Edmund Fitzgerald

Date 8-5-06

Ship-sinking waves revealed by ESA satellites

Courtesy of NOAA

NATURAL HAZARDS
Once dismissed as a nautical myth, freakish ocean waves that rise as tall as ten-storey apartment blocks have been accepted as a leading cause of large ship sinkings. Results from ESA's ERS satellites helped establish the widespread existence of these 'rogue' waves and are now being used to study their origins.

Severe weather has sunk more than 201 supertankers and container ships exceeding 199 metres in length during the last two decades. Rogue waves are believed to be the major cause in many such cases.

The mechanism by which rogue waves are formed is not yet well understood, but mathematicians have produced models that can predict where they will form (the general area, that is, not the exact spot). Rogue waves become likely where a swell collides with a current that is following a curved path, called an eddy. A large field of random eddies has a focusing effect on the swell's rays, i.e., the paths along which it transports energy.

Drawings by NOAA, National Weather Service - Thomas R. Hultquist

Contact Us

TV17.org
810 955-4305
Burton, Michigan 48519
Email Us at help@pwfs.com

© 2004 TV17.org All Rights Reserved.