National Data Buoy Blog Post

In science, we are currently studying about waves. By waves, I mean all types of waves, including light, sound, and water waves. This last class we were talking specifically about buoys. Buoys are big floating devices that record various things such as temperature, height, atmospheric pressure, and wind speed of the local area. We were given a link, http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/, to find out about specific buoys in specific areas.

Predictions/Hypothesis

I think that wave height is going to depend on two factors:

1) Distance from a landmass- I think that buoys that record areas that are close to shores/land areas will show less wave height. I think this because the farther you get from shores, the deeper the bodies of water will be. For example, a buoy near the coast of Africa will show small(er) waves. One that is a few miles of the coast of Africa will be significantly bigger.

2) Relative Location compared to ice masses- I think that waves might be bigger near large pieces of ice. I am thinking specifically the Arctic, because there has recently been a lot of melting of the ice caps, making the water level significantly higher. This may also work with the antarctic, but maybe not as much since the Antarctic has land under the ice, while the Arctic is 100% ice.


Results 


The 4 main buoys/stations I used-

1) Station 46006 (pacific ocean, off the coast of California)

Location: 40.754N 137.464W
Winds: S (190°) at 19.4 kt gusting to 23.3 kt

Significant Wave Height: 6.9 ft
Atmospheric Pressure: 29.81 in and falling
Water Temperature: 54.1 F 

2) Station 46213 ( near the coast of California)

Location: 40.294N 124.74W

Significant Wave Height: 2.6 ft

Water Temperature: 50.0 F 

3) Station 46041 (near the coast of Washington state)

Location: 47.353N 124.731W

Winds: SSE (150°) at 5.8 kt gusting to 7.8 kt

Significant Wave Height: 1.6 ft

Atmospheric Pressure: 29.99 in and falling

Air Temperature: 50.4 F

Water Temperature: 51.4 F

4) Station 46005 (pacific ocean, off the coast of Washington state)

Location: 46.100N 131.001W

Winds: at 13.6 kt gusting to 15.5 kt

Significant Wave Height: 3.6 ft

Atmospheric Pressure: 29.81 in and falling

Air Temperature: 51.6 F

Water Temperature: 51.4 F

Result for hypothesis/factor 1 (ocean/landmass)- This was the hypothesis that water height will be lower when closer to shore and higher when far away from coasts. I found out that my hypothesis was correct. If you look at Station 46006, which is farther away from shore, it had higher waves than Station 46213, which was closer to shore. This was also the same with Station 46041, which had smaller waves because it was near the shore, while Station 46005 was way off the coast and has larger waves. Even though this hypothesis is mostly correct, it is not always. For example, Station 41004 (near the coast of South Carolina)  has a wave height of 8.5 feet. Station 41002 (way off the coast of South Carolina) has 5.6 feet, which is smaller than the one near the shore. Even though this example show the opposite of my hypothesis, I checked many other buoys/stations and they showed my hypothesis is correct most of the time.

Result for hypothesis/factor 2 (ice masses)- This hypothesis was that wave height would be higher near ice masses. This hypothesis was inconclusive (I did not have enough information). There was only one buoy close enough to the arctic/antarctic to test. I was not able to get any information from it because it was near the coast of Iceland (the nation), conflicting with my test.

Waves Of Earth: Tsunamis

Tsunamis 

There are many type of destructive waves on earth such as earthquakes and hurricanes. I am going to talk to you about what has been recently been on the news a lot; Tsunamis. Tsunamis are giant waves that occur in the ocean. Many times we have Tsunamis occur in the middle of the ocean, and only cause small waves on the coast and cause minor damage. We also have the more destructive ones; ones that are known for wiping out coast side cities, completely. 

We have had many big tsunami disasters in the past 10 years. The two greatest was the Indonesia Tsunami of 2004 and the Japanese Tsunami of 2011. The Indonesian Tsunami of 2004 killed over 22,000 people. The Japanese Tsunami of 2011 killed over 15,000 people. The Indonesian Tsunami has been recognized as the biggest Tsunami of the 21st century and one of the biggest ever. Tsunamis can be caused by many things. But one thing Tsunamis are caused by is a disturbance in the ocean that causes waves with unimaginable heights. The two most major specific causes of Tsunamis are earthquakes and volcanic eruption/activity. There are also other things that can cause Tsunamis, but they are less likely, such as landslides, meteor impact, and underwater explosions(man-made). 

Tsunamis occur in many places. But, 80% of all tsunamis occur in the pacific ocean. This is because of the Ring of Fire. The Ring of Fire is a large ring or chain of volcanoes in the Pacific Ocean.These volcanoes erupting cause earthquakes. All of these volcanoes erupting cause waves to increase in height, therefore creating tsunamis.The two biggest tsunamis of the 21st century occured in or near the Pacific Ocean.  Tsunamis can have many effects, most of the time minor, but sometimes disastrous. When big tsunamis hit cities, they will most likely knock down many buildings that are small in height or do not have stable architecture. But many other completely random effects can happen as well. As we have witnessed in Japan in 2011, they can flood nuclear plants, rendering them completely vulnerable for a malfunction. In Japan, the cooling system failed because of the flood and leaked toxic, radioactive gases. Overall, tsunamis can cause many things that are unexpected. 

One major contribution into saving many people's lives, is to spot a tsunami before it hits a city. The question is:  how do we predict tsunamis? Well, the most precise way is by satellite imagery. With satellites we can take pictures of oceans and see if there is wave height. Also, buoys can help us. Buoys measure many things such as wave height. If several buoys in an area change their reading from 6 feet wave height to suddenly 35 feet wave height, we can predict that there is a tsunami occuring.  

When detecting tsunamis, they use something called TWS. This stands for Tsunami Warning System. The TWS has many sensors to detect increase in wave height. When TWS does detect a Tsunami, it sends a warning. Then, authorities can start an evacuation of all inhabited areas that could be in the path of the Tsunami. This is very useful and can save people. When a warning is issued out to people of a tsunami it is called a tsunami warning. 

Many wealthy countries that have higher chances of Tsunamis, such as Japan, have  many features of their city to guarantee minimal damage to their cities. Some of theses features include architecture. A lot of the buildings  built in Tokyo have are specially built to withstand earthquakes and tsunamis, to a limit. A lot of times earthquakes that are high on the Richter scale, cause giant tsunamis, that are sadly, unpreventable. 

We can contribute to helping the victims of Tsunamis. We can send money, food, and supplies, We can also make banners and organize teams to aid the victims of Tsunamis.

This is a clip of some of the effects Tsunamis can have on Cities. This is actual footage from the Japan 2011 tsunami.

This is a picture of the island of Sumatra, Indonesia. The picture above is before the tsunami and the one below is the effects of the terrible tsunami.