Facts About Tsunami - strangefacts

• Tsunami is a Japanese word. "Tsu" translates to harbor and "nami" to wave. When a body of water is rapidly displaced, a series of waves are created

• In the 1940s, an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale gave rise to a tsunami

• A "megatsunami" is caused by large landslides. The displaced water mass moves under the effect of gravity

• If an earthquake takes place near a body of water, it means that a tsunami will follow in a short time

• If the water along the shoreline recedes dramatically and exposes usually submerged areas it should be inferred that this is the trough of the tsunami and a crest will follow after a few seconds or minutes

• Some large animals like elephants hear the noise of the tsunami and move in the opposite direction towards inland

• Computer models can also foresee tsunami arrival and impact depending upon knowledge of the event that caused it and the shape of the oceanbed

• Where tsunami is happening there is a loud roar similar to a train or aircraft

• The maximum death toll due to tsunami has been 283,000 in 2004 in the Indian Ocean

• These waves are usually 10 meters high. The rapid displacement of the body of water takes place due to volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, underwater explosions, large meteorite impacts, mass movements above or under water,nuclear weapons testing in seas
  

Facts About Volcanoes - strangefacts

• The biggest volcano in the world is the Mauna Loa, in Hawaii. It rises off of the seafloor to 13,000 feet above sea level or about 29,000 feet above the seafloor

• Most volcanoes are 10,000 to 100,000 years old

• There are at least 1,500 active volcanoes around the world

• Indonesia has the most volcanoes about more then 200 alive

• Common volcanic gases include water vapor, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen chloride, hydrogen fluoride and hydrogen sulfide

• Volcanic eruptions can send ash high into the air, over 30km (17 miles) above the Earth’s surface

• The lower 48 states in the U.S. have about 40 volcanoes

• Scientists has estimated the ocean contains 10,000 volcanoes

• The oldest volcano is the Etna at 350,000 years old

• About 500 million people live close to active volcanoes
  

Facts About Global Warming - strangefacts

• The warmest year on record was 2005. If things keep going like this, your children and grandchildren will inherit a world with a far less hospitable climate.

• In the past 100 years, sea level has already risen between 5 and 9 inches and it is still going up. You may think that’s not a lot, but it is. Even a few feet of rise would put many US coastal cities and a large portion of Florida underwater.

• There were 27 named storms in 2005, a higher number of severe storms and hurricanes than ever before in a single year. The high storm volume may be connected to warmer temperatures in the Atlantic.

• Within the last decade, there were outbreaks of both malaria and dengue fever in the US. Other tropical diseases will undoubtedly spread north as the temperature rises.

• Heat waves are gaining in intensity and frequency. Europe’s 2003 heat wave caused an estimated 35,000 deaths. If you have older relatives, especially if they live alone, increases in heat waves could pose a deadly risk.

• Global warming causes crop failures, especially in the tropics, where temperatures are already on the edge of what is tolerable for many food crops. These failures could lead to famines if warming continues.

• That’s really scary when you consider that automobiles are one of the major sources of global carbon emissions.

• There is a broad scientific consensus that humans are causing global warming by burning fossil fuels when we drive, fly, and use electricity.

• Your use of fossil fuels is actually changing the composition of the atmosphere. The US and China are the two biggest emitters of carbon dioxide worldwide.

Facts About Hurricane - strangefacts

• The odds are 1 out of 8 (11.63%) that you live in an area threatened by an Atlantic hurricane.

• The Atlantic Ocean’s hurricane season peaks from mid-August to late October and averages five to six hurricanes per year.

• Key West has not been directly hit by a hurricane since 1919.

• In 1281, the Mongol army of Kublai Khan tried to invade Japan but were ravaged by a hurricane that destroyed their fleet.

• Hurricanes are giant, spiraling tropical storms that can pack wind speeds of over 160 miles (257 kilometers) an hour and unleash more than 2.4 trillion gallons (9 trillion liters) of rain a day.

• The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced in 1978 that it would alternate men's and women's names in the naming of hurricanes. It was seen as an attempt at fair play.

• Hurricanes had been named for women for years, until NOAA succumbed to pressure from women's groups who were demanding that Atlantic storms be given unisex names.

Facts About Tornado - strangefacts

• In 1974 there were 90 tornadoes in the U.S. in one day

• Tornadoes can and do form at any time of the day and year

• Over the last 50 years in the United States, approximately 9,000 people have died as a result of tornadoes, 5,000 as the result of floods, and 4,000 as the result of hurricanes

• A tornado forms when changes in wind speed and direction create a horizontal spinning effect within a storm cell. This effect is then tipped vertical by rising air moving up through the thunderclouds.

• Today the average warning time for a tornado alert is 13 minutes.

• Violent tornadoes comprise only about two percent of all tornadoes, but they cause 70 percent of all tornado deaths and may last an hour or more.

• "Tornado Alley," a region that includes eastern South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, northern Texas, and eastern Colorado, is home to the most powerful and destructive of these storms. U.S. tornadoes cause 80 deaths and more than 1,500 injuries per year.

• The tornado in The Wizard of Oz was a 35 foot long muslin stocking