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Books > Extreme Waves
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Fortunately, few of us on shore or in a boat have ever looked out to sea and seen a wave as tall as a 10-story building racing toward us, and in that instant known that there was no way to outrun it, no way to survive, and that our life was about to come to an end. Yet, such waves exist, waves that appear suddenly in the open ocean, waves big enough to break the back of modern crude oil tankers or bulk container ships and send them to the bottom before an SOS can be sent. Recently two large cruise ships were front page news when they suffered damage and injured passengers after being hit by rogue waves. Still more horrific was the disaster that overtook Southeast Asia on December 26, 2004, huge waves, hundreds of thousands dead. This book traces the origins of waves, explaining how calm seas change to stormy seas under the influence of winds, how waves propagate, the effect of currents, tides, and earthquakes, and how ships and offshore structures respond to extreme waves. There is one hundred real life stories included in the book to illustrate the important topics—stories from U.S. Navy admirals responsible for nuclear carriers, to Brad Van Liew, who sailed single-handed through the most dangerous oceans in the world, to win the recent “Around the World Alone” race. There are ships that were hit and survived, and other vessels that did not survive. Each incident entails heroism, mostly unsung, beyond that which we can imagine experiencing.
Today, with new knowledge concerning extreme
waves, we have the ability to ensure that vessel losses become a rare
event. Advanced warning systems and education of coastal populations can
likewise greatly reduce the death toll from tsunami.
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