On Jan. 16, 2016, beachgoers up and down the Washington, Oregon and northern California coasts were surprised by multiple “sneaker” waves that inundated beaches, caused injuries and swamped a vehicle. Sneaker waves, also known as wave runup events, can be perceived as a mini-tsunami because the waves surge much farther up the beach than anticipated, often catching beachgoers unaware. The rapid and forceful surge from a sneaker wave can sweep beachgoers off their feet, trap them against jetties or rocky shorelines, push logs and other heavy debris into them and pull them into the ocean when the wave rushes back down the beach, all while exposing them to dangerously cold water.
The Jan. 16, 2016, events occurred over a five-hour period on beaches from Humboldt Bay, California, to Pacific Beach, Washington. They were likely fueled by a specific type of wave condition generated by far-off storms and paired with just the right conditions closer to shore, a new study by Oregon State University researchers has found. The finding is an important step in understanding the causes of sneaker waves and developing a system for predicting such waves, which could improve warning systems and help reduce deaths and injuries, said Tuba Özkan-Haller, interim dean of OSU’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences and a co-author of the study.
Across Oregon, Washington and northern California, extreme runup events contribute to about two drowning deaths each year. “There are some things that are predictable about sneaker waves – we know they are more likely to occur in winter months, and that they are likely to occur in parts of the world where the continental shelf is narrow, such as the Pacific Northwest,” said Özkan-Haller, an oceanography professor who studies the physics of ocean waves.
The National Weather Service issues sneaker wave warnings based on those elements of predictability, but such warnings could be improved as researchers learn more about how the waves are created, she said. “The more we learn, the closer we get to our ultimate goal, which would be to develop a warning system that is specific, accurate and localized,” Özkan-Haller said. The research was funded by the National Science Foundation.
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