Originally published August 9 2005
Hurricane Ivan's waves soared to nearly 100 feet, scientists say
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Waves nearly 100 feet tall were recorded last year in the Gulf of Mexico when Hurricane Ivan headed toward shore, forcing scientists to rethink what is normal.
They may have been the tallest waves ever measured with modern instruments, suggesting that prior estimates for maximum hurricane wave heights are too low, William Teague of the Naval Research Laboratory at the Stennin Space Center in Mississippi and colleagues reported.
"Our results suggest that waves in excess of 90 feet are not rogue waves but actually are fairly common during hurricanes," Teague said in a telephone interview.
A wave that big would snap a ship in two or dwarf a 10-floor building, Teague said.
And the sensors may have missed the largest waves, which the authors estimate had crest-to-trough wave heights exceeding 40 meters or 130 feet, the researchers said.
But oil platforms and other equipment cannot get out of the way.
"So when there were reports of an 80-foot (24-meter) wave striking an oil platform, they called it a rogue wave.
Ivan sank seven oil platforms and set five adrift, Teague said, and his team's findings might help explain it.
They were recorded by sensors about 75 miles south of Gulfport, Mississippi on six moorings resting on the ocean floor, Teague, Mitchell and colleagues report in Friday's issue of the journal Science.
"It turned out that during one of these periods of recording, the biggest crest-peak wave that we measured was 91 feet."
The previous record height recorded by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency was 52 feet, also recorded during Ivan.
In "The Perfect Storm" a 100-foot (30 meter) wave sinks a fishing vessel, drowning its crew.
"If the wave is under the ship, with a crest in front and a crest in back, there is nothing supporting the middle," he added.
"The chances of a ship surviving something like that are not good."
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