in Central Chile, an 8.8 magnitude earthquake devastated the region and sent a Tsunami racing west across the Pacific at 720 km/ph.

At 3:34 am local time 27/02/2010, 22 miles under the ocean off the coast of the city of Conception in Central Chile, an 8.8 magnitude earthquake devastated the region and sent a Tsunami racing west across the Pacific at 720 km/ph.

As the headline image shows, the main force of the wave has been funnelled into the North Pacific courtesy of the shape of the Pacific Ridge, This placed the Big Island of Hawai right in the firing line. Apart from a 2 metres tidal surge, no further damage has been reported at this time. The wave should attenuate beyond Hawaii with little more than irregular tidal influence over the next few days – something akin to dropping a rock in a pond, the reverberation bouncing around the water for a while.

In this case though, the ‘pond’ is the Pacific Ocean – the largest body of water in the known universe and the ‘rock’ had the force of about 15.8 gigatons of TNT. Reports are still coming in from around the Pacific but looking at the Bathymetry map below – it’s easy to see that all of the island nations of the region were right to be worried about this one. Like most east to west Tsunami passages, the New Zealand Plateau and sub pacific ridge have absorbed most of the energy and it is likely that Australia will see only minor variations in tidal range as a result. As a precaution though, Day 2 of the Snapper Rocks Pro has been called off.

At the moment though, all of this is academic. The map below illustrates the widespread damage this event has caused to Chile, a land of amazing waves and beautiful people. Thoughts and prayers go out across the ocean to our neighbours on the Pacific Rim during this difficult time.

By Adam Waldie