Why do Nazar have the most big waves in the world? July 15th, 2017
There is a place in the world from which photo and video reports of giant waves are often taken. For the last few years, records in Big Wave surfing for the largest wave taken (both by hand and with the help of a jet) have been set on the same wave, Nazaré. The first such record was set by Hawaiian surfer Garrett McNamara in 2011 - the wave height was 24 meters. Then, in 2013, he broke his record by riding a wave 30 meters high.
Why is this place the biggest waves in the world?
Let's first remember the mechanism of wave formation:
So, it all starts far, far away in the ocean, where strong winds blow and storms rage. As we know from the school geography course, the wind blows from the area with high blood pressure to the area of decline. In the ocean, these areas are separated by many kilometers, so the wind blows over very large area ocean, transferring part of its energy to water due to the force of friction. Where this happens, the ocean is more like a bubbling soup - have you ever seen a storm at sea? It's about the same there, only on a larger scale. There are small and large waves, all mixed up, superimposed on each other. However, the energy of water also does not stand still, but moves in a certain direction.
Due to the fact that the ocean is very, very large, and the waves different sizes moving at different speeds, during the time until all this seething mess reaches the shore, it is “sifted”, some small waves add up to others into large ones, others, on the contrary, are mutually destroyed. As a result, what is called Groung Swell comes to the shore - smooth ridges of waves, divided into sets of three to nine with large intervals of calm between them.
However, not every swell is destined to become a surfable wave. Although, it would be more correct to say - not everywhere. In order for a wave to be caught, it must crash in a certain way. The formation of a wave for surfing depends on the structure of the bottom in coastal zone. The ocean is very deep, so the mass of water moves evenly, but as it approaches the shore, the depth begins to decrease, and the water, which moves closer to the bottom, for lack of any other way out, begins to rise to the surface, thereby raising waves. In the place where the depth, or rather shallowness, reaches a critical value, the rising wave can no longer become larger and collapses. The place where this happens is called the lineup, and that’s where the surfers sit, waiting for the right wave.
The shape of the wave directly depends on the shape of the bottom: the sharper the shallows become, the sharper the wave. Typically, the sharpest and even trumpeting waves are born where the height difference is almost instantaneous, for example, at the bottom of a huge rock or the beginning of a reef plateau.
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Where the drop is gradual and the bottom is sandy, the waves are flatter and slower. These are the waves that are best suited for learning to surf, which is why all surf schools conduct their first lessons for beginners on sandy beaches.
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Of course, there are also other factors that affect the waves, for example, the same wind: it can improve or worsen the quality of waves depending on the direction. In addition, there are so-called wind swells, these are waves that do not have time to be “sifted” by distance, since the storm is raging not so far from the coast.
So, now about the most high waves. Thanks to the winds, enormous energy is accumulated, which then moves towards the coast. As it approaches the shore, the oceanic swell transforms into waves, but unlike other places on our planet, a surprise awaits it off the coast of Portugal.
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The thing is that it is in the area of the city of Nazaré that the seabed is a huge canyon 5000 meters deep and 230 kilometers long. This means that the oceanic swell does not undergo changes, but reaches, as it is, all the way to the continent, falling on the coastal rocks with all its might. The height of a wave is usually measured as the distance from the crest to the base (where, incidentally, something like a trough is often sucked in, which increases the height compared to what it would be if measured by mean sea level at a given tide height).
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However, unlike waves such as Mavericks or Teahupoo, on Nazar the crest, even if it collapses, never hangs over the base; moreover, it is separated from the bottom point by about 40 meters along the horizontal axis. Due to spatial distortion of perspective, when looking from the front we see a body of water 30 meters high, technically it is even larger, but this is not the height of the wave. That is, strictly speaking, Nazaré is not a wave, but a water mountain, a pure oceanic swell, powerful and unpredictable.
