Waves are Getting Bigger

"Using buoy data and models based on wind patterns, scientists say that the waves off the coast of the Pacific Northwest and along the Atlantic seaboard from West Palm Beach, Fla., to Cape Hatteras, N.C., are steadily increasing in size. And, at least in the Northwest, the larger waves are considered more of a threat to coastal communities and beaches than the rise in sea level accompanying global warming is."

More in this article.

Backwash

Absolutely perfect example of how reflective waves can cause constructive interference.

Frothy

New Book: The Wave

Great name! And an interesting story about the book and the author on NPR.


"One-hundred-foot-tall waves can be nightmarish ship-swallowing monsters — or seductive sirens that tempt the adventurous. But it wasn't until 15 years ago that scientists were even able to prove that such giant rogue waves actually existed. Susan Casey, whose book The Wave tells the story of great waves and those who seek to solve and ride them, says people were skeptical of 100-foot waves because weather patterns don't seem to predict them. Casey says she first became interested in learning about monster waves after hearing a story about the British research vessel Discovery, a 230-meter-long ship that became trapped in a vortex of giant waves for several days. The waves, Casey says, ranged from 60 to 100 feet tall and were not predicted by weather models. "I just wanted to find out more about that, and yet there had been nothing written," she tells NPR's Scott Simon. "So I began to investigate."

Great Gallery of Underwater Wave Photos

Photographer captures amazing underwater images of waves breaking

Extreme Waves Research

The European Geosciences Union will hold a technical session on "Extreme Sea Waves" at their upcoming meeting in Vienna. Here's the description

The aim of the session is to describe all aspects of the
large-amplitude wave phenomenon in the ocean as the freak,
rogue and storm waves: dynamical and statistical theories,
observations and modelling, numerical simulations in the framework of approximate theories as well as full nonlinear equations. Special attention will be paid to the description of the wave breaking process, and also large-amplitude wave interaction with coastal structures. The rogue wave phenomenon in the oceanic waves of any physical nature will be discussed also.

Wave Fields by Maya Lin

via Jim Moriarty - Oceans Waves Beaches


"I've been a Maya Lin fan since he was awarded the Vietnam memorial a few decades ago. Her current works intersect with our mission as she's taking on the subject of waves.

Check her work out. It's 3 - 5' in Michigan... on land. Next installation will be at Storm King."