What does «tsunami» mean in Spanish?
- A series of waves in a body of water caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, usually in an ocean or large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explosions (including detonations, landslides, glacial outbursts, meteorite impacts and other disturbances) above or below the water have the potential to generate a tsunami. Unlike normal ocean waves, which are generated by wind, or tides, which are generated by the gravitational pull of the Moon and Sun, a tsunami is generated by the displacement of water. Tsunami waves do not resemble normal undercurrents or ocean waves because their wavelength is much longer. Instead of appearing as a breaking wave, a tsunami may initially resemble a rapidly rising tide. For this reason, it is often referred to as a tidal wave, although this usage is not favored by the scientific community because it could give the false impression of a causal relationship between tides and tsunamis. Tsunamis generally consist of a series of waves, with periods ranging from minutes to hours, arriving in a so-called "wave train". Wave heights of tens of meters can be generated by large events. Although the impact of tsunamis is limited to coastal areas, their destructive power can be enormous and they can affect entire ocean basins. The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was one of the deadliest natural disasters in human history, with at least 230,000 people killed or missing in 14 countries bordering the Indian Ocean. The ancient Greek historian Thucydides suggested in his 5th century BC History of the Peloponnesian War that tsunamis were related to undersea earthquakes, but understanding of tsunamis remained poor until the 20th century and much is still unknown. Major areas of current research include determining why some large earthquakes do not generate tsunamis while smaller ones do; accurately forecasting the passage of tsunamis through the oceans; and predicting how tsunami waves interact with coastlines.