WAVES AND TSUNAMIS
The ocean can be both beautiful and enjoyable. Many like people like walking on the beach and watching the water. Others enjoy swimming, surfing, and sailing. However, the ocean is not predictable, and it can very dangerous. Wind can create big waves that knock people down, sink boats, and damage the shoreline. Giant waves, called tsunamis, can kill people and wash away entire towns. The ocean is truly a place of great beauty and great danger.
Wind and waves
In addition to causing currents, the wind creates waves as it blows across the surface of the ocean. The stronger the wind is, the bigger the waves are. You may remember the beach on a windy day or a calm day. On windy days, big waves crash onto the shore. On a calm, windless day, the surface of the water is flat.
Scientists measure waves from their highest point, the crest, to their lowest point, the trough. Most waves are neither very big nor s dangerous. However, some waves, such as those in a violent storm, are large enough to damage ships and hurt people on the shore. Careful swimmers and surfers do not go into the ocean when the waves are too big, and ship captains often change direction to stay away from a storm. The power of the wind and the waves can be deadly.
Tsunamis
The biggest, most powerful waves on our planet are called tsunamis. either winds nor waves create tsunamis, Tsunamis form when an underwater volcano erupts or an earthquake occurs on the ocean floor Tsunamis move very quickly across the open ocean. Some tsunamis lanes more than 800 kilometers an hour. In the ravel as fast as deep ocean, do not look like giant waves. In fact, they are an one meter high. How as move into shallow water, they are forced to slow down. This causes the to suddenly rise up high in the air and then slam down on the tsunamis can cause waves to rise more 30 meters high and cause terrible damage to the coast. They kill and destroy buildings and crops.