Wait, how is that possible? Can someone versed in the ways of the sciences explain this confusing (yet visually pleasing) series of photographs? Thank you from a history major.
Nils
How do tidal waves freeze? Don’t they move incredibly fast? Would a tidal wave expert please enter the room and dispel this quandary? Thank you from a Communications Arts/Scandinavian Studies major.
Ok, I’ll bite. Get ready for some rough math and even rougher thermodynamics (the thermo was last semester … and … perhaps Katy can help me out on the math).
Assuming the guy in the fifth picture is average height (5’10”), using the 11th picture for width, and almost completely guessing on depth … I’d estimate the volume of that ice at 2500 cubic meters. Using the density of ice and the weight of water, we can now say all that ice weighs about 2.6 million kilograms. If we imagine that the tidal wave was 1 degree away from freezing when it was liquid, then we can calculate the energy required to cool all the water down to ice, which is *roughly* 11 million kilojoules. And that’s not even taking into account the dissolved salt that disrupts the freezing process. Let’s convert those millions of kilojoules to something tangible … it would take your home air conditioner about 9 months to remove enough heat from that water to cool all of it by one degree.
So what, you say? Well, this all means that the tidal wave could not have formed by freezing in place. The flow of water from under the snow out into the elements must have formed what looks like a tidal wave, possibly in a process similar to icicle formation.
That’s my guess, anyways.
Adam Caulfield +1
I definitely agree that this happens to be an ice formation which just coincidentally looks like it was once a roaring wave.
Nils
My guess was going to be something similar, but the surface of the formation just looks so smooth and wave-like so I thought that maybe there was some kind of naturally occurring phenomenon that could freeze a huge wave. Maybe two large icebergs or glaciers are slowly colliding into each other and somehow forcing water up between them…..maybe?
Comments
Dan McKeown
Wait, how is that possible? Can someone versed in the ways of the sciences explain this confusing (yet visually pleasing) series of photographs? Thank you from a history major.
Nils
How do tidal waves freeze? Don’t they move incredibly fast? Would a tidal wave expert please enter the room and dispel this quandary? Thank you from a Communications Arts/Scandinavian Studies major.
Alexander Micek +1
Ok, I’ll bite. Get ready for some rough math and even rougher thermodynamics (the thermo was last semester … and … perhaps Katy can help me out on the math).
Assuming the guy in the fifth picture is average height (5’10”), using the 11th picture for width, and almost completely guessing on depth … I’d estimate the volume of that ice at 2500 cubic meters. Using the density of ice and the weight of water, we can now say all that ice weighs about 2.6 million kilograms. If we imagine that the tidal wave was 1 degree away from freezing when it was liquid, then we can calculate the energy required to cool all the water down to ice, which is *roughly* 11 million kilojoules. And that’s not even taking into account the dissolved salt that disrupts the freezing process. Let’s convert those millions of kilojoules to something tangible … it would take your home air conditioner about 9 months to remove enough heat from that water to cool all of it by one degree.
So what, you say? Well, this all means that the tidal wave could not have formed by freezing in place. The flow of water from under the snow out into the elements must have formed what looks like a tidal wave, possibly in a process similar to icicle formation.
That’s my guess, anyways.
Adam Caulfield +1
I definitely agree that this happens to be an ice formation which just coincidentally looks like it was once a roaring wave.
Nils
My guess was going to be something similar, but the surface of the formation just looks so smooth and wave-like so I thought that maybe there was some kind of naturally occurring phenomenon that could freeze a huge wave. Maybe two large icebergs or glaciers are slowly colliding into each other and somehow forcing water up between them…..maybe?