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However, the fact that Nazaré is not exactly a wave does not make this spot any less scary or dangerous. Garrett McNamara says Nazaré is incredibly difficult to navigate. Usually three people help him in the water: one pulls him out on a jet to the line-up, accelerates him into the wave and does not swim far to make sure that everything is okay with the surfer. He is supported by a second jet, as well as a third one a little further away, whose driver is watching all three. Also, Garrett’s wife stands on the rock near the lighthouse and tells him on the radio what waves are coming and which ones can be taken. On the day he set his second record, not everything went smoothly. The first driver was knocked off the jet by a wave, so the second had to pull Garrett out of the foam, and the third hurried to help the first. Everything was done clearly and quickly, so no one was hurt.
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Garrett himself says the following: “of course, all these safety nets and technical devices in big wave surfing are a kind of cheating. And in principle, you can do without them, but in this case the chances of dying are much higher. As for me personally, since I had a wife and children, I feel more responsibility for them and fear for my life, so I go to all technical lengths to make it as likely as possible to return home alive.”
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sources
Where do giant waves come from?
What causes the appearance of most waves in the oceans and seas, about the energy of waves and about the most gigantic waves.
The main reason for the appearance of ocean waves is the influence of winds on the water surface. The speed of some waves can develop and even exceed 95 km per hour. Ridge from ridge can be separated by 300 meters. They travel vast distances across the surface of the ocean. Most of their energy is spent before they reach land, perhaps bypassing deepest place in the world- Mariana Trench. And their sizes are becoming smaller. And if the wind calms down, then the waves become calmer and smoother.
If there is a strong breeze in the ocean, the wave height usually reaches 3 meters. If the wind begins to become stormy, then they can become 6 m. In a strong storm wind, their height can already be above 9 m and they become steep, with heavy spray.
During a storm, when visibility in the ocean is difficult, the wave height exceeds 12 meters. But during a severe storm, when the sea is completely covered with foam, even small ships, yachts or vessels (not that fish, even the most big fish ) may simply get lost between the 14 waves.
Waves hitting
Large waves are gradually eroding the shores. Small waves can slowly level the beach with sediment. Waves hit the shore at a certain angle, so sediment washed away in one place will be carried away and deposited in another.
During severe hurricanes or storms, changes can occur such that huge areas of the coast can be significantly transformed suddenly.
And not only the shores. Once upon a time, in 1755, very far from us, waves 30 meters high swept Lisbon off the face of the earth, submerging the city's buildings under tons of water, turning them into ruins and killing more than half a million people. And it happened on a big Catholic holiday - All Saints' Day.
rogue waves
The largest waves are usually observed along the Agulhas Current (or Agulhas Current), off the coast of South Africa. It was also noted here highest wave in the ocean. Its height was 34 m. In general, the largest wave ever seen was recorded by Lieutenant Frederick Margot on a ship sailing from Manila to San Diego. It was February 7, 1933. The height of that wave was also about 34 meters. Sailors gave these waves the nickname “rogue waves.” As a rule, an unusually high wave is always preceded by an equally deep trough (or trough). It is known that in such depressions the a large number of ships. By the way, the waves formed during high tides are not related to the tides. They are caused by an underwater earthquake or volcanic eruption on the sea or ocean floor, which creates the movement of huge masses of water and, as a result, large waves.
When I read about the wave height caused by the tsunami in 1958, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I checked it once, twice. It's the same everywhere. No, they probably made a mistake with the comma, and everyone is copying each other. Or maybe in units of measurement?
Well, how could it be otherwise, do you think there could be a wave from a tsunami 524 meters high? HALF A KILOMETER!
Now we will find out what really happened there...
Here's what an eyewitness writes:
“After the first shock, I fell out of bed and looked towards the beginning of the bay, where the noise was coming from. The mountains trembled terribly, stones and avalanches rushed down. And the glacier in the north was especially striking; it is called the Lituya glacier. Usually, it is not visible from where I was anchored. People shake their heads when I tell them that I saw him that night. I can't help it if they don't believe me. I know that the glacier is not visible from where I was anchored in Anchorage Bay, but I also know that I saw it that night. The glacier rose into the air and moved forward until it became visible. He must have risen several hundred feet. I'm not saying it was just hanging in the air. But he was shaking and jumping like crazy. Large pieces of ice fell from its surface into the water. The glacier was six miles away, and I saw large chunks falling off it like a huge dump truck. This continued for some time - it is difficult to say how long - and then suddenly the glacier disappeared from view and a large wall of water rose above this place. The wave went in our direction, after which I was too busy to say what else was happening there.”
