Rogue Waves

Rogue waves are also known as freak waves.  They are quite large but also casual waves that can sink even large ships and ocean liners.  "In oceanography, they are more concisely defined as waves that are more than double the significant wave height (SWH), which is itself defined as the mean of the largest third of waves in a wave record.Once thought to be only legendary, they are now known to be a natural ocean phenomenon, not rare,but rarely encountered." 

On June 23rd 2008, the Suwa Maru which was a fishing boat with 20 crew members;  sank in seemingly normal sea conditions in Cape Inubosaki.  Reports from investigators said that even though originally reported wave heights were between 2 and 3 meters (6.5 and 9.8 feet)  almost the size of a regulation basketball hoop.  However, the ship may have encountered unusual waves, probably twice, or three times the size of the waves originally reported.  These abnormal waves, sunk the ship in 10 minutes.      

"Using a hindcast wave simulation using a model driven by wind and ocean current, the authors find that at the time of the accident wave steepness increased and waves became long crested, creating a sea state favorable for freak wave occurrence."  The ship was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. With the heavy pressures from the rising speed of winds, the swell system grew exponentially, causing the wave to expand constantly .  This created the dangerously moving waters to create this freakish sea condition.

website:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090128183927.htm

picture:  http://www.polarsurf.info/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/big-wave-boatsome----placid----ocean-photos---actually-rogue-waves-and-huge-waves-nv0p7kdc.jpg

Powering Australia with waves

Wave energy is moving along rapidly as a valuble  source of renewable energy to generate electricity.  With Australia's southern margin being identified by the World Energy Council as one of the world's most promising sites for wave-energy generation.  That is quite a statement.One minor problem for wave-energy developers, however, is that estimates in the past of wave-energy potential are based on the information in deep ocean water, while "wave-energy generation systems are typically positioned near to shore," says a physical oceanographer Mark Hemer who works with Australia's CSIRO Wealth for Oceans National research flagship.

Australia has been consistent with decreasing greenhouse gas emissions by 60 percent of year 2000 levels by 2050. Although an economic analysis of wave generation in Australian waters hasn't been promptly carried out. Hemer states that wave energy offers a "massive resource" to aid the Australian Government's aim of producing 45,000 gigawatt-hours/year of a surplus of renewable energy before the year 2020. ""Convert 10 percent of available wave energy from a 1000-km stretch in this area to electricity, " Hemer says, and "the quota could be achieved by wave energy alone.""

website:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100817090758.htm

picture:  http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3282/2867779166_912fd6bdd1.jpg

North West Tidal Barrages Could Provide up to 5% of UK's electricity

Engineers from The University of Liverpool claim that building estuary barrages (just blocking off where the tide meets the stream) throughout the North West could help to provide up to 5% of the UK's electricity.  Researchers who are collaborating with Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory have been examining ways to create electricity from tidal sources of renewable energy in the Eastern Irish Sea.
The study showed that if four estuary barrages could be built along the Solway Firth, Morecambe Bay, in addition to the Mersey and Dee estuaries, this could have the capability to meet about 50% of the North West region's electricity needs.  The barrages would provide a solid defense against the sea, along with good flood alleviation by draining the estuary following massive and heavy rainstorms.  Electricity generation could also help to achieve the UK's C02 emission reduction targets.          

"Professor Richard Burrows, from the Maritime Environmental and Water Systems Research Group, in the University’s Department of Engineering, said: "“With concerns mounting over the UK’s future energy provision it will soon become paramount that all sources of renewable energy are fully developed. Unlike the wind, tides are absolutely predictable. The geographical location of the UK, and the seas that surround it, provide a great platform for marine renewable sources.""
website:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090325092203.htm

picture:  http://www.mythandthemurray.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Goolwa_Barrage.jpg

San Andreas Fault

The San Andreas Fault is a geological stretches to a length of approximately 800 miles (1287 kilometers) through California.  The fault is a right-lateral slip-fault that creates a boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate.  All of the land west of this fault along the Pacific Plate is moving slowly to the northwest while all of the land east of the fault is moving the opposite, southeast because of plate tectonics.

