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Posted: Wed Sep 11, 2019 6:22 am
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Hurricane Dorian blazed a trail of destruction from the Bahamas to the Maritimes, but it didn�t just cause turmoil on land, according to a team at Memorial University who say they recorded a 100-foot wave off the southwestern coast of Newfoundland in the wake of the post-tropical storm.
Bill Carter, director of the Marine Institute�s Centre for Applied Ocean Technology, said the more than 30-metre wave was detected at around 2 a.m. Sunday by an oceanographic buoy about 2.5 kilometres off the coast of Port aux Basques at the tail end of what was then a post-tropical storm.
�We had three or four maximum wave heights in the area of 25 metres, and a single wave height of 30.2 metres,� he said in a phone interview.
Carter said the coast of Newfoundland is �a pretty inspiring spot� when it comes to big storms and seas, but this wave is the biggest the team has recorded since it started monitoring in 2006.
�Storms aren�t uncommon off the Port aux Basques regions, but this was just huge,� he said.
While he�s not an oceanographer, Carter said he believes some combination of low pressure, wind, proximity to shore and the tides combined to create what he calls �perfect conditions� for a large wave.
Since he isn�t an ocean expert, he said he couldn�t be positive such a wave is possible under the conditions, but he is confident the technology did not malfunction.
�All I can say is our equipment was working properly before the storm, in my view it continued to work properly throughout the storm and works properly today,� he said.
The data was recorded from one of the centre�s network of buoys, which are equipped with sensors that monitor the height from the base of the wave to its apex. Because it can�t measure every wave, he said it�s possible that even larger ones have been missed.
Carter said the monster wave likely slammed into the cliffs near shore, but he hasn�t seen a report of it causing any damage.
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Dorian caused widespread damage across Atlantic Canada over the weekend as it lashed the region with rain and hurricane-force wind gusts that approached 150 kilometres per hour at times.
Carter said the event is an �eye-opener,� and a reminder that scientists need to be vigilant amid a changing global climate.
�We probably need to pay even closer attention to the potential of storms,� he said. �Maybe we�re starting to see additional punch as they make their way along our coast.�
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