<http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2008/11/04/massive_waves_a_mystery_at_maine_harbor/?page=full>Massive
waves a mystery at Maine
<http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2008/11/04/massive_waves_a_mystery_at_maine_harbor/?page=full>harbor
Owen Johnson (left) and his father, Peter, repaired damage yest
Owen Johnson (left) and his father, Peter,
repaired damage yesterday done by waves in
Boothbay Harbor. (Joel Page for The Boston Globe)
By Megan Woolhouse
Globe Staff / November 4, 2008
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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.
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* Graphic
<http://www.boston.com/interactive/graphics/2008/20081104_wave/>Squall-line
surges and rogue waves
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.
"The cause of it is a mystery," said National
Weather Service meteorologist John Jensenius, who
first reported the waves from a field office in
Gray, Maine. "But it's not mysterious that it happened."
Specialists have posed a variety of possible
explanations, saying the waves could have been
caused by a powerful storm squall or the slumping
of mountains of sediment from a steep canyon in
the ocean - a sort of mini tsunami. The last time
such rogue waves appeared in Maine was at Bass Harbor in 1926.
Jensenius said the occurrence is so unusual, that
specialists don't have a name for the phenomenon.
"That's part of our problem," he said.
A similar occurrence in Florida more than 15
years ago continues to baffle researchers. A
series of 12- to 15-foot waves hit Daytona Beach
on July 3, 1992, injuring more than 20 people and
lifting and tossing dozens of cars.
Jeff List, an oceanographer at the US Geological
Survey at Woods Hole said he and other
researchers studied the occurrence, but no one
has been able to pinpoint the cause. And he said
similarly enormous waves appeared once on the Great Lakes.
Could such a wave or waves enter Boston Harbor,
or even engulf the Massachusetts coast?
"It seems a little unlikely one could hit
Boston," List said. "But then again, these things
are always surprises when they occur."
A squall line surge, which occurs when
fast-moving storm winds sweep over water that is
traveling the same speed, can create such a wave.
(The speed of waves is directly related to wind
speed and the depth of the ocean at any given point.)
List and other specialists said such an
occurrence is exceedingly rare, but when it
occurs, "you get this interaction that causes a
large bulge of water to rise up."
Jensenius said that might have been a factor last
week, when a major storm front brought rain to
most of the East Coast, particularly southern New
England. But he said that does not solve the
mystery, adding that he had not ruled out a
massive "land slump" underwater. Such slumps can
create waves that may be classified as tsunamis,
although no where near the size and scale of the
tsunami that occurred in the Indian Ocean in
2004. Those fast-moving and deadly waves were caused by a massive earthquake.
Tsunami-like waves may not be as rare on the East
Coast as most people think. Jensenius referenced
a 2002 article in the International Journal of
the Tsunami Society that called the threat of
tsunami and tsunami-like waves generated in the
Atlantic Ocean "very real despite a general impression to the contrary."
The article said such waves appear "in most cases
to be the result of slumping or landsliding
associated with earthquakes or with wave action associated with strong storms."
Explosive decompression of underwater methane could also be a factor.
Jensenius said he is trying to gather information
on the waves that hit Boothbay Harbor, adding
that he has asked local businesses such as banks
whether the event might have been recorded on security videos.
"It could be this or it could be that, but as a
science, it is very difficult to tie it down," he said of the waves.
List also said the waves could have been
triggered by the same conditions that cause a
tsunami, including a breaking glacier. Rogue
waves can result from a tsunami traveling through
the ocean that breaks "down into numerous waves."
According to the National Weather Service, no
earthquakes or seismic activity were reported in
the area when the Boothbay waves appeared. List
noted that there was no seismic reading when the Daytona waves struck.
Tom Lippmann, an oceanographer in the Marine
Sciences Department at the University of New
Hampshire, said he also suspected that the Maine
wave was a squall line surge. The National
Weather Service incorrectly called it a tide surge, he said.
"Tides in the Gulf of Maine are essentially
driven by celestial bodies' pull on the earth's
water," he said. "They're very well predicted and very well known."
Residents and business owners in Boothbay said
they were glad the phenomenon didn't happen at
high tide, when it might have caused massive
flooding and more extensive damage. Janice
Newell, who lives nearby in Head of the Harbor,
told the local newspaper the rushing water "was of biblical proportion."
"There were three large whirlpools in the inner
harbor, up to within a foot of my neighbor's
wall," she told the Boothbay Register. "It was beautiful, but it was scary."
Elena Smith, a waitress and part-owner of
McSeagull's restaurant overlooking the harbor,
said the late-afternoon lunch crowd sat
speechless as the waters rose and receded. She
was stunned to see the normally safe and placid
harbor suddenly run like rapids. Some residents
reported seeing massive whirlpools of water that
disappeared, leaving clam shells and seaweed in
vortex patterns on the harbor floor.
"It felt like somebody took the plug out
somewhere" in the ocean, Smith said. "It felt
like there must have been water missing in the ocean someplace."
Megan Woolhouse can be reached at
<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Prayer for Unborn Life:
O GOD OF LIFE AND LOVE, You have given us the
gift to participate with You to bring new life
into the world. But, all too often, the mother's
womb, which should be a nursery of life, becomes
instead a place of it's destruction.
Help us to remove this evil and ensure respect
for all life made in Your image and likeness,
called to fulfill its promise on this earth,
and destined to find a home with you for all eternity.
We ask this through Jesus Christ, Our Lord, Our God, Our Savior, and Our ALL.
Amen.
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