Double jeopardy: Concurrent arrival of the 2004 Sumatra tsunami and storm-generated waves on the Atlantic coast of the United States and Canada

摘要

A detailed analysis of over one hundred tide gauge records from the Atlantic coast of North America reveals that the arrival of the 26 December 2004 Sumatra tsunami on this coast coincided with the presence of tsunami-like waves being generated by a major storm tracking northward along the eastern seaboard of the United States. According to the tide gauge records, waves from the two events coalesced along the shores of Maine and Nova Scotia on 27 December where they produced damaging waves with heights in excess of 1 m. Tsunami waves were identified in almost all outer tide gauges from Florida to Nova Scotia with maximum tsunami heights for the northern regions estimated to be 32-39 cm. In the south, maximum tsunami wave heights were in the range of 15 to 33 cm.