Tsunami: The World’s Greatest Waves

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    Tsunami: The World’s Greatest Waves Authors: , Format: Hardback First Published: Published By: Oxford University Press Inc
    string(3) "248"
    Pages: 248 Language: English ISBN: 9780197546123 Categories: ,

    Every year that passes without a tsunami means that we’re just that much closer to our next one. What can we do to ensure we’re prepared when the next catastrophic tsunami strikes? The enormous waves of a tsunami travel across oceans at the speed of a jet airplane, and how they focus and disperse their energy determines the impact. Not only have they killed countless people, but tsunamis have gutted nations, societies, and cultures throughout history. Tracking tsunamis is nearly impossible, though… So many different fields are involved: geology, archaeology, anthropology, disaster planning, and even politics. What we can do, instead, is understand tsunamis well enough to determine how best to prepare for or even avoid the next one. In this book, tsunami specialists James Goff and Walter Dudley take readers through the most devastative tsunamis in human history. Diving into personal and scientific stories of disaster, Tsunami pulls readers into the many ways these waves can be generated, ranging from earthquakes and volcanic eruptions to explosions, landslides, and beyond. The book provides a detailed re-examination of the classification of tsunamis through the Richter scale, and useful overviews of the 1755 tsunami in Portugal, the 1946 Aleutian tsunami, and even a tsunami that occurred in a lake-Lake Geneva in 563 CE. The book combines research from oceanography, biogeography, geology, and more, with data they’ve collected from over 400 survivor interviews. Alongside carefully selected images and the scientific measurements of these tsunamis, the book offers tales of survival, heroism, and tragic loss. Through a balanced combination of personal experience, the Earth’s changing environment, and tales of tragedy, folly, oral traditions, Tsunami allows readers to engage with a new scientific approach to these overwhelming waves. The resulting book unveils the science of disaster.

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    James Goff and Walter Dudley take us on a journey across the seven seas and the five continents to remind us of the destructive forces of nature. Using oral traditions, historical records, and scientific data, the authors manage to convey in a familiar narrative the results of their amazing professional career. Tsunami will be of great importance for students and researchers in Earth sciences, anthropology and archaeology, and should be a must-read for government officials associated with natural disaster prevention offices. Those of us who live in coastal areas should not be constantly terrified of them, but we must know their effects and be prepared since, as the authors mention: Sooner or later, they will happen again. * Pedro Andrade, Universidad de Concepción * This is an original, authoritative, and highly readable account of tsunamis around the world, balancing clear and accessible explanations of tsunami science with personal accounts and meticulously researched historical detail. Based on their decades of research experience the authors take the reader on an historical journey through tsunamis and their impacts both on individuals and on entire societies, clearly highlighting that, in the words of their final quote, 'Those that fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it. * Andy Cundy, University of Southampton * Goff and Dudley's Tsunami is immensely compelling. Drawing upon many branches of science, from history to geology and archaeology to oceanography, the authors present fascinating insights into this misunderstood and under-appreciated nemesis for coastal dwellers everywhere. Planet-tipping earthquakes, cataclysmic volcanic eruptions, plunging asteroids, colossal landslides, boiling geysers, the demise of dinosaurs and megalodons, ancestral migrations, conflict and warfare, fake news, the 'first Brexit', and captivating legends of water monsters echoing down to us from primeval times: all are featured herein. Science? Absolutely. But pull up your armchair anyway, because Tsunami is gripping stuff. * James Terry, Zayed University *

    Author Biography

    James Goff is Honorary Professor of Tsunami Research at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, and Visiting Professor at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom. Until 2016, he was Deputy Director of the PANGEA (Paleontology, Geobiology, and Earth Archives) Research Centre and Director of the Australia-Pacific Tsunami Research Centre at UNSW. He has co-edited three books and written over 250 peer-reviewed publications, including an online tsunami database for New Zealand. He has appeared in numerous documentaries, including those of Discovery Channel and National Geographic. Walter Dudley is Professor Emeritus of Marine Geology and Oceanography at the University of Hawaii at Hilo. He previously served as Chair of the Marine Science Department and Director of the Kalakaua Marine Education Center for the University, and he served as a Professor of Marine Geology and Oceanography for over 30 years. In 1994, he and tsunami survivor, Jeanne Johnston, founded the Pacific Tsunami Museum, where he currently serves as Chair of the Scientific Advisory Council. He has written six books about tsunamis, published numerous peer-reviewed journal articles, and appeared in over 30 television documentaries for National Geographic, Discovery Channel, History Channel, Travel Channel, Disney, and Weather Channel.