tsunamis

[jonjo]

can anyone explain to me why the large shelves of ice that are falling into the sea in the antarctic don't cause a tsunami

[bernardo]

I think the glaciers gradually slide down into the sea, and the bits at the end don't break off to form icebergs until they are already in the sea and therefore floating.  So they don't actually fall, they just drift off.

[fantastical]

right - the icebergs couldn't make a huge impact - they do not diplace enough water to trigger the large wave.

[jonjo]

thanks 

[nrmatth]

actually icebergs and lanslides create surface waves which tend to dissapate after a time in the ocean where earthquakes create a wave under neath the ocean along the floor so they don't dissapate and just continue until something disrupts them.  Like a continent.