Why Kamchatka's giant earthquake sent a smaller tsunami across the Pacific

In 2025, along parts of Kamchatka's coast in Russia, a magnitude 8.8 earthquake caused a tsunami to surge nearly 20 meters (65 feet) above sea level. Yet across the Pacific, its waves were much smaller than those produced by the region's great 9.0 earthquake in 1952. How could the tsunami climb so high near the source yet have a comparatively modest impact far away?

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