Measuring waves in the Arctic

The study, published in Geophysical Research Letters, showed that winds in mid-September 2012 created waves of 5m (16 feet) high during the peak of the storm. It also traced the sources of these big waves – high winds, which have always howled through the Arctic, combined with the new reality of open water in summer.

Lead author Jim Thomson, an oceanographer with the UW Applied Physics Laboratory, at the University of Washington, said: “As the Arctic is melting, it’s a pretty simple prediction that the additional open water should make waves.”

Arctic ice used to retreat less than 100 miles from the shore, but in 2012 it retreated more than 1,000 miles. Wind blowing across an expanse of water for a long time creates whitecaps, then small waves, which then slowly consolidate into big swells that carry huge amounts of energy in a single punch.

Shipping and oil companies have been eyeing the opportunity of an ice-free season in the Arctic Ocean. The emergence of big waves in the Arctic could be bad news for operating in newly ice-free Northern waters.