How an Adriatic Wave Opened a New Chapter in World Science

Nearly half a century ago, on a summer morning in 1978, a powerful natural event struck Vela Luka on the island of Korčula in Croatia. For three hours, the sea surged and receded, flooding coastal homes and leaving boats stranded on the seabed. The waves reached about six meters high with a fifteen-minute oscillation period, causing damage that threatened the island's entire annual budget.

At first, the cause was unclear. Without strong winds or other obvious triggers, explanations ranged from a tsunami, caused by subterranean forces, to atmospheric effects on the sea. However, a scientist's interpretation, developed two years after the event and later refined with colleagues, prevailed. They demonstrated that the phenomenon was a sea wave, a meteotsunami, that amplified itself twice through resonance: first when energy transferred from the atmosphere to the open sea, and again when it moved from the open sea to the coast.

This year, several similar waves have been observed in the Adriatic. Media outlets have readily identified them as meteotsunamis, a stark contrast to the confusion scientists faced decades ago. The author views this widespread recognition as a victory for all scientists who have studied Adriatic meteotsunamis and for those who have informed the public about this research.