Could A Tsunami Strike The U.S. East Coast?

The short answer is YES, though with much lower probability and generally not as catastrophic as a tsunami hitting the West Coast.

However, while there is no indication it could happen soon (but could), there are scientifically sound reasons for concern that at some point a mega-tsunamicould engulf the entire East Coast with a wave almost 200 feet high sweeping everything and everybody up to 20 miles inland. The consequences of such a relatively unlikely but very possible event in loss of life and property are inestimable and beyond the realm of imagination (at least for me).

(Note: Not withstanding covering the potential catastrophe associated withspace weather and tsunami possibilities here, please trust that I am just reporting and not a wild-eyed irrational prophet of doom. This is real science, not science fiction.)

Most large tsunamis occur in the Pacific and originate along the hotbed of seismic activity (earthquakes and volcanism) referred to as the Pacific Ring of Fire. Tsunamis, such as the 2004 Indonesian and recent Japan catastrophes occur in response to the sudden vertical uplift of tremendous volumes of water by an earthquake where one tectonic plate slides beneath another (subduction).

By contrast, the Atlantic Ocean is home to much less seismic and volcanic activity than the Pacific and, in particular, lacks subduction zones which are most common source of tsunami-causing earthquakes.

The majority of earthquakes capable of generating tsunamis in the North Atlantic are associated with the Lesser Antilles subduction zone near Puerto Rico. Historically the majority of these resulted in localized damage and death but nothing on a regionally catastrophic scale outside of the Caribbean. In 1918, for example, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake off the northwest coast of Puerto Rico generated a tsunami with a height of about 20 feet causing extensive damage and killing over 100 people. Waves with amplitudes between (1 and 3 inches) were recorded on an Atlantic City, NJ, tidal gage, but were otherwise barely noticeable there or elsewhere along the East Coast.

However, tsunamis affecting the East Coast are much more likely to be caused by earthquakes, which alone would not likely produce a tsunami, but could indirectly by causing underwater or island landslides that vertically displace large volumes of water. The most noteworthy in recent history occurred in 1929 when a tsunami was generated by a submarine landslide triggered by a major earthquake (magnitude 7.1) 250 miles south of Newfoundland (and felt as far south as New York). Tsunami wave heights ranged from about 6 to 23 feet and were concentrated on the coast of Newfoundland (killing 28 people) but recorded as far south as South Carolina.

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