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Message: <blockquote data-quote="root_" data-source="post: 9632871" data-attributes="member: 344791"><img src="http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/quake1/bp13.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />This National Oceanic and Atmospheric  Administration (NOAA) Global bathymetry map image released on March 11,  2011 shows features of the ocean floor depth (or bathymetry) from a NOAA  ETOPO-1 dataset. The image shows the entire Western Pacific basin.  Notice how abruptly the Japanese islands rise out of the ocean. Other  coastal Asian areas have much more gradual slopes. The islands and  mountain ranges throughout the ocean, visible in this imagery, also  affect the tsunami travel time and speed. In the open ocean, tsunamis  can travel at speeds up to 500 mph (800 kph). This momentum is what  creates such a destructive force as the wave moves inland. Tsunami waves  rolled thousands of miles across the Pacific Ocean after a massive  earthquake off Japan and washed ashore in Hawaii early March 11, 2011,  but the tourist hotspot appeared to escape major damage. As sirens  blared and Hawaiian authorities rapidly evacuated low-lying areas, the  Pacific Tsunami Warning Center reported wave changes at Waianae Harbor  at around 3:24 a.m. (NOAA/handout)</blockquote>

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