Surf’s up dude!

A wave can simply be described as a type of change that moves from one place to another. There are many different types of waves but they all have some similar properties. For example, they have a wavelength and an amplitude.

Some waves occur on the surface of the ocean. They usually result from wind and some people like to ride them on surfboards.

Interestingly, waves in the north-east Pacific are getting taller, and the height of the most extreme “100-year” waves is increasing fastest.

Previous data had shown wave height to be increasing in the north-east Pacific and north Atlantic since the late 1980s. Now measurements from a deep-water buoy moored off the Oregon coast since the mid-1970s indicate that the “100-year” waves – the monster waves with a 1 per cent chance of occurring in any given year – could be 40 per cent larger than previous estimates, at 14 metres high.

Average wave heights increased at the rate of 1.5 centimetres per year, while each year’s biggest wave increased by an average of 10 centimetres per year. Climate change is a likely culprit, but more measurements are needed to confirm this. Read more here.