16,544 science & technology articles  Earthquake acoustics can
indicate if a massive tsunami is imminent, Stanford researchers
find  Posted on June 6, 2013  Stanford scientists have
identified key acoustic characteristics of the 2011 Japan
earthquake that indicated it would cause a large tsunami. The
technique could be applied worldwide to create an early warning
system for massive tsunamis.  On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9.0
undersea earthquake occurred 43 miles off the shore of Japan.
The earthquake generated an unexpectedly massive tsunami that
washed over eastern Japan roughly 30 minutes later, killing more
than 15,800 people and injuring more than 6,100. More than 2,600
people are still unaccounted for.  Now, computer simulations by
Stanford scientists reveal that sound waves in the ocean
produced by the earthquake probably reached land tens of minutes
before the tsunami. If correctly interpreted, they could have
offered a warning that a large tsunami was on the way.  Although
various systems can detect