WHY DOES THE OCEAN OFTEN RECEDES AWAY FROM SHORE JUST BEFORE A TSUNAMI WAVE HITS LAND?
Although tsunamis are commonly depicted as a giant breaking wave with a crest towering over the land, this image is hardly if ever the case. Instead tsunamis can more accurately be described as a rapidly-rising tide without a developed wave face, which quickly and forcefully floods low-lying coastal areas. Ironically, in deep, open-ocean water, tsunami waves are often less than a meter high and can travel at speeds up to 1,000 kilometers per hour. However, as a tsunami wave approaches shallower waters along the coast, the leading edge of the wave begins to slow down while the rest of the wave begins to pile up behind it causing it to grow in height while maintaining its strength. The crest of this wave can be several meters high by the time it reaches the shoreline. Sometimes, however, the crest of the wave isnt the first to arrive the trough is (this is often the case when the tsunami originates from an oceanic earthquake associated with land subsidence (sinking), which causing the wa
