What is the meaning of the words “sea wall”? With the adjective “marine” everything is more or less clear. It means "connected with the sea." Whereas with the noun "shaft" there are nuances. This is due to the fact that it has a large number of values. Which of them fits our case? You can find out about this by understanding what the meaning of the words "sea wall" is.
Open the dictionary
As in any similar situation, in order to find out the meaning of the “sea wall”, you should turn to the help of the dictionary. As already noted above, the noun present in this expression has many interpretative options. Of these, you need to choose the appropriate one. He is the only one from the whole long list. It denotes a high sea wave.
Therefore, further to understand the meaning of the words “sea wall” it is necessary to familiarize yourself with the meaning of the noun “wave”. As in the case of the "shaft", you can find several of its values. But regarding the phenomenon associated with the sea, the dictionary says that it is a water shaft, the formation of which occurs due to fluctuations in the surface of the reservoir.
Now let us consider in detail what a wave is.
Structure of sea waves
This is a phenomenon that occurs due to the cohesion of particles present in a liquid and in air. At first, air, gliding over a smooth water surface, creates ripples. After that, acting on inclined surfaces, he gradually develops a wave of water masses. Practice shows that water particles do not move forward, they move only in the vertical direction. When they mean sea waves, they talk about the movement of water on the surface of the sea, which occurs at certain time intervals.
The highest point of the wave is called the crest or peak of the wave, and the lowest - the sole. Its height is the distance between the indicated points, and the length is the distance measured between the two soles. The time between them is the period of the wave. Its average height during a storm observed in the ocean is about seven to eight meters. In normal times, the wave stretches to 150 m, and during a storm - up to 250 m.
Causes of occurrence
Mostly waves are formed by the wind. Their size and strength depend on the strength of the latter, its duration, as well as acceleration. This is the length of the path on which it acts on the surface of the water. Sometimes a flurry that falls on the coast can arise from the coast for thousands of kilometers.
There are many other factors that form sea waves. It is:
- about the tidal forces of the moon, the sun;
- fluctuations in atmospheric pressure;
- eruptions of submarine volcanoes;
- underwater earthquakes;
- the movement of ships.
We examined what a wave is, but if we say that it is a sea wall, then you should understand such a type of wave as a tsunami.
The huge destructive power of the tsunami
Here we are talking about waves that have tremendous destructive power. They are caused by "underwater earthquakes" or "volcanic eruptions." Tsunamis can cross the ocean faster than a jet plane. Their speed reaches 1 thousand km per hour. In deep water they are lower than 1 m, but when approaching the shore, these waves slow down, growing up to thirty to fifty meters. Then they crash ashore, flooding it, and sweep away everything in its path. Up to 90 percent of all registered tsunamis occur in the Pacific.
The most common cause of tsunamis (about 80 percent of situations) are underwater earthquakes. In 7 percent of cases, this type of sea wall occurs due to landslides that cause an earthquake. As for volcanic earthquakes, they generate tsunamis in 5 percent of cases. A classic example of this type of wave is the tsunami that formed after the eruption in 1883 of the Krakatau volcano. Then, huge waves were observed in harbors around the world, in total, they destroyed more than 5 thousand ships, about 36 thousand people died.
Considering the meaning of the “sea wall”, it should be said about monster waves.
Wandering killer waves
These are giant waves that occur in the ocean and have a height of more than 30 meters. Moreover, their behavior is unusual for sea waves. About 20 years ago it was believed that the stories of sailors, telling about gigantic waves of killers, appearing out of nowhere and sinking ships, are nothing more than marine folklore. This was due to the fact that they did not fit into the mathematical models of calculations regarding their occurrence and behavior that existed at that time.
One of the first evidence of killer waves dates back to 1826. The wave height reached more than 25 m; it was noticed not far from the Bay of Biscay in the Atlantic Ocean. But no one believed this message. However, there were more and more such stories, but eyewitnesses were usually laughed at.
However, on January 1, 1995, in the North Sea, on the oil platform called "Dropner", located off the coast of Norway, the wave was first recorded by instruments, the height of which was 25.6 meters. It was called the Dropner Wave. Subsequent measurements made it possible in three weeks to record more than 10 individual giant waves around the globe. Their height exceeded 20 meters. The Atlas of Waves project was organized, the purpose of which is to compile a world map of killer waves, process it and supplement it.
In conclusion, the study of the meaning of the words "sea wall" is worth noting that today there are several versions regarding the causes of extreme waves of monsters. However, so far it has not been possible to fully determine the nature of this anomaly.