open ocean unless you are effecting the entire body of water.  Otherwise the energy gets dissipated.  

[Amped]

How is that possible  -- the ocean is vast.  An atmospheric pressure perturbation necessary to displace that much water would ...no.  I doubt the correctness of that study. 

 

If there was tsunamis, it is more likely that it was cause by an under water geological event ...probably a land slide somewhere out at sea that displaced the water.  Maybe they ought to check around the Canary Islands.   

 

On the Great Lakes, there is a phenomenon known as a siege wave, but it can only happen there because the lakes volume allows it to have very rapid wind-wave response, such that a big storm can pile waves up out ahead, and then when the storm clears the eastern part of the lake, the water sloshes back... But there aren't really slosh mechanics out in the open ocean unless you are effecting the entire body of water.  Otherwise the energy gets dissipated.  

 

Agreed, a small underwater quake or landslide in the middle of the ocean could have triggered it. It's pretty vast out there in the mid atlantic ridge area, so we'll probably never find it. Storms usually trigger rouge waves, not tsunamis.   

[Typhoon Tip]

Agreed, a small underwater quake or landslide in the middle of the ocean could have triggered it. It's pretty vast out there in the mid atlantic ridge area, so we'll probably never find it. Storms usually trigger rouge waves, not tsunamis.   

 

My guess is a land-slide.  

 

Incidentally -- if by pure coincidence, there two days ago there was a 6.6 preliminary mag quake situated mid-way between Africa and S. America on the Ridge.  But obviously we are looking for something around the 13th...

 

000

WECA43 PHEB 242212

TIBCAX

TSUNAMI STATEMENT NUMBER 1

NWS PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER EWA BEACH HI

2212 UTC MON JUN 24 2013

THIS STATEMENT APPLIES TO COUNTRIES WITHIN AND BORDERING THE

CARIBBEAN SEA...EXCEPT FOR PUERTO RICO AND THE VIRGIN ISLANDS.

... TSUNAMI INFORMATION STATEMENT ...

THIS MESSAGE IS FOR INFORMATION ONLY.

THIS BULLETIN IS ISSUED AS ADVICE TO GOVERNMENT AGENCIES. ONLY

NATIONAL AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT AGENCIES HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO MAKE

DECISIONS REGARDING THE OFFICIAL STATE OF ALERT IN THEIR AREA AND

ANY ACTIONS TO BE TAKEN IN RESPONSE.

AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS

ORIGIN TIME - 2204Z 24 JUN 2013

COORDINATES - 10.9 NORTH 42.4 WEST

LOCATION - NORTHERN MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE

MAGNITUDE - 6.6

EVALUATION

A DESTRUCTIVE WIDESPREAD TSUNAMI THREAT DOES NOT EXIST BASED ON

HISTORICAL EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI DATA.

HOWEVER - THERE IS THE SMALL POSSIBILITY OF A LOCAL OR REGIONAL

TSUNAMI THAT COULD AFFECT COASTS LOCATED USUALLY NO MORE THAN A

FEW HUNDRED KILOMETERS FROM THE EARTHQUAKE EPICENTER. AUTHORITIES

IN THE REGION NEAR THE EPICENTER SHOULD BE MADE AWARE OF THIS

POSSIBILITY.

THIS WILL BE THE ONLY PRODUCT ISSUED BY THE PACIFIC TSUNAMI

WARNING CENTER FOR THIS EVENT UNLESS ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

BECOMES AVAILABLE.

[Typhoon Tip]

No quakes greater than 4.5 were registered in the Atlantic Basin on the 13th...  

[Ginx snewx]

Tip, I. Posted above you, an investigation into a possible slump in the continental shelf off NJ is being held.

[Typhoon Tip]

[Typhoon Tip]

Tip, I. Posted above you, an investigation into a possible slump in the continental shelf off NJ is being held.

