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astronomy, geology, and physics all inter-playing

Since when do these sciences in actual fact not interplay, except in academe? As for your accusation of being irresponsible, I find it objectionable simply due to the recent history of the area. Yes. It is in the Southern Hemisphere. Very good of you to notice.

That my musings are not proved by empiricism is not bothering me now. What does bother me is that I have not heard anything on the news of the recent events of the last two weeks, other than this major event. I would like to hear from someone with enough prescience to enumerate the geophysical facts of the area in the same way that we have lead ups to quake information here in the US. The bits of information I have read is that the original 8.9/9.0 earthquake alert/potential tsunami was not acted upon in at least one place, and that Sri Lanka and India are not members of the international federation set up after the 1964 Alaska earthquake that caused 100' tsunamis (See http://wwwshs1.bham.wednet.edu/curric/science/geophys/granat/Alaska.htm) and a need for NOAA to totally remap the ocean floor there. Also, Thailand did not have sensors set up where they were needed. See http://metzger.ws/sediments/index.php?p=34 "The US scientific community is talking today about the widespread death and destruction caused by the tsunamis triggered by the Sunday’s great earthquake (see below) off Sumatra. They are talking about how the senseless loss of life could have been prevented. The problem lies not in the fact that there is no warning system. On the contrary, an international system of sensors and warning systems was established after the 1964 Alaska earthquake. The system, which is administered by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, includes most of the major nations that are affected by the Ring of Fire which is the area of the Pacific Ocean and surrounding bodies of water where many earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur. Without going into minute detail, the ocean floor in this are has many large trenches and underwater volcanoes. As a result of plate movement and eruptions, earthquakes occur frequently and, with earthquakes, come tsunamis. (large map of the Ring of Fire, courtesy of the USGS) The problem is that not all nations that could be potentially affected by tsunamis are members of the warning system. Which countries are missing? Most notably, the countries of India and Sri Lanka are not members. The director of NOAA’s Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, Charles McCreary, told the Associated Press “that’s because tsunamis are much less frequent in the Indian Ocean.” The AP article also noted that “although Thailand belongs to the international tsunami warning network, its west coast does not have the system’s wave sensors mounted on ocean buoys.” Thailand’s west coast resort of Phuket sustained loss of life and property as well from tsunamis."

astronomy, geology, and physics all inter-playing

Since when do these sciences in actual fact not interplay, except in academe? As for your accusation of being irresponsible, I find it objectionable simply due to the recent history of the area. Yes. It is in the Southern Hemisphere. Very good of you to notice.

You are not irresponsible, but I was trying to be careful with my response to say that jumping to conclusions might scare people [people who are uptight right now]. And the MSM is really the ones that should avoid reporting anything along the lines of what you are saying -- this should be reported in a scientific journal -- after studies made.

Too many people may not understand the science. For example, what I heard elsewhere was the asteroid was directly on the opposite side of the earth when this occurred but I cannot put my fingers on a hard link of evidence that this is true.

I was trying not to scare people. You were going about this very scientific, but we, and I do include myself, must be careful what we post.

And the last people I want to report about this is the MSM. Some of their reporting is really bad right now -- a natural gas mud field has turned into an erupting volcano by a French News Service [AFP].

The bits of information I have read is that the original 8.9/9.0 earthquake alert/potential tsunami was not acted upon in at least one place, and that Sri Lanka and India are not members of the international federation set up after the 1964 Alaska earthquake that caused 100' tsunamis

Times of India had an article about this. Basically, there is no tsunami warning system in the Indian Ocean. Hawaii has a Pacific tsunami warning system.

You would need measuring points in various places that are not set up at the moment.

Diego Garcia could be a measuring point, along with a number of places in the Islands that India has, Sri Lanka, the coast of India, the Indian Ocean side of Indonesia.

India has had two tsunamis in the 20th century and no this one in the 21st century. But there was no interest when scientists tried to get a system in place before this tsunami by the government of India.

Here are the key events for your scenario [and mine] after further research:

1. Giant Iceberg breaks away from Antartica. Iceberg is so big it could supply Nile River valley for 80 years.

2. 8.1 Earthquake South of New Zealand/Australia

3. Full Moon/Asteroid event -- I don't know much about this except Full Moon is supposed to affect tides.

4. Magnitude 9.0 Earthquake -- very shallow and apparently the right type of quake to generate number 5.

5. Tsunami of December 26, 2004 -- a natural disaster that will make the hurricanes of the Gulf of Mexico of 2004 pale by comparison.

The billion dollar question(s) is: would the elimination/changes in any of 1-3 change 4 & 5. Is there an event #6 yet to come -- volcano eruption/earthquake -- caused by numbers 1-5.

I am also alluding to how difficult to try to program a model for all of this. In a sense, the huge, melting iceberg would have [1] displaced water when it broke away and [2] started melting.

How much water was displaced by #2 and #3.

The key to the above is that the East Indies have a number of Islands/straits that restrict water movement from Pacific to Indian Oceans and vice-a-versa.

Friction would play into this -- i.e., the water in the Pacific is allowed to flow freely into the Pacific because of the huge opening nearing 1 & 2, but cause friction/displacements with Indian Ocean.

That could conceivably cause pressure to build up somehow [water or plate pressure] to cause #4.

Finally, with the huge displacement of water, are all events now ended by this series of events?