The monster revealed

[tagryn]

3/3/12 UPDATE: HD video this post originally linked to was deleted from Youtube, updated with new video source and timings.

NHK had a helicopter flying over Sendai province as the tsunami came ashore. The footage is both amazing and horrifying.

Some moments of note:

• 0:10: Pause here, since this is only shown for a few seconds. Focus not on the breaking wave in the foreground, but the one behind it. I note that according to Sendai coast bathymetric studies the area we're looking at here is in fairly deep water still, so a wave should NOT be able to touch the bottom and start to build up. Its an indication of the sheer power of the tsunami that we're seeing a wave face rearing up here.
  
• 0:35: The helicopter passes over one tsunami surge. This is about as close as one can get to a killer tsunami and survive, I think.
  
• 2:15: We see the classic exposed sea bed which is the precursor to tsunami.
  
• 4:25: Its difficult to gauge size and height from the perspective so far, but here the camera zooms in as the wave crashes over the exposed reef. We also see the treeline in the beginning and end of the shot.