Are ocean's monsters getting bigger ?

Les Blumenthal -

It's one of the most treacherous stretches of water in the world, where 1 million cubic feet of water a second collides with 20- or 30-foot ocean swells over a four-mile stretch of shifting sand.

A small band of pilots often braves dangerous conditions to guide ships across the Columbia River bar spanning Washington and Oregon.

The pilots who work the "Graveyard of the Pacific" have a deep respect for the relentless forces they face daily as they ride out to tankers, bulk carriers, car carriers, and cargo and passenger ships standing offshore. They commute in 72-foot self-righting boats that can roll over 360 degrees as winter gales and sometimes hurricane-force storms blast out of the North Pacific.

The pilots also confirm what marine scientists have just started talking about: Ocean waves are becoming bigger and more powerful, and climate change could be the cause.

"We've been talking about it for a couple of years now," said Captain Dan Jordan, who served in the merchant marine for 30 years before becoming a Columbia Bar pilot. "Mother Nature has an easy way of telling us who is in charge."

Using buoy data and models based on wind patterns, scientists say the waves off the coast of the Pacific Northwest and along the Atlantic seaboard from West Palm Beach, Fla., to Cape Hatteras, N.C., are steadily increasing in size. And, at least in the Northwest, the larger waves are considered more of a threat to coastal communities and beaches than the rise in sea level accompanying global warming.

Read more...

Posted via http://batavia08.posterous.com batavia08's posterous