The Science of Big Waves

Pre-viewing:
1. Where do ocean waves come from? What gets them started?
        Ocean waves come from the 'wave factory' in the Pacific Ocean. When the high and low pressure systems meet, pressure is released from the air and pushed right into the water.
2.  What do you think a surfer should know about waves before they try and ride a wave while surfing?
Where they break, when they break how they break. How best to exit the wave if you need to.

Questions for the Video

1. Observe all the waves that you see and describe how they form and break. Use as many words found in the segment for you descriptions. 
  The steep reef, headland, pressure systems, wind and fetch all come into play to form the Maverick waves.
2. Describe how waves are formed, how they originate, and how they are measured?
They start thousands of miles away in a place called the 'wave factory' in the Pacific, the low pressure system meets the high pressure system and the energy is transferred from the air to the water. Windspeed (60 km/h), fetch (2000 miles) and duration (4days) .
They are measured in three waves; height, period and wave length (peak to peak or trough to trough). The longer wave length, the longer the period between waves.
3. What is a maverick wave and what is special about the way it is formed?
Some of the biggest in the world. the "mount everest of surfing". The sharp ocean floor converts the potential energy into kinetic energy. The wave refraction causes the wave to bend and rise and it feeds the energy to form the perfect wave.
4. How is energy stored and transferred during wave 
The enrgy rotates the water, and that energy is used to propel the wave.
5. List any kind of advice given by the surfers about how to survive these “big waves.”
"The trick is to get in there and steal some fire before the full wrath of the wave is unleashed".
Sufers need to respect the full power of these waves as it could quickly turn into a fight for survival.


Homework:
Design a blog post on your blog of Maverick waves from different parts of the 
world. Be sure to describe the geography and the topography of the ocean floor in 
these areas and how this helps create these massive waves.