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Newsflash: Pacific Wide Tsunami Warning Issued

Sunday, 28 February 2010, 1:21 am
Article: Alastair Thompson

According to news reports an 8.8 magnitude earthquake has killed at least 78 people in Chile and at the time of publication the Tsunami was passing Easter Island off in the mid Pacific.

The wave - if it reaches New Zealand - is estimated to reach the East Coast of New Zealand between around 7am and 9am NZT. The East Cape and Gisborne are expected to experience the Tsunami first - Civil Defence has warned the public to stay away from beaches and says that the largest wave could arrive many hours after the initial wave reaches the NZ coast.


A complete Tsunami warning bulletin as issued by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center follows. ************

TSUNAMI BULLETIN NUMBER 005
PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER/NOAA/NWS
ISSUED AT 1045Z 27 FEB 2010
THIS BULLETIN APPLIES TO AREAS WITHIN AND BORDERING THE PACIFIC OCEAN AND ADJACENT SEAS...EXCEPT ALASKA...BRITISH COLUMBIA... WASHINGTON...OREGON AND CALIFORNIA.
... A WIDESPREAD TSUNAMI WARNING IS IN EFFECT ...

THIS BULLETIN IS ISSUED AS ADVICE TO GOVERNMENT AGENCIES.. .ONLY NATIONAL AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT AGENCIES HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO MAKE DECISIONS REGARDING THE OFFICIAL STATE OF ALERT IN THEIR AREA AND ANY ACTIONS TO BE TAKEN IN RESPONSE.AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS

ORIGIN TIME -. .0634Z 27 FEB 2010
COORDINATES -. .36.1 SOUTH. . 72.6 WEST
DEPTH. .. .. . -. . 55 KM
LOCATION. .. .-. .NEAR COAST OF CENTRAL CHILE
MAGNITUDE. . -. .8.8

SEA LEVEL READINGS CONFIRM THAT A TSUNAMI HAS BEEN GENERATED WHICH COULD CAUSE WIDESPREAD DAMAGE. AUTHORITIES SHOULD TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION IN RESPONSE TO THIS THREAT. THIS CENTER WILL CONTINUE TO MONITOR SEA LEVEL DATA TO DETERMINE THE EXTENT AND SEVERITY OF THE THREAT.
A TSUNAMI IS A SERIES OF WAVES AND THE FIRST WAVE MAY NOT BE THE LARGEST. TSUNAMI WAVE HEIGHTS CANNOT BE PREDICTED AND CAN VARY SIGNIFICANTLY ALONG A COAST DUE TO LOCAL EFFECTS. THE TIME FROM ONE TSUNAMI WAVE TO THE NEXT CAN BE FIVE MINUTES TO AN HOUR, AND THE THREAT CAN CONTINUE FOR MANY HOURS AS MULTIPLE WAVES ARRIVE.

FOR ALL AREAS - WHEN NO MAJOR WAVES ARE OBSERVED FOR TWO HOURS AFTER THE ESTIMATED TIME OF ARRIVAL OR DAMAGING WAVES HAVE NOT OCCURRED FOR AT LEAST TWO HOURS THEN LOCAL AUTHORITIES CAN ASSUME THE THREAT IS PASSED. DANGER TO BOATS AND COASTAL STRUCTURES CAN CONTINUE FOR SEVERAL HOURS DUE TO RAPID CURRENTS. AS LOCAL CONDITIONS CAN CAUSE A WIDE VARIATION IN TSUNAMI WAVE ACTION THE ALL CLEAR DETERMINATION MUST BE MADE BY LOCAL AUTHORITIES.

ESTIMATED INITIAL TSUNAMI WAVE ARRIVAL TIMES AT FORECAST POINTS WITHIN THE WARNING AND WATCH AREAS ARE GIVEN BELOW. ACTUAL ARRIVAL TIMES MAY DIFFER AND THE INITIAL WAVE MAY NOT BE THE LARGEST. A TSUNAMI IS A SERIES OF WAVES AND THE TIME BETWEEN SUCCESSIVE WAVES CAN BE FIVE MINUTES TO ONE HOUR.

