How tall of a tsunami wave would it take to flood over Costa Rica from the gulf to the pacific ?

Question

Leaving a 1500 mile debri field out into the pacific and floating a 200 mile across meteorite that caused the wave from Equator were it landed after it jumped Costa Rica.

Answer 1

This is a very tricky question for a number of reasons, and it cannot be accurately answered by someone who is not a either a geologist or an oceanologist. In order for a tsunami to wash over the entirety of Costa Rica, it is not necessary that the tsunami be taller than the highest point in Costa Rica, for instance. The tusnami simply needs to be able to wash past the continental divide at some point in the country, so that it will naturally continue to flow into the Pacific, rather than receding back into the Atlantic. (And note that Costa Rica borders the Caribbean Sea, not the Gulf of Mexico.) A tsunami does not necessarily wash across the land until it hits an obstacle taller than itself. Rather, it continues until friction with the land depletes its energy and turns it slack. So there is no real way to say how tall a tsunami would need to be for this to happen in Costa Rica. I can point out, however, that Costa Rica is flatter but wider in the north, and narrower but more mountainous in the south. Either location requires a taller tsunami than one that could wash across the narrow isthmus of Panama, for example. Still, a tsunami would almost definitely need to be taller to wash across the southern part of the country, because it would have to be at least as high as the lowest mountain pass, which would probably be hundreds of meters at least.

Answer 2

it would have to be a massive wave probably about 150+ to cover Costa Rica

Answer 3

about like 6 miles tall

Answer 4

Have you got something against Costa Rica?

Answer 5

one five miles wide would destroy life on earth.