The massive security operation surrounding Barack Obama's inauguration showed that he will be the most protected president in the history of the United States. Photo: REUTERS.
The physics of a tsunami. Tsunamis can have wavelengths ranging from 10 to 500 km and wave periods of up to an hour. As a result of their long wavelengths, tsunamis act as shallow-water waves. A wave becomes a shallow-water wave when the wavelength is very large compared to the water depth. where g is the acceleration due to gravity (= 9.8 m/s2) and H is the depth of water.
The formula is used to measure the speed of ocean waves, like tsunamis, that have very long wavelengths relative to the depth of the water. Tsunamis can have wavelengths greater than 700 kilometers (the average ocean depth is 3-4 kilometers). The formula estimates the tsunami's speed while it is in deeper waters (as it approaches shallower coastal waters, the tsunami slows down, its wavelength shortens, and its height increases).