Massive waves a mystery at Maine harbor

[Bhaisahab]

Source: Boston Globe

Massive waves a mystery at Maine harbor
By Megan Woolhouse
Globe Staff / November 4, 2008

Dockworker Marcy Ingall saw a giant wave in the distance last Tuesday afternoon and stopped in her tracks. It was an hour before low tide in Maine's Boothbay Harbor, yet without warning, the muddy harbor floor suddenly filled with rushing, swirling water.

In 15 minutes, the water rose 12 feet, then receded. And then it happened again. It occurred three times, she said, each time ripping apart docks and splitting wooden pilings.

"It was bizarre," said Ingall, a lifelong resident of the area. "Everybody was like, 'Oh my God, is this the end?' " It was not the apocalypse, but it was a rare phenomenon, one that has baffled researchers. The National Weather Service said ocean levels rapidly rose in Boothbay, Southport, and Bristol in a matter of minutes around 3 p.m. on Oct. 28 to the surprise of ocean watchers. Exactly what caused the rogue waves remains unknown.


Read more: http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2008/11/04/massive_waves_a_mystery_at_maine_harbor/

[Raven]

1. It was the beginning of the "Obama Wave". Started on the east coast.

[gauguin57]

36. OBAMANAMI!

woo hoo

[Canuckistanian]

2. Some weird form of tsunami?

And aren't there sensors in the ocean to detect these kind of events?

[TalkingDog]

10. Rogue waves most likely

They didn't (and couldn't) "exist" until scientist discovered that they did and could.

They were, like many, many phenomenon reported by us mere lay people, thought to be the stuff of myth and legend. How could huge waves, unrelated to weather patterns, earthquakes or any other commonly understood mechanism, just -appear-?

"Unpossible!" they cried in their lab-bound dismay.

Anyway, enough snarking at the poor, hapless, brain-bound "searchers for truth".

Rogue Waves: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_wave

[kentauros]

21. Here are a few more reports, too

Rogue wave smashes the Queen Elizabeth II
The Florida Rogue Wave
Rogue Waves
The Ship-swallowers

[Javaman]

23. more like maverick waves to me...

:spray: :rofl:

[KamaAina]

31. Well, in that case, they'll soon be gone

:hi:

[Javaman]

34. Touche'!!! LOL

good one! :rofl:

[SheilaT]

3. Before I read the article I thought

that it sounded like a mini tsunami, and sure enough, that's one of the explanations.

[Peachhead22]

4. Lobster farts

It was all the lobsters farting in unison. :silly:

[AsahinaKimi]

5. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaohee! Gojira ga itte imasu!!!!

It was Godzilla!!:yoiks:

[shadowknows69]

14. Beat me to it

[pam4water]

16. Oh no there goes Tokyo! Go, go Godzilla!

[shadowknows69]

18. Wouldn't that be "There goes Bar Harbor"?

[mainegreen]

8. *snort*

:rofl:

[pipi_k]

27. AKA

"Lobstah Fahts"


:7

[Lautremont]

6. Mighty Kraken. Stay out of the water!

[soleft]

7. I live 2 blocks from the beach in Jersey

Last night and this morning the sound of the waves crashing on the beach was louder than I've ever heard it.

[glinda]

25. That was the Earth clapping for Obama

There are no coincidences in life. After seeing the video on Obama growing up in Hawaii and his being told to "ride the wave" I am convinced this is one of those wonderful and mysterious things in life.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

37. Look, I'm all for Obama, but there's this crazy thing called science and...

yeah, you get the picture.

[jimbot]

9. Not a mystery

A local radio affiliate picked up the story here and interviewed some researcher in rogue waves at a university in Texas (can't remember the researcher's name or university).
He basically stated that at least some of these waves are predictable and that the ones that hit Maine were partially due to a rapid change in wind direction where the tide was going out with the wind, which caused a swell and a stronger wind came from the opposite direction pushing the swell back to shore.
Evidently these are not uncommon.

Wish I could remember more, but from listening to the show, it did not appear that it was a "mystery."

--JT

[tanyev]

11. OK, if I ever see unusual wave action I am going to be too busy going

the other direction to stand there and discuss whether it is the end of the world.

[Haole Girl]

12. It's the wave of change!!

:bounce:

[Submariner]

13. Probably a submarine landslide out by the mid-ocean ridge

Slow and subtle enough not to be picked up by seismometers.

[Jacobin]

15. That's my guess too

Saw a documentary about these things a year or so ago.

[Maine-ah]

28. that's what I was going to say

they have happened before.

[rasputin1952]

17. Willing to bet it was a methane discharge...Lot's of

methane pockets up that way.

[Ian David]

19. That was from the Republicans trying to drown us in the bathtub. n/t

[shireen]

20. rogue waves, interesting natural phenomena

There was a good documentary about it not long ago, on either Nat. Geo or Discovery. They can show up on a clear day, out of the blue. There have been reports from ships at sea, and they've even been seen in satellite data. I've heard of them happening at sea, never hitting land, so that's pretty interesting.




Merchant ship labouring in heavy seas as a huge wave looms behind. Huge waves are common near the 100-fathom curve on the Bay of Biscay. Published in Fall 1993 issue of Mariner's Weather Log. Credits: NOAA Photo Library
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_wave_(oceanography)>

Other interesting ocean water phenomena:
There's a "line" off Cape May where the water from the Delaware Bay and Atlantic Ocean meets, causing waves and a higher ridge of water along that boundary. It's so cool. During pelagic birding trips off Cape Hatteras, you can tell when you enter the Gulf Stream because the water turns from deep blue to yellowish-blue due to algae in the warm water. There are floating mats of Sargassum holding tiny ecosystems of shrimp, fish, and other small marine life. And the most fun was watching flying fish dart across the water.

[TrogL]

22. Cthulhu rises again

All hail Cthulhu

[minnesota_liberal]

24. Whale farts!

It's not intentional. Half a ton of bad krill will do that to anyone.

[bluesmail]

26. The Onion was my first thought.

Obama wave.

[cayuga]

29. 1400 lb. ammonia cannister from space?

Could have landed in the water near Maine and caused those waves. Doesn't Bush 41 live near there? So close.

[MattSh]

30. It's the Iron Giant !!

Enter "The Iron Giant," the most inventive, captivating and cleverly drawn, the most extraordinary -- the coolest -- Hollywood cartoon since the genre was revived 10 years ago.

The story of a metal-munching, 100-foot robot that falls to Earth during the fearful 1950s and finds himself hunted by a pointy-jawed, paranoid, paranormal investigator in the employ of the War Department, this is the best kind of kids' movie -- a simple morality tale set against a fun, exciting sci-fi adventure.

The Giant -- a fantastically rendered, post-war comic book amalgam of gears and armor plating -- is something of an innocent, having lost his memory in his crash-landing off the coast of Maine. Confused and hungry, he tries to snack on the steel in a power station and is saved from electrocution by a boy named Hogarth who hides the mighty metal man at a local scrap yard ("Wow! My own giant robot!") and spends his afternoons teaching him the finer points of humanity.

http://splicedwire.com/99reviews/irongiant.html

[tblue37]

38. A brilliant film. nt

[On the Road]

32. Could It Have Something to Do With the Bay of Fundy?

On the west coast of Nova Scotia, the shape of the bay amplifies tides by resonance to create a variation of up to 50 feet twice a day. Maine is just down the coast.

[BoneDaddy]

33. It was mother earth

chuckling with delight.

[pitohui]

35. wow i visited boothbay not long ago

that must have been fucking scarey