After the horrible Tsunami that occurred in the Pacific I was a little nervous traveling back to the lighthouse. I did some research and found that "Tsunami" is a Japanese word which translates as "harbor wave", now used internationally to refer to a series of waves traveling across the ocean with extremely long wavelengths (up to hundreds of miles between wave crests in the deep ocean). When these waves approach shore, the speed of the wave decreases as they begin to "feel" the bottom. It is at this time that the height of the wave drastically increases. As the waves strike shore they may inundate low-lying coastal areas resulting in mass destruction and in many instances loss of life. Often a tsunami is incorrectly referred to as a tidal wave. Tidal waves are simply the periodic movement of water associated with the rise and fall of the tides produced by the gravitational attraction of the sun and moon. Tsunamis have no connection with the weather nor with tides.
That helped me feel a little more comfortable about living on the rugged Northwest coast of Shetland. You usually feel very safe sitting on a cliff that is over 200 feet above the ocean but when waves can get as violent as the one in the Pacific you begin to wonder. We often get waves when the wind is in the West and there is a strong swell which come up the cliff and breaks over the lighthouse. Yes, I am talking about a wave that reaches over 250 feet in the air.
Since I arrived back in early January we have had many days where you look out the window and see a white wall of water out the window. It is not uncommon in the winter to walk out the door on the side of the lighthouse away from the sea to be drenched with sea spray coming over the building. You learn to stay inside the lighthouse which was built to withstand horrible storms.
Living here I have come to have a strong respect of the power of the sea. When the ocean is angry and in torment you must be prepared to deal with it if you live on an exposed coast. I think because we have such violent weather at times we are prepared for anything the ocean can throw at us. But, and that is a big but I am not sure what we would be like if a Tsunami did hit our coastline. It is a terrifying thought.Happy Reading,
I love to hear from you so contact me by Email at sharma@sharmakrauskopf.com
You can find more articles in the archive under Island Miniatures/Lighthouse Letters.
I have three books which are directly related to this column. The Last Lighthouse tells how we bought our lighthouse, the day by day journal of a year at Eshaness entitled A Year in the Lighthouse and in Scottish Lighthouses our lighthouse is featured in the 31 lighthouses presented. You can find out more about these books and others I have written at my official author web site.
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