LEARNING TARGET:

I will be able to name two difference causes for tsunami waves during today's class.

I will be able to sketch a tsunami wave with appropriate characteristics during today's class

WORDS O' THE DAY:

• frequency (waves/second or waves/minute)
• period ("seconds/wave or minutes/wave")
• amplitude (wave height)
• wavelength (distance from crest to crest)
• crest (the highest point of the wave)
• trough (the lowest point of the wave)
• speed = (wavelength x frequency. NOTE: (meters/wave) x (waves/sec) = meters/sec
• Tectonic Plate
• Earthquake Magnitude
• tsunami (a water wave typically caused by earthquakes and landslides)
• Subduction Zone
• epicenter (the spot on the Earth's surface directly above where an earthquake occurred inside the Earth)

CALENDAR: Spring Break Approacheth!

WORK O' THE DAY:

Tsunamis carry energy-- just like every other type of wave.

They just happen to carry an astounding amount of energy.

They are also hugely misunderstood by the general population-- all we have to do is a quick query in the Google on 'huge tsunami' to get a whole lot of . Work with your team to see if you can find the only two images on that screen that contain actual images of a tsunami (assuming of course that you get the same results as I do!)

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Now let's shift gears a bit. We learned earlier that ocean waves are created primarily by wind. The stronger the wind blowing over the larger surface of the ocean for the longer amount of time results in... <wait for it...>

LARGER OCEAN WAVES in terms of increased amplitude, wavelength and speed

Think: 3 Bigs! (Big Wind, Big Time, Big Area)

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Take a few minutes and find an *amazing* video that shows large ocean waves-- be ready to share them on the big board!

Let's examine the wave characteristics for a few of those examples.

Now let's get into the ART of waves --- well, just because!

Try a google search on "Clark Little" photography. Pretty amazing stuff.

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We'll transition away from ocean water waves (Remember, it's ALL about the wind!! Tides and currents certainly effect the motion of waves but they have minimal impact on how ocean waves are generated)

Let's stand up and take a gander at the cool earthquake map over by the door. I'll discuss the really, really cool tectonic situation off the Pacific Northwest coast. Here's a recap if you weren't here today or if you're looking at this later on:

• There are thousands of little red dots on that map. Each dot represents the place on the Earth's surface directly above where an earthquake occurred.
• Notice the red lines of the coast. Those lines represent the boundary between the North America Plate and the Juan de Fuca plates. Although the Juan de Fuca plate is relatively small (as far as Earth's plates goes, it still represents billions x billions x billions of tons of mass that will suddenly and violently LURCH!). That is hundreds of miles of the Earth's surface suddenly

 

 

You may recall that back in 2011 Japan suffered a severe SUBDUCTION ZONE earthquake resulting in a tsunami --- Please take a few moments to discuss with your group what a SUBDUCTION ZONE earthquake might be.

Let's discuss

Now please discuss with your group how such an event can produce a tsunami (Best answers will include discussions of one of our KEY CONCEPTS of waves in general- *hint* *hint*)

Then please work with your group to sketch a tsunami wave such as those experienced by Japan during that event (notice the PLURAL there by the way)

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Let's take a look at THIS video from the Japan earthquake of a few years back. It may (or may not) assist you with your deliberations

Here's a tough question for you-- how high is this wave?

Now let's take a look at another tsunami in another place in Japan generated by the SAME earthquake even

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How is it possible that the SAME Subduction Zone Earthquake created such different tsunami waves?

Let's discuss

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Did you know that tsunami occurred in the narrows??? It did, back in 1949. Do a wee bit o' research on that now. The events surrounding that tsunami are somewhat related to the tsunami we were just discussing but with substantial differences...

What might those be?

Why are they so important to our discussions of tsunamis?

If time permits let's take a look at THIS site

CLOSING TASQUE:

Grab a strip of paper from your bin and Sketch a tsunami wave with a wavelength of 1500 meters, and an amplitude of 15 meters.