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Youtube huge ocean waves12/7/2023 ![]() A powerful current that runs north along the shore also acts as a barrier to the swell, which further amplifies the wave. Storm swells build as the sea floor grows shallower, and when a wave hits the canyon walls at the right angle, it refracts back into the part of the swell that does not run through the canyon, sending a volcano of water skyward and producing the massive tongue shaped peak. Winter storms drive water into the canyon, which extends 16,000 feet below the surface of the ocean and stretches 140 miles along the continental shelf into the sea. The effect is produced primarily by the submarine canyon, which narrows as it approaches the coastline. A 15-foot swell at sea can result in a 75-foot wave near the shore. When Nazaré reaches its most dramatic heights, it is typically the result of two waves converging and amplifying one another-up to five times their natural size in deep offshore water. “When the lip of the wave breaks and it hits the bottom, it’s like an explosion. These storm swells off Portugal are then magnified by two major geological features that converge at the Nazaré cliff: the biggest and most dramatic underwater canyon in Europe, deeper in places than the Grand Canyon, and a huge headland that juts into the sea. The Portuguese coast gets twice as much storm swell as, say, the United States East Coast. “Massive storms that cruise by Greenland and Iceland-their wind energy is pointed directly at Portugal,” Feddersen says. Three major forces combine to make Nazaré such a monster wave machine, says Falk Feddersen, a professor of physical oceanography at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and a surfer himself. But Nazaré consistently produces the biggest waves in the world-five of the six biggest waves ever surfed were at Nazaré, including the Guinness World Record of 80 feet. In each case, a dramatic rise in the sea floor close to the coast concentrates swell energy, thrusting the water upward into a monstrous crest that breaks as it rolls toward the shore. Massive surfable waves 70 to 80 feet high form in just a handful of spots around the world, such as Mavericks in California and Jaws in Maui. Since 2011, when it was discovered by the big-wave surfing community, it has become a mecca for surfers seeking to test their nerve, skill, and luck on the ocean’s version of Mt. Nazaré is like no other wave on the planet. Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience.
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