The ocean is missing...!!

[mahatmakanejeeves]

15. I'm pretty sure the effect has an explanation.

The storm system is an area of low air pressure. Like all low pressure systems in the northern hemisphere, it is rotating counterclockwise. As the air pressure drops, so does the weight of the atmosphere sitting on that part of the ocean. The sea level goes up beneath the hurricane. It's like a rising tide. Nearby water is pulled into that area of rising sea level, so the water level drops in the adjacent regions as the water goes to where it is wanted.

When the region of low air pressure passes, the air pressure will go back up, the weight of the air on the ocean beneath will increase, and the sea level will drop. As the sea level drops, the water will return to the nearby regions. The sea level in those nearby regions will increase again.

I think Bernoulli would have argued that as the reason. He was around in, what, the 18th century? I can't look it up right now.

In addition to Bernoulli, I think the professor would have offered this to Gilligan as the explanation.

It's not climate change, just physics.

A tsunami is caused by shifting plates in the earth's mantle (right? Again, I can't look it up now, due to my connection's being so slow.) It's a different thing entirely. That comes about from the propagation of a shock wave.

Just a guess.