Wave atlas

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A wave atlas (also known as swell atlas ) shows in particular those areas on oceans, inland seas or lakes where there is a high probability of the formation of monster waves .

The MaxWave project of the European Union

With the help of ESA's ERS satellites, a first oceanic wave atlas was created between 2000 and 2003, which is being updated.

  • The ERS twin satellites of the ESA, ERS-1 and ERS-2, have been orbiting the earth since July 1991 and April 1995 - and are controlled by ESA / ESOC in Darmstadt. They each have a so-called SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) on board, with which they collect their data.
  • The SAR in turn works in different modes. The wave mode is used over the ocean, in which small "ocean sections" with a size of 10 by 5 km are recorded at intervals of 200 kilometers.
  • Each of these sections is then mathematically broken down into a list of the average wave energy and direction, a so-called ocean wave spectrum . ESA makes these spectra available for public access.

The IJsselmeer and Markermeer wave atlas (Gulf Atlas)

The wave atlas ("Golfatlas IJsselmeergebied") provides information about the sea conditions on the IJsselmeer and the Markermeer as well as twelve detailed areas with the most important ports, taking into account different wind conditions.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Thomas Bührke: MONSTER WAVE AHEAD! In: Earth & Space. Bild der Wissenschaft online, 2005, p. 51 , accessed on May 26, 2019 (issue 10).