Can A Tsunami Hit The Atlantic Coast?

Can a tsunami strike the coast of New Jersey, North Carolina, or Florida?  The answer is yes, a tsunami hitting the Atlantic Coast is possible, but much less likely than one striking Alaska, Hawaii, or the Pacific Northwest.  When it comes to the kinds of natural events that start tsunamis — undersea earthquakes, submarine landslides, and volcano eruptions –  the Atlantic is a much tamer ocean than the Pacific.  The Pacific basin is encircled by the notorious Ring of Fire with its hundreds of active volcanoes and dozens of dangerous, earthquake-prone subduction zones.  The Atlantic has far fewer geological areas capable of posing a genuine tsunami threat.  But there are some, and they should be taken seriously.

The Atlantic threat most talked about is the Cumbre Vieja volcano in the Canary Islands, 3000 miles from Boston and 3700 miles from Miami.  In 1949, a flank of the volcano split off, creating a 3-ft. rift, the flank sliding down 3 feet toward the ocean before it stabilized.  Earthquakes and a buildup of pressure inside the volcano were associated with the event.  The concern is that another earthquake or eruption could dislodge the entire flank and send as much as 300 cubic miles of debris plunging into the ocean.  One school of thought suggests that such a monster landslide would start a tsunami capable of reaching the eastern seaboard of the United States 5 or 6 hours later.

However, many geologists dispute the notion that such an event would send a killer tsunami smashing into the East Coast of the U.S.  The height of the initial wave would be enormous, and destructive to the local area, but the length between waves would be relatively short, meaning its ability to maintain its energy while travelling long distances would be minimized.