[BITList] Video: Nazare, Portugal: the unique combination that creates 100ft waves - Telegraph

[M.j. Feltham]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-video/10412056/Nazare-Portugal-the-unique-combination-that-creates-100ft-waves.html

Related Articles

The waves at Praia do Norte, near the fishing village of Nazaré, are famed for their size and beloved of surfers.

These huge waves are caused by region's geography, and on Monday, the extreme weather St Jude’s Atlantic storm.

Off the Praia do Norte coastline is the biggest underwater ravine in Europe, Nazaré Canyon.

This huge canyon runs 125 miles from the abyssal plain out in the Atlantic Ocean to less than half a mile from the coastline.

At its deepest point, the sea bed is more than three miles beneath the surface and it rises rapidly to a canyon “headwall” that rises to between 100 and 150 feet just off the coast of Praia do Norte.

Currents through the canyon combine with swell driven by winds from further out in the Atlantic to create waves converge as the canyon narrows and drive the swell directly towards the shore.

From the headwall to the coastline, the seabed rises gradually from around 32 feet to become shallow enough for the swell to break.

Combined with this off the Praia do Norte is among the most westerly points in all of Europe, meaning that the wind, and so ocean swell, sweeps across the Atlantic unhindered.

On Monday the 80 miles per hour winds created by the St Jude’s Atlantic storm whipped up the swell to monstrous proportions, leading to waves of up to 100 feet tall.


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.bcn.mythic-beasts.com/pipermail/bitlist/attachments/20131029/2dca1075/attachment.htm