On July 9, 1958, an unusually severe disaster occurred in Lituya Bay in southeastern Alaska. In this bay, which extends more than 11 km into the land, geologist D. Miller discovered a difference in the age of trees on the hillside surrounding the bay. Based on tree rings, he estimated that over the past 100 years, waves with a maximum height of several hundred meters have occurred in the bay at least four times. Miller's conclusions were viewed with great distrust. And so, on July 9, 1958, north of the bay there was strong earthquake on the Fairweather fault, which caused the destruction of buildings, the collapse of the coast, and the formation of numerous cracks. And a huge landslide on the mountainside above the bay caused a wave of record height (524 m), which swept through the narrow, fjord-like bay at a speed of 160 km/h.
Lituya is a fjord located on the Fairweather fault in the northeastern part of the Gulf of Alaska. It is a T-shaped bay 14 kilometers long and up to three kilometers wide. The maximum depth is 220 m. The narrow entrance to the bay is only 10 m deep. Two glaciers descend into Lituya Bay, each of which is about 19 km long and up to 1.6 km wide. During the century preceding the events described, waves over 50 meters high had already been observed in Lituya several times: in 1854, 1899 and 1936.
The 1958 earthquake caused a subaerial rockfall at the mouth of the Gilbert Glacier in Lituya Bay. As a result of this landslide, more than 30 million cubic meters rocks collapsed into the bay and led to the formation of a megatsunami. This disaster killed 5 people: three on Hantaak Island and two more were washed away by a wave in the bay. In Yakutat, the only permanent locality near the epicenter, infrastructure facilities were damaged: bridges, docks and oil pipelines.
After the earthquake, a study was carried out of a subglacial lake located northwest of the bend of the Lituya Glacier at the very beginning of the bay. It turned out that the lake dropped by 30 meters. This fact served as the basis for another hypothesis of the formation of a giant wave more than 500 meters high. Probably, during the glacier's descent, a large volume of water entered the bay through an ice tunnel under the glacier. However, the runoff of water from the lake could not be the main cause of the megatsunami.
A huge mass of ice, stones and earth (volume of about 300 million cubic meters) rushed down from the glacier, exposing the mountain slopes. The earthquake destroyed numerous buildings, cracks appeared in the ground, and the coastline slid. The moving mass fell on the northern part of the bay, filled it up, and then crawled onto the opposite slope of the mountain, tearing off the forest cover from it to a height of more than three hundred meters. The landslide generated a giant wave that literally swept Lituya Bay towards the ocean. The wave was so great that it swept entirely over the entire sandbank at the mouth of the bay.
Eyewitnesses to the disaster were people on board the ships that dropped anchor in the bay. The terrible shock threw them all out of their beds. Jumping to their feet, they could not believe their eyes: the sea rose. “Giant landslides, raising clouds of dust and snow in their path, began to run along the slopes of the mountains. Soon their attention was drawn completely fantastic spectacle: The mass of ice of the Lituya Glacier, located far to the north and usually hidden from view by the peak that rises at the entrance to the bay, seemed to rise above the mountains and then collapse majestically into the waters of the inner bay. It all seemed like some kind of nightmare. Before the eyes of the shocked people, a huge wave rose up and swallowed the foot of the northern mountain. After that, she swept across the bay, tearing trees off the mountain slopes; falling like a water mountain onto the island of Cenotaph... rolled over the highest point of the island, rising 50 m above sea level. This entire mass suddenly plunged into the waters of the narrow bay, causing a huge wave, the height of which apparently reached 17-35 m. Its energy was so great that the wave rushed furiously across the bay, sweeping the slopes of the mountains. In the inner basin, the impact of the waves on the shore was probably very strong. The slopes of the northern mountains facing the bay are exposed: where used to grow up dense forest, now there were bare rocks; This pattern was observed at altitudes of up to 600 meters.
