Hurricane caused 'tallest wave' - Over 90 feet

Now this is scary, btw apologies in advance if this is covered somewhere, I couldn't find it.

Hurricane caused 'tallest wave'
Hurricane Ivan generated a wave more than 90 feet (27 metres) high - thought to be the tallest and most intense ever measured - scientists have revealed.
It would have dwarfed a 10-storey building and had the power to snap a ship in half - but never reached land.

The wave was recorded by sensors on the ocean floor as Hurricane Ivan passed over the Gulf of Mexico last September.

The observations suggest prior estimates for extreme waves are too low, researchers warn in Science.


Hurricane Ivan caused more than 100 deaths and left a trail of devastation as it swept over several Caribbean islands and part of the United States.

If you live near the coast and you hear a hurricane is coming, please leave. If ever one of these waves make it to land, you can forget the term storm surge and think tsunami instead. With all the warnings of hurricanes increasing in frequency and intensity, this is rather terrifying. what's scarier though is a ship being slammed by one of these monster. I wonder what is the probability of these waves ever reaching the shore?

[edit on 8-8-2005 by worldwatcher]

Originally posted by worldwatcher
I wonder what is the probability of these waves ever reaching the shore?

[edit on 8-8-2005 by worldwatcher]

That is an answer many people would want to know! 90 feet wave produced by a hurricane! Sheesh! I have heard such figures thrown around in the event of earthquakes or volcanic destructions, but not for hurricanes, which are far more frequent. Thats scary stuff, and there is nothing you could do if such a wave did reach land, it would be terrible!

Would like to post this link to the NRL's report on this.

www.nrl.navy.mil...

This is so scary!

I don't think these waves could reach far from water level because storm created waves are only in surface layer (while in tsunami it's whole ocean which is behind wave) but when combined with rising of sealevel caused by low pressure and wind they would surely cause damage in shore areas.

Originally posted by Valhall
www.nrl.navy.mil...

BTW, that "significant wave height" is much much smaller than what biggest waves are.

Like last December-January's storms in Nordic/Baltic countries, which also made new sea level and wave height records in northern Baltic Sea. Significant wave height record was 7.7 meters but single waves were 14 meters high!

7.7 meters but single waves were 14 meters high!

Yank translation, about 23' and 42' respectively....