MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Tsunami effect reached south Chile and Falklands

Last December's tsunami which swept violently through a dozen countries in the Indian Ocean was also felt in such distant places as Peru, Canada, Chile and even the Falkland Islands according to a report published in “Science” magazine.

The huge ten metres tall waves which surged from the epicenter of the submarine earthquake, a hundred kilometres west of Sumatra killed an estimated 300.000 people.

In the "Science" article scientists from the United States Pacific Marine Environment Office from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reveal that the wave generated in the Indian Ocean travelled the world several times and was felt a day later in Peru and Canada, at 20,000 kilometres distance.

Waves above normal height were also recorded in Antarctica, in southern Chile, according to a team of scientists headed by Vasily Titov from the Pacific Marine Lab.

Working on data supplied by satellites the tsunami after effect waves followed a trail dictated by submarine geology patterns which allowed them to be perceived all the way to the extremes of the Pacific.

That is why the ocean effect of the quake was greater in the Peruvian port of El Callao, 19.500 kilometres away, than in the Cocos islands, 1.700 kilometres to the south. The same can be said of Halifax in Nova Scotia which was 24.000 kilometres away from the disaster area.

The first "global" wave from the tsunami averaged 30,5 centimeters, but in El Callao and Halifax they reached 50,8 centimeters, according to "Science".

In the south of Chile the wave reached 19,8 centimeters, with a lesser impact in Newlyn, England, Brest, France and in Port Stanley, Falkland Islands.

Scientists conclude that two main factors "regulate" the direction of tsunami waves: structure in the point of origin and submarine geology.

Although there were no major direct damages outside the Indian Ocean, the report shows that the energy liberated can effectively move along the oceans. "Tsunamis can spread an energy damaging wave to distant coastal areas including other oceans".