LiveScience Image Gallery

Monster Waves

Michael Van Woert, NOAA NESDIS, ORA

Ocean Waves: The Powerful Phenomena

Waves breaking as seen from a porthole on the Nathaniel B. Palmer, as it was crossing the Southern Ocean in October 1998. Click to enlarge.
Commander Richard Behn, NOAA Corps

Wash Out

NOAA Ship Discoverer gets pounded by waves in the Bering Sea. This picture was taken in 1979. Click to enlarge.
AP Photo/Swell, Aaron Chang

Surf‘s Up

Mike Parsons of San Clemente, Calif., successfully negotiates a 60-foot wave at Cortes Bank, located 100 miles off the California coast, in January 2001. Click to enlarge.
AP Photo/Michael Dwyer

Coastal Flooding

Waves crash over the sea wall in Winthrop, Mass., Saturday, Jan. 4, 2003. Click to enlarge.
AP Photo/Zhan Xiadong, XINHUA

Get Out the Way!

Spectators flee as huge waves of the Qiantangjiang River approach in east China's Zhejiang Province Sunday, Sept. 8, 2002. Huge tides occurred as Typhoon Sinlaku swept the southern part of the East China Sea with the maximum wind force of 40 yards (meters) per second. Click to enlarge.
AP Photo/Eric Skitzi

Tsunami Waves

In this photo taken by tourist Eric Skitzi from England, tourists watch as tsunami waves hit the shore from a safe place inside Casuarina Beach Hotel resort in Penang, northwestern Malaysia on Sunday, Dec. 26, 2004 as the greatest tsunami in recent history came ashore. The resort hotel lifeguards noticed waves were huge and sounded warning to all tourists around the hotel beach area to run to the safety area. Click to enlarge.
Jack Pellette, National Weather Service Forecast Office Marquette MI

Rough Sea

Waves crash on the breakwater at Marquette Harbor in this undated photo. Click to enlarge.
National Weather Service Forecast Office Buffalo NY

Storms Intensify

High winds generate large waves on Lake Erie, in this photo taken on October 30, 1996. Click to enlarge.
Image Courtesy of NOAA Photo Library

High Tides

Sixteen feet of storm surge struck the Florida Panhandle during Hurricane Eloise. Photo was taken on Sept. 23, 1975. Click to enlarge.
AP Photo/Ronen Zilberman

Big Wave

Big waves approach the shores in Waimea Bay in Haleiwa, Hawaii. Click to enlarge.
Office of NOAA Corps Operations

Harsh Conditions

A NOAA ship in an intense storm and wild waters off the coast of North Carolina. Click to enlarge.
Commander John Bortniak, NOAA Corps

Commotion in the Ocean

Monster waves slam into the Albatross IV ship. The photo was captured in May 1984. Click to enlarge.
Commander John Bortniak, NOAA Corps

Joy Ride

Rough waves pound the Delaware II. Click to enlarge.
NOAA Photo Library, NOAA Central Library; Lieutenant Commander Michael Abbott, NOAA Corps

Raging Waters

NOAA ship Fairweather crossing the Gulf of Alaska gets slammed by the raging sea in this photo taken in 1985. Click to enlarge.
Krister Brzezinski/Mariners Weather Log

Ship Over Troubled Water

The waters were rough, as a result of tropical storm Georgette, causing high waves to crash inside the Winter Water ship. The photo was taken on July 28, 1980. Click to enlarge.
Krister Brzezinski/Mariners Weather Log

In Too Deep

Destructive waves from tropical storm Georgette slam into the Winter Water ship, on July 28, 1980. Click to enlarge.
Image Courtesy of NOAA Photo Library

Uproar

Waves striking seawall give appearance of geysers erupting. Photo was taken in 1938 off of the New England coast during the approach of an intense hurricane. Click to enlarge.