By Sid Perkins
New findings by ocean scientists may help port officials in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, predict potentially destructive waves in the city’s harbor.
Most of Rotterdam lies below sea level, and movable barriers near the mouth of the port’s main channel protect the region from storm surges originating in the North Sea. However, sloshing waves called seiches can arise within the harbor and cause water levels to vary as much as 1.8 meters in as little as 45 minutes. Those waves could damage the barriers if the gatelike devices were deployed at the wrong time, says Martijn P.C. de Jong, a civil engineer at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.