FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Megan Sever (msever@agiweb.org)

12/5/2014

EARTH Magazine: Giant Quakes Sloshed Fjords Half a World Away

Alexandria, VA – On March 11, 2011, Norwegian citizens living along fjord coastlines were perplexed as rare waves sloshed along local docks and seawalls. The waves almost seemed like tsunami waves. Naturally, the residents grabbed their cell phones to document.

The video and photo coverage of the rare waves would eventually help scientists identify and describe the phenomenon: seismically generated water waves called seiches, which had been set in motion by the massive Tohoku earthquake half a world away. EARTHMagazine explores how the energy released by a ruptured fault off the eastern coast of Japan oscillated the water in Norwegian fjords in a December news story: http://bit.ly/1bIk2am.

Celebrate the end of 2013 with EARTH Magazine by reading commentary about notable geoscience stories from the past year, a geoscientist’s gift guide, and visit the “Bay of Kotor: Europe’s Southernmost Fjord,” in the December issue of EARTH Magazine available at the digital newsstand at: www.earthmagazine.org/digital.

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Keep up to date with the latest happenings in Earth, energy and the environment news with EARTH magazine online atwww.earthmagazine.org/. Published by the American Geosciences Institute, EARTH is your source for the science behind the headlines.

The American Geosciences Institute is a nonprofit federation of geoscientific and professional associations that represents more than 250,000 geologists, geophysicists and other earth scientists. Founded in 1948, AGI provides information services to geoscientists, serves as a voice of shared interests in the profession, plays a major role in strengthening geosciences education, and strives to