A tsunami is a wave or series of waves caused by the displacement of water, as with seismic activity. Tsunami can be caused by landslides, glacier activity, underwater explosions, and earthquakes. Some tsunami are so massive that they can cause extensive damaged to populated and natural areas of coastline. In 2011, an earthquake and the resulting tsunami destroyed the Tohoku area of Japan.
According to National Geographic, tsunami can reach heights of over 100 feet. When tsunami occur out in the deep ocean, they may be barely visible from the surface, only reaching a height of about 3 feet. As the wave moves closer to shore, however, the wave height increases as there is less space under the water-level for it to move. The wave length of a tsunami might be many miles long. The size of a tsunami is proportional to the activity which caused it-- an event which causes greater displacement of water will result in greater wave activity.
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