World's Tallest Wave

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!"

Comments

Scary stuff

[pcmills]

There was a good amount of water/wave damage on the 80 foot and higher decks of several rigs. In one instance moving a 4 story rig/drill, that was sitting on top of the 80 foot deck, about 40 feet.

Wish I could post pics.

Heavy Seas

[armypuke]

http://tv-antenna.com/heavy-seas/

The site has pictures of ships and large waves.

Seems like an opportune to place to (re)post this

[soliptic]

http://www.big-boys.com/articles/hurricaneivan.htm l

;-)