World's Tallest Wave 35
ctwxman writes "With all the talk of December's tsunami, it's easy to lose sight of the larger waves often found in mid-ocean. The three components for building a huge wave are wind speed, duration and fetch. All three were in play for a massive record breaker.
As reported by The Times (UK), "It happened on September 16 last year when Hurricane Ivan stormed across the Gulf of Mexico and tore into the coast of Alabama, accompanied by 130mph winds and storm surges 8ft high.
While still out at sea, oceanographers report, the hurricane also produced a series of giant waves, one of which stood 91ft (27m) from crest to trough, the height of a ten-story building and a new world record for a wave recorded by instruments." There might have been taller waves, but the sensors aren't deployed fulltime!"
Sheesh, those Americans. (Score:2)
Surf's Up, Dude! (Score:3, Funny)
Surf's Up, Dude!
Re:Surf's Up, Dude! (Score:2)
Be sure to have your will all sorted before you go.
More Info on Typial Wave Heights (Score:3, Informative)
Check out some data from the TOPEX [nasa.gov] mission with maps of the earth showing typical signifigant wave height [noaa.gov] here [gisdevelopment.net].
Re:um. (Score:1)
Re:um. (Score:2)
Tsunamis waves aren't that high. The damage done by Tsunamis is not primarily due to wave height, but wave length. A high wave without much length would break and crash on the shoreline, causing only localised damage. Tsunami waves hit the shore and keep on going.
Also Spotted by Scientists (Score:4, Funny)
Which mall? (Score:2)
RS
Scary stuff (Score:4, Interesting)
Wish I could post pics.
WaveLENGTH? (Score:3, Interesting)
Since I live in Florida all I can is. (Score:2)
Good timing since Pensacola just got hit by a named storm.
I REALLY HOPE THIS YEAR IS BETTER THAN LAST.
Not the tallest wave.... (Score:3, Informative)
Tallest wave: In 1933 sailors on a United States naval ship recorded a 112-foot-tall wave in the Pacific Ocean.
Re:Not the tallest wave.... (Score:3, Informative)
Heavy Seas (Score:5, Interesting)
The site has pictures of ships and large waves.
Holy crap! (Score:2)
I've got mod points but already posted below. Sorry.
Check out stoolpigeon's post. (he's a swabby ;-)
Impact (Score:2)
Re:Impact (Score:1, Informative)
We didn't have the instruments to record that one, so it's not the tallest wave recorded by instrumentation.
Re:I'm from Alabama (Score:1)
Re:I'm from Alabama (Score:2)
Seems like an opportune to place to (re)post this (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Seems like an opportune to place to (re)post th (Score:1)
Not even close to the highest wave (Score:3, Informative)
The highest wave in recorded history happened in Lituya Bay, Alaska in 1958. The wave was created by a huge landslide after an 8.0 earthquake. See this page [usc.edu] for details and some amazing photographs.
If you're interested in more details, read Philip L. Fradkin book Wildest Alaska: Journeys of Great Peril in Lituya Bay [amazon.com].
1914 description of a rogue wave... (Score:3, Interesting)
"Dud I say ut was a God-Almighty gale? Ut was worse nor thot. The devil himself must ha' hod a hond un the brewun' o' ut, ut was thot fearsome. I ha' looked on some sights, but I om no carun' tull look on the like o' thot again. No mon dared tull be un hus bunk. No, nor no mon on the decks. All honds of us stood on top the house an' held on an' watched. The three mates was on the poop, with two men ot the wheel, an' the only mon below was thot whusky- blighted captain snorun' drunk.
"An' then I see ut comun', a mile away, risun' above all the waves like an island un the sea - the buggest wave ever I looked upon. The three mates stood tulgether an' watched ut comun', a-prayun' like we thot she would no break un passun' us. But ut was no tull be. Ot the last, when she rose up like a mountain, curlun' above the stern an' blottun' out the sky, the mates scattered, the second an' third runnun' for the mizzen-shrouds an' climbun' up, but the first runnun' tull the wheel tull lend a hond. He was a brave men, thot Samuel Henan. He run straight un tull the face o' thot father o' all waves, no thunkun' on humself but thunkun' only o' the shup. The two men was lashed tull the wheel, but he would be ready tull hond un the case they was kult. An' then she took ut. We on the house could no see the poop for the thousand tons o' watter thot hod hut ut. Thot wave cleaned them out, took everythung along wuth ut - the two mates, climbun' up the mizzen-ruggun', Samuel Henan runnun' tull the wheel, the two men ot the wheel, aye, an' the wheel utself. We never saw aught o' them, for she broached tull what o' the wheel goun', an' two men o' us was drownded off the house, no tull mention the carpenter thot we pucked up ot the break o' the poop wuth every bone o' hus body broke tull he was like so much jelly."
Re:1914 description of a rogue wave... (Score:2)
Sea Story (Score:3, Interesting)
The glass and the brass ring around in were pushed in. They flew across the space into a gear locker. It put a dent a couple inches deep into the locker. A guy sitting on the deck, below the port hole was fortunate he wasn't standing instead.
When we got back to Alameda you could see how the bow was pretty banged up. That event gave me an entirely new respect for the power of the ocean. I don't know how the small boys in our group felt, but I would think it would be much worse for them.
Re:Sea Story (Score:2)
Re:Sea Story (Score:2)
I had a top rack, and could reach out and touch the side of the trough for the #2 catapult. I was in bed a couple times when they were launching and it was extremely loud. The most forward berthing would shake with each launch as the spears hit the water break
nasty (Score:2)
/. posted a story awhile back about the European Space Agency using one of it's satellites to monitor the ocean surface. Here are the images from the article: rogue waves [esa.int]. Pretty scary stuff.