Figure 15. Evolution of the La Palma landslide tsunami from 2 minutes (A, upper left) to 9 hours (I, lower right). Red and blue contours cover elevated and depressed regions of the ocean respectively and the yellow dots and numbers sample the wave height, positive or negative, in meters. Note the strong influence of dispersion in spreading out an original impulse into a long series of waves of decreasing wavelength. See also that the peak amplitudes generally do not coincide with the first wave. Even after crossing the Atlantic, a lateral collapse of Cumbre Vieja volcano could impose a great sequence of waves of 10-25 m height on the shores of the Americas (from Ward and Day, 2001).

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Last updated on October 6, 2005

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