After the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) added to its tsunami sensors so they now ring most of the Pacific Ocean. As a result, Hawaii was warned about the recent Japan tsunami 7 hours before it reached them.Sensors are also in the Atlantic. It's highly unlikely one will happen there -- but one possible scenario could dwarf what happened in Japan.
The largest tsunami ever recorded was 1,720 feet high. It resulted from a landslide in an Alaskan bay, which caused a huge splash within it. An even bigger one could result from a landslide on La Palma island, off the coast of Africa.
Scientists theorized that if the side of the dormant Cumbre Vieja volcano slid off, it could dump 120 cubic miles of rock weighing half a trillion tons into the ocean, creating a splash double the size of the one in Alaska. The wave would still be over 150 feet high by the time it hit the U.S. We'd have about 8 hours notice -- in which to evacuate tens of millions of people.
Then again, most scientists say that's a lot of overhyped nonsense.
