A shaped atomic weapon charge to stop tsunami

The main response of governments around the world to the risk of tsunamis is to set up early warning systems. Oceanic buoys that measure the magnitude of waves passing them. Early warning systems with sirens at beaches and radio broadcasts.

In a few places, high sea walls are constructed, but this is only practical to protect specific items.

So basically, the only answers we have are those I stated earlier. Sea walls, and "run for your life".

A lot of SBI's (silly bugger ideas) have been listed in this thread. (That is not a problem as long as people understand what they are. Speculate all you like, but keep your feet on the ground. There are enough idiots out there already!

 

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How is it that this thread is still alive? We've already concluded how impractical it is.

 

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My main opposition to this proposal is the collateral damage the explosion could cause to aquatic hyraxes.

 

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don't worry - they'll hitch a ride on the back of a manta ray and fly away from danger

 

Even if the bomb was a shape charge (i.e. directional) it would still have to displace a massive amount of water to cause the wave. Once the water rushes back in to replace the displaced volume you would still have tsunami.

 

multiple low order staged explosions

one thing i noticed is that everyone is trying to stop the tsunami in one blow. instead of creating a single same sized counter wave, what about several smaller counter waves spaced out? multiple low order staged explosions could create these waves. of course it would create waves that would strike the coasts in the tsunamis path, but these waves would be much smaller and would hopefully be defeated by more mundane counter tsunami measures, i.e. sea walls. please correct me if i am wrong, but what we are trying to do is counter the energy of the tsunami, in the form of water molecules pushing into each other. it is the energy that moves, not so much the water. as for detection, what about something similar to the navy's sosus network of hydrophones? a network of underwater devices in order to detect a tsunami and alert to its frequency, speed, etc.? of course the theory is what i am talking about, not the ultra impracticable. after-all, most of the suggestion on this thread would harm some sort of exotic rare species of blind, albino fish, so there would be all kinds of groups fighting against the use of them.

i look forward to any comments

 

Oogum;
Here I am, reading thru 4 pages of stuff, waiting to make this exact point, and you beat me to it by ONE POST! Dang it!

 

Thank you CK for this image.

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The thing most people miss is that there is not just the one wave. Having been displaced (up or down), the ocean then oscillates around sea-level until it dies away, each oscillation sending out another wave. Sometimes harbor slosh frequencies are tuned to that oscillation and the waves sum up.
There MAY be a way to suppress the oscillations by producing a series of air bursts along the fault line as the water is coming up again. I'm not sure it would work, but it may reduce the following train of waves. And please note it is often the follow on waves that climb over the back of the lead wave and do all the damage. May not be such a SBI after all.

Of course, the radioactive fall out from all those bombs would probably put Chernobyl and Fukushima together to shame.