One longboat was lifted high, easily carried across the sandbar and dropped into the ocean. At that moment, when the longboat was carried over the sandbank, the fishermen on it saw below them standing trees. The wave literally threw people across the island into the open sea. During a nightmare ride on a giant wave, the boat pounded against trees and debris. The longboat sank, but the fishermen miraculously survived and were rescued two hours later. Of the other two longboats, one safely withstood the wave, but the other sank, and the people on it went missing.
Miller found that the trees growing at the upper edge of the exposed area, just below 600 m above the bay, were bent and broken, their fallen trunks pointing towards the top of the mountain, but the roots were not torn from the soil. Something pushed these trees up. The enormous force that accomplished this could not have been anything other than the top of a gigantic wave that swept over the mountain on that July evening in 1958.”
Mr. Howard J. Ulrich, in his yacht, which is called "Edri", entered the waters of Lituya Bay about eight in the evening and anchored in nine meters of water in a small cove on the southern shore. Howard says that suddenly the yacht began to rock violently. He ran out onto the deck and saw how in the northeastern part of the bay the rocks began to move due to the earthquake and a huge block of rock began to fall into the water. About two and a half minutes after the earthquake, he heard a deafening sound from the destruction of rock.
“We definitely saw that the wave came from Gilbert Bay, just before the earthquake ended. But at first it was not a wave. At first it was more like an explosion, as if the glacier was splitting into pieces. The wave grew from the surface of the water, at first it was almost invisible, who would have thought that then the water would rise to a height of half a kilometer.”
Ulrich said that he observed the entire process of development of the wave, which reached their yacht in a very a short time- something like two and a half or three minutes since she was first noticed. “Since we didn’t want to lose the anchor, we pulled out the entire anchor chain (about 72 meters) and started the engine. Halfway between the northeastern edge of Lituya Bay and Cenotaf Island, a thirty-meter-high wall of water could be seen that stretched from one shore to the other. When the wave approached the northern part of the island, it split into two parts, but after passing the southern part of the island, the wave became one again. It was smooth, only there was a small ridge on top. When this mountain of water approached our yacht, its front was quite steep and its height was from 15 to 20 meters. Before the wave arrived at the place where our yacht was located, we did not feel any drop in the water or other changes, with the exception of a slight vibration that was transmitted through the water from the tectonic processes that began to operate during the earthquake. As soon as the wave approached us and began to lift our yacht, the anchor chain crackled violently. The yacht was carried towards the southern shore and then, on the reverse course of the wave, towards the center of the bay. The top of the wave was not very wide, from 7 to 15 meters, and the trailing front was less steep than the leading one.
As the giant wave swept past us, the surface of the water returned to its normal level, however, we could observe a lot of turbulent eddies around the yacht, as well as chaotic waves six meters high that moved from one side of the bay to the other. These waves did not create any noticeable movement of water from the mouth of the bay to its northeastern part and back.”
After 25-30 minutes the surface of the bay calmed down. Near the banks one could see many logs, branches and uprooted trees. All this rubbish slowly drifted towards the center of Lituya Bay and towards its mouth. In fact, during the entire incident, Ulrich did not lose control of the yacht. When the Edri approached the entrance to the bay at 11 pm, a normal current could be observed there, which is usually caused by the daily ebb of ocean water.
Other eyewitnesses to the disaster, the Swenson couple on a yacht called the Badger, entered Lituya Bay around nine in the evening. First, their ship approached Cenotaf Island, and then returned to Anchorage Bay on the northern shore of the bay, not far from its mouth (see map). The Svensons anchored at a depth of about seven meters and went to bed. William Swenson's sleep was interrupted by strong vibrations from the yacht's hull. He ran to the control room and began to time what was happening. A little over a minute after William first felt the vibration, and probably just before the end of the earthquake, he looked towards the northeastern part of the bay, which was visible against the backdrop of Cenotaph Island. The traveler saw something that he initially mistook for the Lituya glacier, which rose into the air and began to move towards the observer. “It seemed like this mass was solid, but it jumped and swayed. Large pieces of ice were constantly falling into the water in front of this block.” After a short time, “the glacier disappeared from sight, and instead of it a large wave appeared in that place and went in the direction of the La Gaussi spit, just where our yacht was anchored.” In addition, Svenson noticed that the wave flooded the shore at a very noticeable height.
