Huge California Surfing Waves Explained
LiveScience.com
'Researchers have mapped the seafloor off central California in unprecedented detail, revealing what produces the famed waves at a reef called Mavericks. The towering waves are much prized by surfers.
Advanced sonar equipment and aerial light detection instruments helped produce detailed underwater images that display the myriad protuberances and depressions marking the seafloor near the well-known surfing spot at Half Moon Bay.
The newly collected data shows that the wave-making setup at Mavericks involves a portion of a rocky reef that protrudes above its surroundings while remaining under water. As a wave approaches the shore and enters shallower water, it compresses and grows taller. A ridge promontory also focuses wave energy and the wave rapidly increases in height, creating a monster...'
Linear Mode
