What to do when nothing is changing and all is terrible?
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The inspiration for something so horrific as a mega-tsunami to destroy a thriving metropolis began, innocently enough, when I was a reservoir engineer for the Hawaii Geothermal Project in the mid-1970s. To quote from this blog site almost a decade ago:
The next set of postings have nothing to do with energy nor global warming. Much of the series will be excerpted from Chapter 6 of SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Planet Earth. I added this topic because the genesis can be traced to the 1970's when I was on the team of the Hawaii Geothermal Project, and National Science Foundation funding supported an effort I led on geothermal reservoir engineering, where I noticed that a series of faults, if connected, could lead to a monstrous landslide. In those days, I was not aware that the result could be a cataclysmic tsunami.
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What caught my attention thirty years later is that a major 9.0 undersea earthquake will not cause a tsunami greater than 10 meters in the far field. However, a huge chunk of an island falling quickly and deeply can be calculated to induce 100 meter and greater tsunamis.
o Fogo Volcano, on Cape Verde, an Atlantic archipelago, located off the coast of Senegal, Africa, has been feared by Simon Day (right) of the University College London, to suffer flank instability, which, if a chunk slid into the sea, could create a mega tsunami.
o Similarly, Cumbre Vieja Volcano on the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands, also off West Africa, is a particular concern for Simon Day and Steven Ward (left) of the University of California. A combination eruption and landslide with a speed of 350 kilometers per hour would have an energy release equal to 6 months of electricity consumption in the U.S. Tsunami waves of up to 650 meters (2132 feet) would be created with a wavelength of 40 km (25 miles), traveling to West Saharan shores at an amplitude of 100 meters (328 feet), and Florida at up to 50 meter waves, eight hours later. On October 12, 2000, BBC2 showed, “Mega-tsunami: Wave of Destruction,” about this potential disaster, which became a most controversial TV program. This program is updated with regularity and again was shown in June of 2006.
o The Cascadia Subduction Zone, stretching from Vancouver Island to northern California, is suspected of being able to produce a 9.0 magnitude earthquake, which would almost surely produce something approaching a mega-tsunami. Yes, the reference is a novel, but this whole chapter started with a similar premise for Six Hours to Seattle, my future novel on this subject after The Venus Syndrome.
o California is a potential target from submarine landslides. A West Coast seeking tsunami created by Mauna Loa Volcano could run up to 18 meters (60 feet) according to Gary McMurtry of the University of Hawaii. Dr. McMurtry mentioned to me that he would speculate that the Nuuanu Landslide (I live on Nuuanu Avenue) should have created a much larger tsunami, but there is no physical evidence remaining.
That landslide sent a mega tsunami towards Seattle. So in Six Hours to Seattle I will be combining my geothermal reservoir engineering experience with the reality of the fact that for 36 years now I have been living on Nuuanu Avenue.
The slide this time would be a huge chunk of the Big Island, more specifically, to include Hilo, where my wife and a couple of hundred relatives live, and that troubles me. However, the odds of anything like this happening got be nanoscopic. Yet, the current Lower Puna Eruptions and geophysical/bathymetry conditions surrounding Hilo are intriguing.
Surely, all the above should have been more than sufficient incentive to have completed that novel by now, especially since my Huffington Post article of eight years ago provided a convenient starting point. While I do have competing potential with The Blue Revolution and The Venus Syndrome, I thought I'd spark some movement with a flight from the Big Island to Seattle. That I will do in two days.
The slide this time would be a huge chunk of the Big Island, more specifically, to include Hilo, where my wife and a couple of hundred relatives live, and that troubles me. However, the odds of anything like this happening got be nanoscopic. Yet, the current Lower Puna Eruptions and geophysical/bathymetry conditions surrounding Hilo are intriguing.
Oh, I must send you to Courtney (above), from America's Got Talent, who got the Golden Buzzer for Week #3. Your first exposure to the next Janis Joplin. While you're at this, make your day, click on Sophi. She sang My Way.
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