engleski

“Odessa tsunami” of 27 June 2014: Observations and assessment of atmospheric processes

On 27 June 2014, during nice and calm summer day, a 2 m high tsunami-like wave struck the beaches of the third largest Ukrainian city Odessa and the neighbouring port town of Illichevsk in the northwestern Black Sea. Several people were injured and taken to the hospital. The wave sudden occurrence, height, destructiveness and run-up indicate that this was a tsunami, although the region was seismically quiet during the event, and Odessa is too far from the areas possible landslides. The event was a cause of great concern and mistery and a number of false explanations soon started circulating through the media, including an underwater explosion, ship (submarine) waves, whirlwind effect, extreme interacting currents, etc. Our investigation revealed that the Odessa event was not isolated, but the last in a chain of destructive events that took place during the period 23-27 June 2014 in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions. Analysis of sea level and air pressure time series from Odessa and other Black Sea stations showed the coincidence to air pressure oscillations, and was most likely a meteorological tsunami. Further examination of synoptic patterns and sounding data from the nearby Romanian stations revealed that favorable conditions for generation and trapping of atmospheric gravity waves existed over the Black Sea region at the time of the event. These waves are often associated to meteotsunamis. Numerical ocean model was utilized to estimate sea level response to the air pressure disturbances. A series of numerical experiments was performed to determine the propagation parameters (speed, direction, wavelength) of the disturbances generating maximum sea level oscillations in the northwestern Black Sea.

meteotsunamis; Black Sea

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