Ivan Makes Big Waves in Research
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WASHINGTON — Hurricane Ivan, which caused widespread destruction across the Caribbean in September before crashing into the U.S. Gulf Coast, generated ocean waves taller than 90 feet, researchers said Thursday.
They may have been the tallest waves measured with modern instruments, suggesting that prior estimates for maximum hurricane wave heights are too low, William J. Teague of the Naval Research Laboratory at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi and colleagues report in today’s Science journal.
“Our results suggest that waves in excess of 90 feet are not rogue waves but actually are fairly common during hurricanes,” Teague said.
A wave that big would dwarf a 10-story building, Teague said. And sensors may have missed the largest waves, which the researchers estimate had crest-to-trough wave heights exceeding 130 feet. Such giant waves disintegrated before reaching land, the researchers said.
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