Channel Islands, California. Photograph: © SAF – Coastal Care
Excerpts;
A long-held belief that offshore islands protect the mainland from tsunamis turns out to be the exact opposite of the truth, according to a new study.
Common wisdom — from Southern California to the South Pacific — for coastal residents and scientists alike has long been that offshore islands would create a buffer that blocked the power of a tsunami. In fact, computer modeling of tsunamis striking a wide variety of different offshore island geometries yielded no situation in which the mainland behind them fared better.
Instead, islands focused the energy of the tsunami, increasing flooding on the mainland by up to 70 percent…
