tsunami amplitude

Usually measured on a sea level record, it is 1) the absolute value of the difference between a particular peak or trough of the tsunami and the undisturbed sea level at the time, 2) half the difference between an adjacent peak and trough, corrected for the change of tide between that peak and trough. It is intended to represent the true amplitude of the tsunami wave at some point in the ocean. However, it is often an amplitude modified in some way by the tide gauge response.