ENVIRONMENTAL EARTH SCIENCE

WAVE ARTICLE

NAME:________________________ PER: _____ DATE:________

Read Dr. Mels Weatherwords article from Mon Feb 3, 1997 and use the information in it and from your previous notes to answer the following questions.

1. What is the present wave height in the north Atlantic?

2. By what percent has the average wave height in the north Atlantic increased since the 1960's?

3. What is the assumed reason for this increase?

4. Could the increase be because the 1960's were quiet times with few storms? What does the article say?

5. What is different about this year's storms?

6. What is the Graveyard of Storms? Why do you think it is called that?

7. What else indicates that there is more energy in the atmosphere systems?

8. If waves are bigger than they were 30 years ago, what could this mean for older structures built along the coast to protect property?

9. Lets get a rough estimate of the increased weight of the waves that pound the coastline. We will use English measures because Dr. Mel used feet for wave size. For the sake of simplicity, assume that the same size waves hit the coast, and those 7 foot high waves had a wavelength of 20 feet, and a triangular cross section.

This would mean that each foot along the length of the wave would have a volume of (.5)*(base)*(height)*(width) = (.5)*(20ft)*(7ft)*(1ft)= 70 cubic feet of water. Water weighs about 60 pounds per cubic foot. How much weight crashed down on the shoreline for each foot along the wave in the 1960's?

10. How much weight does each foot along the wave have now?

11. What percent increase is this?

12. If the whole wave came down on 30 foot long boardwalk, how much weight would that boardwalk have to withstand?

13. What does it feel like when a wave lands on you in the surf?

Dr. Mel's Weatherwords from: http://www.courant.com/weather/world/speaks3.htm

These storm systems are becoming more violent.

In recent days the weather has been on the gentle side, but overall it seems that during the 1990s the weather has been making more waves than in previous decades. In the 1960s, the average wave height in the wide open seas of the North Atlantic was about 7 feet. During the last 20 years, that wave height has increased to 9 to 10 feet. Nobody is sure of the reason for the increase, but because the wind is the generator of these waves, we just have to assume that atmospheric circulations have increased - storms have become larger and stronger.

The 1960s was not exactly a decade of meteorological peace and quiet. There were those vicious winters with above normal snowfall on 9 out of the 10 seasons. But the 1990s have featured huge winter storms, with or without snow. During this year the stormtrack has been to our north, but the punishing West Coast storms do work their way across North America, and eventually into the North Atlantic which is known as The Graveyard of Storms. Of course, last year the storms passed through Southern New England before putting their anchors down in the Atlantic.

Additionally, the 1990s brought the return to a more active hurricane pattern. More hurricanes are forming each season than formed in the 1970s or 1980s. This decade has been very similar to the tropically turbulent 1950s. Hurricanes have increased in both size and frequency. Hurricane Andrew of 1992 remains the most costly meteorological disaster in U.S. history.

So, the weather has called little timeout in recent years. Larger and larger storms are part of every season, and they are always ready to create plenty of waves. The weather may appear to be quiet in Southern New England this winter, but it is always cooking up a storm.

(This ran Monday, February 3, 1997)