When the wave passed Cenotaf Island, its height was about 15 meters in the center of the bay and gradually decreased near the shores. She passed the island approximately two and a half minutes after she was first seen, and reached the yacht Badger another eleven and a half minutes (approximately). Before the wave arrived, William, like Howard Ulrich, did not notice any drop in water level or any turbulent phenomena.
The yacht "Badger", which was still at anchor, was lifted by a wave and carried towards the La Gaussie spit. The stern of the yacht was below the crest of the wave, so that the position of the vessel resembled a surfboard. Svenson looked at that moment at the place where the trees growing on the La Gaussy spit should have been visible. At that moment they were hidden by water. William noted that above the tops of the trees there was a layer of water equal to approximately two times the length of his yacht, about 25 meters. Having passed the La Gaussi spit, the wave subsided very quickly.
In the place where Swenson's yacht was moored, the water level began to drop, and the ship hit the bottom of the bay, remaining afloat not far from the shore. 3-4 minutes after the impact, Swenson saw that water continued to flow over the La Gaussie Spit, carrying logs and other debris from forest vegetation. He wasn't sure it wasn't a second wave that could have carried the yacht across the spit into the Gulf of Alaska. Therefore, the Svenson couple left their yacht, moving onto a small boat, from which they were picked up by a fishing boat a couple of hours later.
There was a third vessel in Lituya Bay at the time of the incident. It was anchored at the entrance to the bay and was sunk huge wave. None of the people on board survived; two were believed to have died.
What happened on July 9, 1958? That evening, a huge rock fell into the water from a steep cliff overlooking the northeastern shore of Gilbert Bay. The collapse area is marked in red on the map. The impact of an incredible mass of stones with very high altitude caused an unprecedented tsunami, which wiped out from the face of the earth all life that was located along the entire coast of Lituya Bay right up to the La Gaussi spit. After the wave passed along both shores of the bay, there was not only no vegetation left, but even no soil; there was bare rock on the surface of the shore. The damaged area is shown in yellow on the map.
The numbers along the shore of the bay indicate the height above sea level of the edge of the damaged land area and approximately correspond to the height of the wave that passed here.
The biggest waves in the world are legendary. The stories about them are impressive, the pictures drawn amaze the imagination. But many believe that in reality they are not so high, and eyewitnesses are simply exaggerating. Modern methods tracking and recording leave no doubt: giant waves exist, this is an indisputable fact.
What are they?
The study of the seas and oceans using modern instruments and knowledge has made it possible to classify the degree of their excitement not only by the strength of the storm in points. There is another criterion - the causes of occurrence:
- rogue waves: these are giant wind waves;
- tsunamis: caused by movement tectonic plates, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions;
- coastal ones appear in places with a special bottom topography;
- underwater (seiches and microseiches): they are usually invisible from the surface, but they can be no less dangerous than surface ones.
The mechanics of the emergence of the largest waves are completely different, as are the height and speed records they set. Therefore, we will consider each category separately and find out what heights they conquered.
rogue waves
It's hard to imagine that a huge, towering single rogue wave actually exists. But for last decades this statement became a proven fact: they were recorded by special buoys and satellites. This phenomenon has been well studied within the framework of the international project MaxWave, created to monitor all the seas and oceans of the world, where satellites of the European Space Agency were used. And scientists used computer modeling to understand the reasons for the emergence of such giants.
Interesting fact: it has been found that small waves are able to merge with each other, as a result of which their total strength and height are summed up. And when encountering any natural obstacle (shoal, reef), “pinching out” occurs, which increases the strength of the water disturbance even more.
Rogue waves (they are also called solitons) arise as a result of natural processes: cyclones and typhoons change Atmosphere pressure, its changes can cause resonance, which provokes the appearance of the world's tallest water columns. They are capable of moving at enormous speeds (up to 180 km/h) and rising to incredible heights (theoretically up to 60 m). Although this has not yet been observed, the recorded data is impressive:
- in 2012 in the southern hemisphere - 22.03 meters;
- in 2013 in the North Atlantic – 19;
- and a new record: near New Zealand on the night of May 8-9, 2018 - 23.8 meters.
