News

17.01.2014 14:52 Age: 11 yrs

Winter high waves in North Atlantic

Category: Ocean and climate news

High waves in the North Atlantic and swell surge slammed the western coasts of Europe early in January. Altimetry data have measured these high waves.

Strong winds and rough seas caused huge waves in the North Atlantic between the 5th and the 7th of January, 2014. Associated with high tides, this large storm system caused sea levels in western coasts of Europe. Altimetry satellite have flown over the storm and measured significant wave height up to 19.1 m.

Map of significant wave heigths (in m) measured along-track by IGDR Saral-AltiKa (left) and Jason-2 (right) between January 04 and January 06, 2014 over North Altantic. Ground tracks in red, correspond to higher waves, up to 19.1 m for Saral-AltiKa, pass 489. Pass numbers plotted on Saral-AltiKa map are those plotted below..Credits Cnes/CLS. Plots made with the <link http: www.altimetry.info _blank external-link-new-window>Basic Radar Altimetry Toolbox.

Significant Wave Height in meters vs latitude for Saral-AltiKa individual ground tracks, pass numbers are noted near each curve:
pink (pass #487, 2014/01/05 between 05:03 and 05:54),
red (pass #489, 2014/01/05 between 06:44 and 07:34), 
blue (pass #506, 2014/01/05 between 20:59 and 21:49) and
green (pass #532, 2014/01/06 between 18:4732 and 19:37)
Credits Cnes/CLS. Curves made with the <link http: www.altimetry.info _blank external-link-new-window>Basic Radar Altimetry Toolbox.

Significant wave height seen by Saral-AltiKa, Cryosat-2 and Jason-2 on January 05. The wave heights are in feet and colors are coded by the color scale in the upper right. The time stamp is in red for Saral, in pink for Cryosat-2 and in yellow for Jason-2(Credits Joe Sienkiewicz, NOAA Ocean Prediction Center).

Further information:

  • Applications:<link internal-link> Atmosphere, wind and waves
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