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Hurricane Ivan, Largest Wave Ever Measured
Science News Magazine ^
| 6-11-2005
| Sid Perkins
Posted on 06/17/2005 8:41:18 AM PDT by blam
. . . and churn up big waves, too
Sid Perkins
From New Orleans, at the Joint Assembly of the American Geophysical Union
As Hurricane Ivan approached the U.S. Gulf Coast last September, it passed right over an array of seafloor sensors. The network detected the largest wave ever measured by instrumentsone that towered more than 27 meters from trough to crest.
The 50-kilometer-wide group of 14 instruments was deployed in May 2004 to measure currents on the ocean floor, says William J. Teague, an oceanographer at the Naval Research Laboratory at Bay St. Louis, Miss. Late on the evening of Sept. 15, Ivanmoving northward at a pace of about 18 kilometers per hour and packing winds of around 200 km/hrswept across the array over a period of several hours.
The seafloor instruments were set up to take pressure data during 8.5-minute intervals every 8 hours. As it happened, no sensors were making measurements when the eye of the hurricane was directly overhead. However, sensors did record the passing of massive waves before and after the hurricane moved through the array. During one of the data-gathering intervals, waves that often reached heights of 20 m were passing over one sensor every 10 seconds, says Teague. The largest wave in that train measured 27.7 m from peak to trough.
Computer models suggest that the storm's strongest windsthose in the wall of the hurricane's eyecould have spawned waves up to 40 m high.
TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: biggest; hurricane; hurricaneivan; ivan; recorded; roguewave; roguewaves; tsunami; tsunamis; wave
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To: blam
No wonder we flooded. Locals say it was a 500 yr flood.
To: ncpatriot
Alright now....how yr's in a meter?
To: Normal4me
Dangit, throw a many in there. I need a beer...
To: Graybeard58
I have two meters on the back of my house, one electric and one gas. I have a multimeter but there is no metric conversion on it.
84
posted on
06/17/2005 3:15:00 PM PDT
by
steve86
To: ncpatriot
"No wonder we flooded. Locals say it was a 500 yr flood." We attained a '500-year-flood' status here during Hurricane Danny.
85
posted on
06/17/2005 3:30:59 PM PDT
by
blam
To: Hank Rearden
Either ya gotta lotta numbers on that speedometer, or a REALLY slow car. Kinda like my old British Letdown - we didn't use a stopwatch to measure 0-60, we used a calendar . . .
My horse is so slow, we say she couldn't catch cold if you spotted her five furlongs.
86
posted on
06/17/2005 3:32:30 PM PDT
by
AnAmericanMother
(. . . Ministrix of ye Chace (recess appointment), TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary . . .)
To: yarddog
27.7 meters = 19.7 Arshins
87
posted on
06/17/2005 3:37:16 PM PDT
by
TXnMA
(ATTN, ACLU & NAACP: There's no constitutionally protected right to NOT be offended -- Shove It!)
To: Howlin
thanks for the ping Howlin, interesting read.
88
posted on
06/17/2005 3:56:57 PM PDT
by
nwctwx
To: TXnMA
That can't be right. An Arshin is less than a meter. Maybe you multiplied where you should have divided. I have an old Russian rifle on which the sight is marked in Arshins.
89
posted on
06/17/2005 4:01:46 PM PDT
by
yarddog
To: Graybeard58
Why do these other countries insist on using these obscure units of measurement? Meters, litres, grams, etc. Are they just trying to confuse the heck out of the rest of us?
90
posted on
06/17/2005 4:04:43 PM PDT
by
SamAdams76
(Do Cats and Dogs know that they are going to die someday?)
To: SamAdams76; BearWash
I tried to learn metric for a lustrum and gave it up.
That's enough time trying to learn one subject.
91
posted on
06/17/2005 4:17:51 PM PDT
by
Graybeard58
(Remember and pray for Spec.4 Matt Maupin - MIA/POW- Iraq since 04/09/04)
To: blam
I never heard of a 500 yr flood til I moved to the mtns. I just read your About Page and see you're from Alabama. You really got hit by Ivan acc to article:
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.God bless you!
To: yarddog
Oooops! You are correct.
an Arshin is 0.7112 meters
so...
27.9 meters = 38.95 Arshins
Sorry 'bout that... '-)
93
posted on
06/17/2005 6:38:16 PM PDT
by
TXnMA
(ATTN, ACLU & NAACP: There's no constitutionally protected right to NOT be offended -- Shove It!)
To: yarddog
As another FReeeper noted, FR can really be an educational place!
I just learned about Arshins (and I bet you just learned about Varas)
One Vara = 33.33 inches AKA a "Spanish Yard". Texas land surveys that date back to Mexican (or even Rebublic of Texas) times are in Varas.
FWIW, I'm an engineer, too... ;-}
94
posted on
06/17/2005 6:49:09 PM PDT
by
TXnMA
(ATTN, ACLU & NAACP: There's no constitutionally protected right to NOT be offended -- Shove It!)
To: Dog Gone
I work for a company that has supplied pipeline equipment to an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico for BP America. I believe it was a 36" or 42" pipeline. The units used micron size particle filters to obtain relatively clean water from the Gulf. The water is then processed for use on the platform.
95
posted on
06/17/2005 8:09:51 PM PDT
by
TheForceOfOne
(My tagline is currently being blocked by Congressional filibuster for being to harsh.)
To: Dog Gone
We have also dealt with Kellogg Brown & Root, Inc. (Halliburton) which puts me on the sh&%t list with the liberal left! LOL
96
posted on
06/17/2005 8:17:23 PM PDT
by
TheForceOfOne
(My tagline is currently being blocked by Congressional filibuster for being to harsh.)
To: finnman69
Wow. In 1986 we boarded the QEII in NYC for an 8-day Caribbean cruise. The ship had just returned from a rough transatlantic crossing...the evening before our trip, on the 5:00 news, there was the QEII, pulling into the harbor, ambulances waiting at the pier to greet injured passengers. Apparently, people were so tossed around that many broke arms and legs. We sailed on schedule, but huge dining room windows were boarded up with plywood.
To: corkoman
If that happened to me, I would not dispute a few feet here or there!
98
posted on
07/10/2005 6:29:40 AM PDT
by
sine_nomine
(Protect the weakest of the weak - the unborn babies.)
To: Hank Rearden
I wish they'd use real numbers when reporting this stuff. My very first thought also...
To: yarddog
I need it in parasangs. I have been reading Xenophon again.
100
posted on
07/10/2005 6:32:00 AM PDT
by
sine_nomine
(Protect the weakest of the weak - the unborn babies.)
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