© 2024
NPR for Northern Colorado
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

NOAA: A Rare Tsunami Hit The East Coast Earlier This Month

A radar image of the storm complex that may have caused the tsunami.
NOAA
A radar image of the storm complex that may have caused the tsunami.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says a 6-foot wave that hit the East Coast earlier this month was a rare tsunami.

The West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center said the source of the wave is "complex and under review," but they believe it was caused by a strong storm and perhaps even the "the slumping at the continental shelf east of New Jersey."

The weather service says that Brian Coen, who was spear fishing near Barnegat Inlet in New Jersey, saw the effect of the tsunami first hand.

He told the weather service that he noticed an outgoing tide that lasted a couple of minutes and exposed rocks that had been submerged. That was followed by a big six-foot wave.

The Asbury Park Press, which covers the Jersey coast, talked to Paul Whitmore, director of the tsunami center.

He explained the weather system that moved through the area may have changed the air pressure enough to "generate waves that act just like tsunamis." When that happens, the wave is called a "meteotsunami" — in other words a tsunami caused by meteorological conditions, not seismic activity.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Eyder Peralta
Eyder Peralta is NPR's East Africa correspondent based in Nairobi, Kenya.
Related Content
  • Officials are forecasting that hurricane activity will be "above normal" this season, with 13 to 20 named storms. As many as six of those could be major hurricanes. Warm ocean waters and the lack of El Nino conditions are partly to blame.
  • The commonwealth of Massachusetts is suing the Obama administration over lowered catch limits for historic Northeast species such as cod. Commercial fishermen say the drastic reductions that just went into effect will put them out of business. The state attorney general alleges regulators violated federal law by failing to take the economic impact into account.
  • Once NOAA realized conditions were ripe for severe weather they put their satellites on overdrive. They beamed back amazing images.