Meteotsunamis in Brazil: an overview of known occurrences from 1977 to 2020

Abstract

From 1977 to March 2020, eight atmospherically induced tsunami-like events have been observed in Brazil. Six of them occurred in the southern region of the country, where the atmosphere tends to be more unstable due to the passage of low-pressure systems, which often move from the south to the north along the coast. This trajectory combined with the shallow continental shelf in the region can favor the occurrence of resonance and, consequently, the amplification of the waves. Most events resulted only in material losses, sometimes severe, but at least one fatal victim was registered. On the vast majority of the occasions, seven in eight, the tsunami-like waves happened on the open coast, and half of them under bad-weather situations. The sparse tide gauge network and its low sampling frequency surely prevented them from being recorded, and mostly the only references about these events came only from the media.

Strength in Numbers: The Tail End of Typhoon Songda Combines with Local Cyclones to Generate Extreme Sea Level Oscillations on the British Columbia and Washington Coasts during Mid-October 2016

“…The narrowness of the most intense zones of the atmospheric disturbances partly explains why meteotsunamis commonly impact only a limited segment of the coast (cf. Heidarzadeh et al 2020;Candella and de Araujo 2021). Another crucial factor explaining the selective response of the sea level to passing pressure disturbances is the resonant nature of meteotsunamis.…”

Special issue on the global perspective on meteotsunami science: editorial

“…A thorough analysis of known meteotsunamis along the Brazilian coastline between 1977 and 2020 was done by Candella and Araujo (2021) based on media reports and documents describing the impact of extreme waves on coastal communities. One such event (October 2019) has been investigated in detail by Araujo et al (2021).…”

Volcanic Eruption Triggers a Rare Meteotsunami in the Indian Ocean

“…As meteotsunami are multi‐resonant phenomena, the local bathymetry and harbor resonance cause these waves to get amplified as they approach the coast (Pattiaratchi & Wijeratne, 2015) and often leave a devastating impact on the coast (Monserrat et al., 2006; Vilibić et al., 2021). Thus, sea‐level oscillations having meteorological origin are monitored and studied all over the world (Candella & de Araujo, 2021; Rabinovich et al., 2021; Vilibić et al., 2021; Šepić et al., 2015). Here, for the first time, we report a meteotsunami event in the Indian Ocean (IO) basin triggered by the recent eruption of the Hunga Tonga‐Hunga Ha'apai volcano (hereafter Hunga‐Tonga).…”