Earthqurake Huge whirlpools form off the coast of Japan as devastating tsunami disrupts currents

Huge whirlpools form off the coast of Japan as devastating tsunami disrupts currents

 

he tsunami that hit Japan today caused huge whirlpools off the coast, threatening any boats or victims who survived the initial wave.

The vortices of water were caused as tides were disrupted by the huge forces of the tsunami.

Smaller whirlpools are regularly formed by competing tidal forces off coasts around the world, including Scotland and Norway.

But they are dwarfed by the sheer scale of some of the ones forming off Japan, one of which tossed boats around in a harbour near Oarai City.

Competing currents: A huge whirlpool forms in a harbour near Oarai City, Ibaraki Prefecture, north eastern Japan. The currents that were disrupted after the tsunami were channelled by the sea bed into a whirlpool

The phenomenon is caused when two opposing currents meet, causing the water to twist around into a vortex.

Ruth Ludwin, a retired seismologist at the University of Washington in Seattle, said the shape of the sea bed also plays a role in the formation of whirlpools

She told Live Science:'Obviously there is a lot of water that is being pushed around, and it is interacting with the shape, the bathymetry, near the coastline.'