Tsunami Travel Time

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The Tsunami Travel Time calculator computes the time a tsunami travels between to points on the globe in a great circle arc at an average velocity.

INSTRUCTIONS: Enter the following:

(Lat ₁₎ Starting latitude
(Lon₁) Stating Longitude
(Lat₂) Ending Latitude
(Lon₂) Ending Longitude
(V) Average Speed

Tsunami Travel Time (t): The calculator returns the time required to travel between the points in days, hours and minutes (dd:hh:mm). The results include the distance traveled in kilometers, miles (statute) and nautical miles.

The Math / Science

The calculator uses the Haversine equation to compute the distance between two points (x and y) on the Earth. It then uses a mean velocity (speed) to calculate the time necessary to travel between the two points on the globe.
The time of travel is calculated by dividing the distance traveled by the average velocity. This formula allows the user to enter two points on the globe in latitude and longitude, and a speed. This formula uses the Haversine formula to approximate the distance between the two points. The Haversine formula is based on a spherical earth model employing the Earths mean radius.

This formula will provide a fairly accurate estimate on the amount of time it would take a tsunami to travel between two points. The velocity of a tsunami is reported to be 500 miles per hours when in deep water (See U.S. Gov Report).

Tsunamis travel incredibly fast across open oceans, reaching speeds of up to 500-600 miles per hour (800-970 kilometers per hour)—comparable to the speed of a jet plane. The speed of a tsunami is primarily determined by the depth of the water it’s traveling through. In deeper water, tsunamis move faster, while in shallower water near coastlines, they slow down significantly, typically to around 20-30 miles per hour (30-50 kilometers per hour).

Key Points:

Deep Ocean: Up to 500-600 mph (800-970 km/h)
Shallow Water (Near Coast): Slows down to 20-30 mph (30-50 km/h)

When a tsunami reaches shallow waters near a coastline, it slows down, but its height increases dramatically, creating a powerful and often destructive wave as it approaches land.

Example:

If there was a large quake in the Cascadia Subduction Zone off of Oregon near Garibaldi (Lat/Lon: 45.58583°,-124.23272°), the tsunami could travel to Hawaii (Lat/Lon: 21.31959°, -157.74323°) at 600 miles per hour. Using this calculator, the results are as follows:

(t) Tsunami Time to Travel Distance = 4064.8(km) 2525.7(miles) 2194.8(nautical miles): 4 h 13 min

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