LOCATION.........................ARRIVAL TIME
--------------------------------------------------------------
CABO SAN LUCAS...........1749Z 27 FEB
PUNTA ABREOJOS..........1856Z 27 FEB
ENSENADA........................2016Z 27 FEB

Had friends on the east coast (NY) call to check-in. CNN reported at 0800 the local south facing beaches may get up to a 3' surge- (Baja Mexico and even Malibu in SoCal).

It's full moon, hight tide, wind and rain event anyway today- so hard to tell if the water is rising at all here from this 8.8 event.

NOAA Link for San Diego:

National Weather Service - NWS San Diego

Latest advisory, 8:44AM, Saturday:

National Weather Service - NWS San Diego

Somebody emailed me asking what does the "z" mean after the time given for when to expect the tsunami swell to hit locally. "Z" mean GMT - Greenwich Mean Time and if you are in the Pacific Time Zone that means the swell is expected to hit around 16 minutes after 12 noon.

A surfer emailed me as well asking that I email him if we see a good swell here. Maybe Woo and Dulce will get to pull out their boards later today...

Doesn't the "Z" stand for zulu?? There ain't no "Z" in GMT!

And not many Zulus are hanging out in Greenwich. Yes, it's "zulu" time too.

Local Hawaii TV station.....live coverage

Local - KHON2.com

Anyone know the extent of the Tsunami damage in Ventura CA? I heard an oceanographer on CNN mention it- but can't find anything on it yet.

Originally Posted by Woooosh

Anyone know the extent of the Tsunami damage in Ventura CA? I heard an oceanographer on CNN mention it- but can't find anything on it yet.

navigational buoys

Ventura County gets a surge from tsunami, but no injuries



Ventura County Star
By Kevin Clerici

Despite broadcast reports that Ventura Harbor has suffered damage from the tsunami surge today, harbor officials said there was some erosion but no major incidents or significant damage during a six-foot tidal surge. Harbor officials said their focus was on getting offshore boats into the harbor.

A tsunami advisory was issued for the California coast as a result of the 8.8 earthquake in Chile. CNN reported there was damage in Ventura.

Brett Thompson, who spent the night on his 46-foot sailboat Grace at Ventura Harbor, said a boat came unmoored, but it was retrieved without damage.

“It was quickly captured and retied,” he said by telephone from his boat. “I haven’t heard of any boats being damaged. Some pilings and channel markers broke loose, but just minor stuff.”

Thompson recorded the tidal surge around 1 p.m., which showed water level fluctuations of about 6 feet. “That’s a big swing,” he said.

Officials in the Ventura Harbor Master’s Office said they had only heard of some erosion of the inner harbor area.

A meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Oxnard said that people sitting on beaches would probably notice only that the water would lap farther onto the beach, according to the latest forecasts. But the harbors could see more movement because of the way the change in water levels could interact with piers and boats.

No reports of damage was recorded at the Channel Islands Harbor Master’s Office, and official described the surge at the Oxnard harbor as “very minor.”

Ventura Harbor officials said their focus was assisting boats into the harbor’s main entrance amid the surge and strong current. “Right now, our priority is dealing with life over property,” said an official at the Harbor Master 's Office.

The Coast Guard recommended that people avoid going near beaches or other low-lying coastal areas, especially jetties and rocky areas. The Coast Guard said large waves can quickly and unexpectedly sweep a person from those areas, easily overtaking even the strongest swimmers.

Devastating tsunamis are rare in California. Since 1812, 14 tsunamis with waves higher than 3 feet have been observed along the California coast, but only six caused destruction.

The deadliest occurred in 1964 when a magnitude-9.2 quake in Alaska spawned tsunami waves that killed 12 people in Northern California.

Thanks. I saw some boats in San Diego and Oceanside were torn from moorings. Better that than sunk.

Another tsunami warning this morning so we pulled up all the pangas off the beach area as a precaution this morning. Hope all of you at shore level stay safe and alert...

And how much came at your location? BajaGringo!

We really didn't see it much different than most days around here. That seemed to be the general consensus of everybody with whom I spoke with as well around here...