Sanctuary season two ended bringing up one a subject that both fascinates and freaks me out.

***  Warning this post will have some spoilers for Sanctuary season two episode Kali (Part 2).  ***

I loved getting to see Kali in action especially after they angered her and she sent out the wave.  It was a brilliant way to end the episode, I can’t wait to see season three.

The wave fascinates me because it brings up one of my most favorite subjects Megatsunami.  But to get there we should look at the size and scope of what has been unleashed.

Size

Kali is about 50’ tall.  This is known from two different sources.  First we can use the submarine as a size reference.  I love that they put in the submarine for size reference.   Los Angeles class submarine is 33’ high (beam).  A Typhoon class submarine is 23’ high (beam) this gives us a submarine height range of 23’ –33’ and Kali is about two times taller then the sub.  This would put Kali between 40’ –60’ tall or more simply put about 50’ tall.

The second method is more direct because they tell us her height in the commentary podcast.  Not as much fun especially hearing the answer after I went through the fun from the second method but a nice confirmation.

With Kali’s height we can determine the height of the Island that she is standing on.  The Island is about 3 times taller then kali making it about 150’ tall.

The wave is about the height of Kali plus the island she is standing on.  This puts it at about 200’.

Scope

So how bad is A 200’ wave.

To put a 200’ wave hitting the shore we can look at two historical events.  The first one shows the upper reach of the wave.  In 1972 Japan when a volcano eruption and resulting landslide caused a 300’ megatsunami which killed 15,00 people from the local fishing villages.  The second event shows the devastation on the smaller scale.  The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake caused a 100’ tall tsunami.

The disturbing part to consider is that the 2004 tsunami started as a wave in the ocean about 1’ high.  When the wave reached the shoreline and hit the ocean shelf it was pushed up to it’s 100’ height.  This adjusts the scope of that megatsunami that kali started.

Potential height 2,000’

If we follow the simple jump in height from the 2004 tsunami of 1 to 100 then a 200’ wave becomes 2,000’ tall.  This would make it higher then the 1958 megatsunami in Lituya Bay Alaska which reached 1,720’ high.  For fun some other height comparisons

• 2,000 Potential Kali megatsunami

• 1,454 Empire State Building

• 746 Golden Gate Bridge

For me it’s the fact that the megatsunami grow to tremendous height once reaching the shoreline that both fascinate and freaks me out.  I will be curious to see how Dr. Magnus and the Sanctuary gang handle the devastation that Kali unleashed when season three starts up.

[reus name="Sanctuary"]