The rate of the movement is about 1/6th of an inch (.6 cm) per year.  The projected motion indicates that the Gulf of California will extend northward at the same time that the land west of the fault, including the Baja California peninsula along with California's coast slips past San Francisco.  It will then continue going northwestward as an island mass heading to the Aleutian Trench.  This is said to happen over a period of maybe twenty million years.

website:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/s/san_andreas_fault.htm
picture:  http://www.sanandreasfault.org/4020_A.jpg

Tsunamis

Tsunamis are a series of waves that sends surges of water onto a piece of land.  They can reach heights up to 100 feet.  These massive walls of water can destroy a huge destruction when they crash the shoreline.  These jaw-dropping waves are usually caused by underwater earthquakes within tectonic plate boundaries.  When the ocean floor at one of these boundaries rises or falls unexpectedly, it displaces the water above and shoots the on going waves which will then become a Tsunami.  Approximately 80% of Tsunamis occur with the Pacific Ocean's "Ring of Fire" which is where many tectonic shifts create volcanoes and earthquakes normal.

Tsunamis can speed across the ocean at 500mph, which is just about as fast as a jet airplane.  If that pace is constant, it can make it across the entire Pacific in less than a day!  And because of their long wavelength's, Tsunamis lose very little energy throughout its course.  It is usually composed of multiple waves, called a wave train.  The best way to help defend a tsunami is an early warning that lets people reach higher ground.  "The Pacific Tsunami Warning System is a coalition of 26 nations headquartered in Hawaii.  It maintains a web of seismic equipment and water level gauges to identify tsunamis at sea.  Similar systems are proposed to protect coastal areas worldwide."

website http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/natural-disasters/tsunami-profile/
picture:  www.youtube.com

The Tides

Tides are the cycle of the Earth's rising and falling ocean surface.  This is caused by the tidal forces of both the sun and moon acting upon the earth.  The tides cause drastic changes in depth throughout the sea.  They also produce oscillating currents which are also known as tidal streams.  Making prediction of the tides is essential for coastal navigation. "The strip of seashore that is submerged at high tide and exposed at low tide, the intertidal zone, is an important ecological product of ocean tides."  

The changing tides produced at a specific location on earth is the result of the Moon and Sun interacting with the Earth. "Though the gravitational force exerted by the Sun on the Earth is almost 200 times stronger than that exerted by the Moon, the tidal force produced by the Moon is about twice as strong as that produced by the Sun."  This is because the tidal force isn't necessarily related by the strength of a gravitational, but to its incline.  The field incline decreases with distance from the source more quickly than does the field strength.  The Sun is roughly 400 times further from the Earth than the Moon is.   The gradient of the Sun's field, along with the tidal force made by the sun is more weak than the Moon's. 
  
website:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/t/tide.htm
picture:  http://www.greenlaunches.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/ocean_tides.jpg

The Gulf Stream

The Gulf stream which originates in Mexico, exits through the the straight of Florida, and then follows the eastern coastlines along with Newfoundland before crossing through the Atlantic Ocean.  The Gulf Stream splits into two at about at approximately 30 degrees west and and 40 degrees North.  The Northern stream crossing over to Northern Europe and the southern stream recirculating off the West coast of Africa.  This Gulf stream can also change climate over different parts of the current as well.

The Gulf Stream has a pretty big impact of the climate throughout the east coast of North America.  It influences the climate substantially from Florida to Newfoundland, along with the west coast of Europe.  However, there is some speculation that global warming can decrease or possibly shutdown thermohaline circulation which would reduce the North Atlantic Drift.  The time frame for this occurrence is not clear, but some estimates range from twenty to forty years, or 200-400 years.  Again it is not clear.  "This could trigger localised cooling in the North Atlantic and lead to cooling (or lesser warming) in that region, particularly affecting areas that are warmed by the North Atlantic Drift, such as Scandinavia and Great Britain" (Science Daily).  The chances of this happening is also not clear.  

website: http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/g/gulf_stream.htm

picture:  http://oceancurrents.rsmas.miami.edu/atlantic/img_topo1/gulf-stream2.jpg