Tsunamis are a specifically destructive force. A Hollywood trope and historically-charted natural phenomenon, the long waves are one of many reminders of the power of the earth's ocean.
This 3-D computer-generated video created by Red Side in 2017 compares the size of the ten most significant tsunamis. The video begins in a generic cove of a bay in a coastal city surrounded by highrises. A small boat dingy with one person and a wave small 1m wave serves as the initial reference for the incrementing waves cued by size rather than the date of destruction. Next, a wave 5m in height, then the largest wave surfed at the time (2017) of 24m – indeed surpassed by the Gigantes de Nazare. Then, an image of the 30m Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004. In succession, paleoseismology methodologies date the ten largest tsunamis in geologically known history.
The earliest tsunami in the video is the Unzen mega tsunami of 1792 in Japan at 100m. The largest mega tempest tsunami depicted devastated Lituya Bay, Alaska, in 1946 with a 520m swell.
The Eiffel Tower and the Burj Khalifa Tower standing at 828m in Dubai, are used for reference to demonstrate the magnitude of these oceanic phenomena.
In the last frames of the images for the Lituya Bay tsunami is a rendition of the Titanic – for scale.
In the entire video, the small dinghy remains in place.
Humbling and scary.