The article does not say what the previously thought max was and what the new height might be.
Nazare in Portugal famous for its surfing conditions has waves exceeding 100 meters in height.
I think (but definitely could be wrong) that this is more about how open-water waves can form great heights (i.e. what I've often heard referred to as "rogue waves" in the past). I do know these rogue waves were a bit of a mystery in the past because mathematical modeling said waves shouldn't get that big.
Near shorelines/sea floors is a whole other ball of wax, though, because the terrain can essentially "funnel" waves into giant monstrosities like what happens at Nazare. Depending on the shape of the shoreline I don't believe there is a single "max wave" height, i.e. I believe you can have situations like the Bay of Fundy (that is tides though, not waves) where you can get massive difference in high vs. low tide due to resonance.
The Southern Ocean routinely has waves of 20-30m in size because of the uninterrupted belt of water and wind that circles the globe in those latitudes (aka the "Furious Fifties" and "Shrieking Sixties"). We obviously can't track every wave in the ocean but I think we're fairly certain there are 30m+ waves happening down there and they are not that rare.
TIL that the largest waves in recorded history were up to 500m (!!), generated by a tsunami off the coast of southern Alaska.
Even 20 meters is insane. That's 4-5 double decker buses stacked on top of each other (and probably hits with more force than they would...)
The fundy basin reveals many interesting hyrological phenominon,large standing waves(the dorey rippes),tidal bores(wall of water rushing inland up bays and rivers,which ((not kidding))
black ducks surf to get to the high tide and then
forage all the way back out on the outgoing tide)
also whirl pools form,each tide at the tip of cape split
its a monsterous amount of water/mass
not sure of the exact numbers,but the earths crust
must flex a bit with the fundy tide
then there is the permanent circum polar wave that circles antartica,100 meters plus
Even tsunami don’t get very high. They are more about the volume of water. They only get high when the water is moving through a narrow area or an area with underwater things.
Hello, I recently read in the comment section on HN that the waves at Nazare are more like 30 meters high. Maybe you mixed up meters and feet ? Just to let you know, in case you didn't notice the other comments. Cheers, mate.
Yep, 100m is a 30 story building more or less. I know these waves are big, but this would be the equivalent of a wave height of Big Ben or the full Statue of Liberty.
I thought about visiting Nazare to watch the waves. How likely are you to see 20m+ waves on a random day in winter? How good is the view from the shore?
10m in Winter is normal. It's huge, it's dangerous and it's directly at the lighthouse. Excellent view. You also got the Supertubolos for very good surfers at the left.