 

Yeah, suspect is being held for questioning like a Patriots TE - 

 

I post an image of known culprits for the general user

[Ginx snewx]

Yeah, suspect is being held for questioning like a Patriots TE - 

 

I post an image of known culprits for the general user

some validation to a Met event

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2013/06/26/did-the-so-called-derecho-cause-an-east-coast-tsunami/

[Wonkis]

Interesting article. "Meteotsunamis" - learned a new word and have a new name for my math rock/garage rock band.

 

Are there any models out there that simulate tides based on old bouy data? And could such a model be detailed enough to render such a minor event?

It'd be cool to see a visual representation of the wave trajectory.

[Baroclinic Zone]

Thanks Steve.  I knew I read something somewhere regarding the MCS and that was it.

[CoastalWx]

A similar event happened in Maine a couple of years ago I believe and that was also wx related.

[forkyfork]

maybe it was a blowout tide sloshing back? a similar event happened behind the long island express

[It's Always Sunny]

I agree with Tip on this one. Must've been some sort of minor geological event that wasn't picked up. I don't see how a tsunami triggered by a storm is possible, regardless of the explanations thrown around out there, especially the speculation of a pressure perturbation.

[forkyfork]

http://www.app.com/article/20110825/NJNEWS/308250070/Rebounding-surge-can-deadly-tsunami-like

[CoastalWx]

It definitely seems wx related.

[CT Rain]

It definitely seems wx related.

 

Yeah I agree. Pressure perturbation, correct phase speed and depth of the water over a certain length could cause a wave to resonate. Makes sense to me. I doubt it was a seiche and if it was something geological odds are seismographs would have measured something. 

[OceanStWx]

http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Bizarre-wave-event-in-Boothbay-Harbor-puzzles-scientists/12821/

[CoastalWx]

http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Bizarre-wave-event-in-Boothbay-Harbor-puzzles-scientists/12821/

 

That was it, thanks.

[Ginx snewx]

What confused me was the reports of the tide receding. The article I linked early in the thread shows it in images. The meso which formed and is pictured in our thread that day is very impressive. I am not entirely convinced this was a met event but leaning that way.

[OceanStWx]

That was it, thanks.

 

I seem to remember another event where thunderstorms were traveling at the same speed as the waves, which helped to enhanced the wave heights.

[CT Rain]

I seem to remember another event where thunderstorms were traveling at the same speed as the waves, which helped to enhanced the wave heights.

 

Yup. Check this page out.

 

http://meteotsunami.weebly.com/

 

Just takes a lot of things to come together perfectly to get a wave to resonate. 

[Tropopause_Fold]

i'm pretty convinced it was a meteotsunami. i, as i think ryan did, spent quite a bit of time digging through this subject matter. 

[Ginx snewx]

What concerns me Phil is the lack of barographic rise fall couplets that would indicate gravity wave training. The winds were unimpressive and did not abruptly switch directions.

[forkyfork]

blowout tide

[Ginx snewx]

blowout tide

wind data, this effected a lot of coast?

[ORH_wxman]

i'm pretty convinced it was a meteotsunami. i, as i think ryan did, spent quite a bit of time digging through this subject matter. 

 

 

It's probably a parallel scenario to rogue waves...a bunch of meteorolgoical events have to line up just right to make this occur. Of course, just a decade or two ago, many oceanographers were skeptical "rogue" waves could ever be as high as claimed until buoys and satellites finally recorded them. The so-called 100 foot rogue waves were deemed to just be "sailors myths" and such. Now we know they exist.

[Tropopause_Fold]

What concerns me Phil is the lack of barographic rise fall couplets that would indicate gravity wave training. The winds were unimpressive and did not abruptly switch directions.

they've been documented to happen with as little as a 2mb rise/fall. it's not just the pressure relation though. it's the timing of the system relative to the wave period to keep the energy pumping into the long waves that's most important...that's why they are pretty rare. it takes a pretty well-aligned set of circumstances to happen. but some of them around the globe have actually been destructive.