These highest waves in the world have been spotted by buoys and satellites, and their existence is documented. So skeptics can no longer deny the existence of solitons. Studying them is an important matter, because such a mass of water moving at enormous speed can sink any ship, even a state-of-the-art liner.
Unlike previous ones, tsunamis occur as a result of serious natural disasters. They are much higher than solitons and have incredible destructive power, even those that do not reach special heights. And they are dangerous not so much to those who are at sea as to residents of coastal cities. A powerful impulse during an eruption or earthquake raises gigantic layers of water, they can reach speeds of up to 800 km/h, and hit the coast with incredible force. The “risk zone” includes bays with high shores, seas and oceans with underwater volcanoes, and areas with increased seismic activity. Lightning speed of occurrence, incredible speed, enormous destructive power - this is how all known tsunamis can be characterized.
Here are a few examples that will convince everyone of the danger of the highest waves in the world:
- 2011, Honshu: After an earthquake, a 40-meter-high tsunami hit the shores of Japan, killing more than 15,000 people, with many thousands more still missing. And the coast is completely destroyed.
- 2004, Thailand, the islands of Sumatra and Java: after an earthquake with a magnitude of more than 9 points, a monstrous tsunami with a height of more than 15 m swept across the ocean, victims were in various places. Even in South Africa, 7,000 km from the epicenter, people died. In total, about 300,000 people died.
- 1896, Honshu Island: more than 10 thousand houses were destroyed, about 27 thousand people died;
- 1883, after the eruption of Krakatoa: a tsunami about 40 meters high swept from Java and Sumatra, where more than 35 thousand people died (some historians believe that there were much more victims, about 200,000). And then, at a speed of 560 km/h, the tsunami crossed the Pacific and Indian oceans, past Africa, Australia and America. And it reached the Atlantic Ocean: changes in water levels were noted in Panama and France.
But the largest wave in human history should be recognized as the tsunami in Lituya Bay in Alaska. Skeptics may have doubts, but the fact remains: after the earthquake on the Fairweather fault on July 9, 1958, a supertsunami was formed. A giant column of water 524 meters high at a speed of about 160 km/h crossed the bay and Cenotaph Island, rolling over its highest point. In addition to eyewitness accounts of this disaster, there is other evidence, for example, torn trees at the highest point of the island. The most amazing thing is that the casualties were minimal; the crew members of one longboat died. And another, located nearby, was simply thrown over the island, and he ended up in the open ocean.
Coastal waves
Constantly rough seas in narrow bays are not uncommon. Features of the coastline can provoke high and quite dangerous surf. Unrest in the water element can initially arise as a result of storms, collisions of ocean currents, at the “junction” of waters, for example, the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. It is worth noting that such phenomena are permanent. Therefore, we can especially call dangerous places. These are Bermuda, Cape Horn, the southern coast of Africa, the shores of Greece, and the Norwegian shelves.
Such places are well known to sailors. It is not for nothing that Cape Horn has long enjoyed a “bad reputation” among seafarers.
But in Portugal, in the small village of Nazaré, the power of the sea began to be used in for peaceful purposes. This coastline is favored by surfers; every winter a period of storms begins here and you are guaranteed to ride waves of 25–30 meters in height. It was here that famous surfer Garrett McNamara set world records. The coasts of California, Hawaii and Tahiti are also popular among water explorers.
Underwater disturbances
Not much is known about this phenomenon. Ocean scientists theorize that seiches and microseiches result from differences in water density. It is at the border of such a watershed that seiches occur. The layer separating waters of different densities first rises slowly, and then suddenly and sharply falls by almost 100 meters. Moreover, on the surface such movement is practically not felt. But for submarines, such a phenomenon is simply a disaster. They fall sharply to a depth where the pressure can be many times greater than the strength of the hull. When investigating the causes of the sinking of the nuclear submarine Thresher in 1963, seiches were the main version and the most plausible.
The biggest waves in history are often associated with tragedy. Ships and people died, coastlines and infrastructure were destroyed, huge liners washed ashore and entire cities were washed into the water. But it must be admitted that a huge column of water rushing at incredible speed makes an indelible impression. This sight will always frighten and fascinate at the same time.