What is the difference between a tidal wave and a tsunami?

coolio_daniel_uk

There is no difference. http://greennature.com/article796.html The terms 'tsunami' and 'tidal wave' mean the same thing. 'Tsunami' is the preferred term nowadays, because it avoids the confusion with tides. 'Tidal wave' is most often seen in reproductions of old news reports and older text books. In this sense, it is like the term 'seismic sea wave'. Earthquakes, submarine landslides and volcanic eruptions are the sources of these waves. Asteroids hitting the Earth have also been sources in the distant past of Earth's history. Jan 11 05, 12:19 PM

wroot

I beg to differ. A tidal wave has a connection to the moon while a tsunami is caused by underwater disturbances. This site explains that tsunamis are incorrectly known as tidal waves. http://whyfiles.org/068tsunami/ Tsunamis - sometimes incorrectly called tidal waves - are extremely powerful waves caused by large undersea disturbances. (The name tsunami derives from Japanese for "harbor wave," reflecting the fact that harbors can concentrate the energy of a tsunami. True tidal waves, also known as tide waves, are long-period waves associated with the tide-producing forces of the moon and the sun and which are identified with the rising and falling of the tide.) Jan 11 05, 12:35 PM

Buck540

This site agrees with wroot - http://www.crystalinks.com/tsunami.html The word Tsunami comes from the Japanese tsu (harbor) and nami (wave). Appropriate naming, as some 80 percent of all tsunamis occur in the Pacific Ocean and Japan has suffered many, some coming from as far away as South America. Tsunamis are often incorrectly called tidal waves, but tides have nothing to do with them (though the damage may be worse if a tsunami hits at high tide). A tsunami (pronounced tsoo-nah-mee) is a wave train, or series of waves, generated in a body of water by an impulsive disturbance that vertically displaces the water column. Earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, explosions, and even the impact of cosmic bodies, such as meteorites, can generate tsunamis. Tsunamis can savagely attack coastlines, causing devastating property damage and loss of life. Jan 11 05, 1:20 PM