Here’s a pretty cool article that sheds some light on internal waves.  These are waves that can occur deep in the ocean or in the atmosphere and are often invisible to the untrained eye despite their colossal size (a single wave can span over 1,000 km).  Researchers have found that internal waves typically form when large regions of moving water (or air) encounter some sort of an obstacle, typically a mountain.

In the ocean tides can move large regions of water.  When this water encounters an underwater mountain, it causes a wave to form.  In the following photo you can see an internal wave passing through the Strait of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean Sea.

Internal waves form in the atmosphere when a large region of air is forced against a mountain.  When a plane encounters an atmospheric wave, it can gain or lose altitude very rapidly (2,000 ft in 15 seconds).  That’s pretty freaky when you consider the fact that you can’t necessarily know that you’re going to encounter an atmospheric internal wave ahead of time.  But some atmospheric waves are actually visible, like this picture of morning glory clouds.  It stands to reason that you could potentially catch one of these waves and ride it, maybe not with a surf board, but with a glider.  Because a single wave can span over 1,000 km, that would be one long ride.  Paddling back to the peak would be a drag.

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I’m gonna work on getting one to put on my desk, so when work’s bringing me down I can just put my head in it.

Link

To say that surfing (in general) is safer than soccer is total bullsiht. To be fair, though, the study does recognize the fact that contest surfing is much more controlled and generally safer than amateur surfing. In the past I’ve made it clear that I am not a doctor, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say that this study is far from being comprehensive. If they want a clear picture of the health risks associated with surfing, they should look to hospitals and life guards for data on the injuries that they treat. And while they’re at it, why not talk to these guys and count up all the illnesses that result from surfing in poopy water.

Here’s an article that covers the report.

Thanks, Starling Fitness

Judging surfing competitions is going to be a little bit easier in 2007 as the ASP tour is embracing video replay technology. ASP president Wayne “Rabbit” Bartholomew explains,

“As a result of the performance standards being raised, judges at top tour events are forever facing increasing pressure to be 100 per cent accurate in the delivery of scores and results,” he said. “For this reason, for the first time ever in the sport, ASP will be introducing instant replays via personal monitors for each individual judge so they can access previous waves and further scrutinize over wave scores….It will aid the guys in judging when two competitors are riding or when something is critical…”

I think this is a good move for the ASP.  Having a scoring system that is more accurate and reliable can only make the sport more attractive to spectators.

And here’s a satellite image of Point Reyes, California. You can see the swell lines pretty clearly. That’s a lot of waves.

1. Navigation bar at the top of the page just underneath the broceanography banner.
2. On the side panel there’s a section for surfLinks.
3. There’s a link at the bottom of the page that let’s you page chronologically through Previous Entries. This had been a popular request.

Hopefully, it’s an improvement over the old site. Let us know how you like it.