Speed of Tsunamis: 650 km in 4.9 hrs = m/s

[sheri1987]

Homework Statement

Tsunamis are fast-moving waves generated by underwater earthquakes. In the deep ocean their amplitude is barely noticeable, but upon reaching shore, they can rise up to the astonishing height of a six-story building. One tsunami, generated off the Aleutian islands in Alaska, had a wavelengthh of 650 km and traveled a distance of 3700 km in 4.9 h.
(a) What was the speed (in m/s) of the wave? For reference, the speed of a 747 jetliner is about 250 m/s.

Homework Equations

velocity = wavelength*frequency

The Attempt at a Solution

I know I need to convert the wavelength to meters so I did that and got 650000m and 4.9 hours equals 17640 seconds, i figured that was the period or T. So then I took 1/T to get the frequency which is 1/17640 and got 5.67E-5...do I need to multiply this with the 650000m to get the velocity? It doesn't seem to make sense?

 

[kuruman]

It seems to me that if it travels a distance of 3700 km in 4.9 hours, its speed is 3700/4.9 km/hr. You can convert that to meters per second if you wish. Besides, a tsunami is hardly a harmonic wave so you cannot use the relation v = λf.