Mini Tsunami hits UK

Originally posted by Essan
In the grand scheme of things it's nothing of consequence. But still an unusual event for Britain. We have though had big tsunamis in the past

en.wikipedia.org...

Hi Essan *waves* My part of the coast in Southern Britain is susceptible to meteo-tsunamis.. (9 recorded between 1900 and 1966) the last one that hit my location here in Sussex was in the late 20s with a height of 30ft but it hit at low tide so caused only a few deaths..

en.wikipedia.org...

Meteo-Tsumanis here seem to be associated with Summer Thunder storms as the recorded strikes are between May and August..

Given the destructive power of Tsunamis this is why our Nuclear Power stations (Lke Dungeness) have Tsunami Bunds for protection (the last Meteo-Tsunami to hit the Dungeness area was 20ft High)

All in all given the lack of Meteo-Tsunamis from the 60s onwards.. I wouldn't be surprised if this turned out to be another meteo-tsunami.

Yea, lets all crack a joke about the baby wave.

I have read several reports on this across the media. All make a point of drawing attention to the fact that everyoine in the area had there hair stand on end due to static when this occurred.

Whats that about? thanks.

reply to post by celticpride


Thanks for your reply. I know animals/fish can react to seismic activity before it happens. My main concern is the static discharge felt.

Hitler did less damage against Cornwall castle and that is saying something fishy

Glad everyone is okay

Originally posted by boo1981
reply to post by celticpride

 

Thanks for your reply. I know animals/fish can react to seismic activity before it happens. My main concern is the static discharge felt.

Just throwing this out there.. but Southern Britain is susceptible to meteorological tsunamis and from what I have read over the years these are linked to Summer thunderstorms out at sea.. so I wonder if the static discharge shows this a small meteotsunami?

(Going by historical records we have had a distinct lack of meteo tsunamis in the last 50 years when you consider 9 where recorded hitting Southern Britain in the 50ish year before that)

Originally posted by JohnySeagull
Yea, lets all crack a joke about the baby wave.

I have read several reports on this across the media. All make a point of drawing attention to the fact that everyoine in the area had there hair stand on end due to static when this occurred.

Whats that about? thanks.

Maybe to size of the wave made it happen.

Would have freaked me out too

I find it odd that the article states that it cause such a massive change in air pressure, womens hair was standing on end, how would a wave affect the atmospheric pressure ? If the 'underwater landslide' was miles off the coast ?

I live in cornwall and yea thats a very small tsunami but the distance it covered is very surprising to me. The static is the weirdest part, has that ever been reported to of happened before?

I do love the guy in the bbc video hoping the ducks are going to get some surf.

I don't think people are getting it tbh, since when has a tsunami caused a static discharge? We all know what static is right? If suc a small 'tsunami' or wave rather, can cause a static discharge ... the tsuanmi in Japan must of set off a lot more static ... but we don't hear about that.

So the question is, what is with this static discharge what made the fish jump out the water and peoples hair stand on end. We know it's normal for fish to jump but not all do it, so what made this static discharge? Don't say a fish farted and caused it please.

Originally posted by thoughtsfull
reply to

 

Just throwing this out there.. but Southern Britain is susceptible to meteorological tsunamis and from what I have read over the years these are linked to Summer thunderstorms out at sea.. so I wonder if the static discharge shows this a small meteotsunami?

(Going by historical records we have had a distinct lack of meteo tsunamis in the last 50 years when you consider 9 where recorded hitting Southern Britain in the 50ish year before that)

You could be right, we did get a few good storms the other day. I was right in the middle of two!
I've been doing some digging and found that one of the typical ignition energies of static electricity is Hydrogen!!
And that

"Throughout the universe, hydrogen is mostly found in the atomic and plasma states whose properties are quite different from molecular hydrogen
As a plasma, hydrogen's electron and proton are not bound together, resulting in very high electrical conductivity and high emissivity"

Link

The charged particles are highly influenced by magnetic and electric fields.

So do we have a plasma core???? Just putting this into the pot

well the bbc think it was caused by a land slide out to sea

"The sea on the eastern side was probably 8ins (20cm) to a 1ft (0.3m) higher than the rest and it was pouring over the causeway like a torrent rather than just a gentle meeting in the middle."

Roland Stewart from Millbrook, near Plymouth, said: "It was quite violent in a way, my dinghy was moving around with the movement of the water and I just wondered what the hell was going on.... within 15 minutes it was all over."

Dr Davidson, an associate professor in coastal processes, told BBC Spotlight: "[Surges] are quite rare and it's probably not a tidal phenomenon.

"It's probably more likely to be a tsunami of some kind, obviously it's quite mild.

"It's probably not due to an earthquake, which is the normal source.

"It's probably more likely to be a sub-marine landslide."

According to the Tidal Gauge Anomaly measure, which records the difference between the forecast tide and the actual tide, the anomaly on Monday morning in Newlyn, Cornwall was 0.2m (0.7ft), in Plymouth 0.3m (1ft) and in Portsmouth 0.4m (1.3ft).

The MET Office in Exeter said it did not think anything in the weather could have caused the change in the tidal pattern.

The British Geological Survey said there was no seismic activity in UK waters over the weekend.

link

still doesn't explain the static

I heard something about a piezoelectric effect? If it was quartz in the landslide it can generate electricity or something along those lines? I didn't fully understand it.

reply to post by boo1981


I've been digging and not found anything that links static discharge to the type of meteo-tsunamis that have hit Britain.. so it's certainly left me scratching my head... so thanks for that bit of information.. Will have to read up more

Probably has something to do with the fault line on the seabed of the English channel. Increased earth movement in the Mediterranean area, the subduction of the African plate under Europe and the massive horizontal fault line, west of England, crossing the expanding North Atlantic ridge. The squeeze at the Caribbean and the stretch at the New Madrid all the way up the river through Montreal and the city of Quebec to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.... hence the connection back to the North Atlantic ridge lateral fault line. Considering the plate dynamics in these areas... it appears like a 'twisting' motion.... or a 'shift and separation'.

If the area out in the English channel is granite... apparently an electric discharge can be created when a fault line of this type slips. Check out 'Frictional discharge at fault asperities' and 'Origin of fractal seismo-electromagnetic radiation'.

Random link to info
random link 2

reply to post by LexiconV


excellent info thanks

interestingly Dartmoor is granite and had an earthquake. Dartmoor was formed at the same time and with the same mechanics as a lot of Cornwall and out to the isles of scilly so the granite thing could explain the static

reply to post by LexiconV


It could have been the case if the fault-line would have been on land. But the event took place under water.
The water would have absorbed the static electricity.

reply to post by thoughtsfull


Hi thoughtsfull

I admit I'd not heard of meteotsunamis before! They'd be due to pressure differences under thunderstorm cells etc - much like tidal surges caused by hurricanes or low pressure systems, but on a smaller scale.

(high pressure depresses water, whereas under low pressure the sea level rises - because (obviously) there is less atmospheric pressure pushing it down.)

It's possible that the 'hair standing on end' may have been due to thundery activity in the area at the time, unrelated to the landslide and tsunami. And the fish leaping out of the sea could again be due to unrelated predator activity.

There's been a discussion about it on my weather forum. Some may find the comments of interest:

www.ukweatherworld.co.uk...

reply to post by Essan


Good to see you around
Thanks for the link

The thing that interests me on this story is that people in the vicinity had their hair stand on end. Static!

I was not aware that a change in air pressure could cause that! And i am yet to see the science on it!

Interesting!