system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Would it be possible to dampen or completely cancel a Tsunami wave by sending the same wave pattern in the opposite direction?

Similar to noise cancellation that uses opposite sound waves to cancel ambiant noises, could the same technology be used to cancel a wave from a Tsunami? Would it be practical or even possible to install some kind of wave device along the shorelines of highly populated areas?
gpt
On a small scale it is. There are prototypes existing of structures that would redirect the wave around a town or village in such a way as to cause the wave to cancel itself out. On a large scale, you would have to create a wave of the same magnitude, at the same location, in the opposing phase at the exact time of the generating event to stop the tsunami entirely. With absolutely massive expenditures of energy, you could theoretically cancel the wave for a particular stretch of shoreline. By doing this though, other stretches of shoreline will be hit harder due to constructive interference. The noise cancellation you are referring to works to limit wave energy at a particular point (your ear), not large volumes.