Tsunami

A tsunami is a series of long ocean waves caused by sudden displacement of water, commonly by an undersea earthquake, landslide, or volcanic eruption. It can cross entire ocean basins and grow much taller near shore.

Seafloor displacement: A sudden change in the position of the seabed that can displace the water above it. Vertical seabed movement is the most common way earthquakes generate tsunamis.
Subduction zone: A region where one tectonic plate descends beneath another. Large earthquakes at subduction zones commonly produce the strongest ocean-wide tsunamis.
Tsunami warning system: A network that detects tsunami-generating events and distributes alerts to threatened areas. Warnings use seismic and sea-level data to provide time for protective action.
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami: A major earthquake and tsunami on 26 December 2004 that devastated coasts around the Indian Ocean. It exposed the severe consequences of having no regional tsunami warning system.
Storm surge: An abnormal rise in coastal water level driven mainly by a storm's winds and atmospheric pressure. Storm surge can flood coasts like a tsunami but has a different cause and timescale.
Wave dispersion: The variation of wave speed with frequency or wavelength. Tsunamis behave as long waves in deep water, where their speed depends mainly on water depth.
Megathrust earthquake: A large earthquake caused by rupture of a fault at a tectonic plate boundary. Megathrust ruptures can lift or drop broad areas of seabed.
Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis: A U.S. system of deep-ocean pressure sensors and buoys that detects and reports tsunami waves. DART instruments can confirm a tsunami crossing the open ocean.
2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami: A magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that struck northeastern Japan on 11 March 2011. Its flooding exceeded defenses in some places and triggered the Fukushima nuclear accident.
Seiche: A standing wave that oscillates within an enclosed or partly enclosed body of water. Seiches can follow earthquakes but oscillate within basins rather than propagate across oceans like tsunamis.

Linked from 47 pages