Wednesday, December 05, 2007

A burp in the ocean !?

I find the following news from cfnews13.com interesting:

The Central Florida coast has never been slammed by a tsunami, but folks in Daytona Beach have experienced something very close.

Emergency management officials in Volusia County were looking forward to have a better idea of what the tsunami threat is after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Monday it has finished mapping out the ocean floor in Daytona Beach, along with two other cites.

"Once we see this data, it'll make us more aware and able to refine areas that are at risk, and it'll benefit our planning," said Jim Ryan, director of Volusia Emergency Management.

The closest Daytona Beach has been to seeing what the force of the ocean can do without warning was a rogue wave in 1992.

No one suffered serious injuries during that rogue wave, but it did topple and stack cars on top of one another.

The rogue wave was later determined to be a burp in the ocean that triggered several high waves.

Studies of the ocean floor could help determine the height and width of a tsunami wave, which could in turn determine what areas need to be evacuated.

I have never thought there can be a connection between central Florida and tsunami. Of course anything is possible. But I am very much interested in finding out who made the determination that the rogue wave was a 'burp' in the ocean, how was the determination made, and what does a burp look like? Have you seen a burp in the ocean lately?

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