18 



WAVE DIMENSIONS 



general run of the waves may be expected to rise then to the maximum 

 heights possible for 40- to 55-mile winds, i. e., to 55 feet or even higher. 

 It is because the winds in the tropical hurricanes of the Atlantic and 

 in the typhoons of the Indian and western Pacific Oceans do not blow 

 far in any one direction that these — the most violent storms of all — do 

 not produce the highest waves. A case in point is the much longer 

 fetch of the westerly storm, in high latitudes of the Atlantic, illus- 

 trated in figure (>, as contrasted with the wind of the tropical cyclone 

 that was centered north of Puerto Rico and of Hispaniola on the same 

 day. And while the Trades do blow along fetches long enough to allow 

 their waves to develop fully, they are not strong enough to generate 

 very high waves. (See table 6.) 



Tabi.k 4. — The heights of waves, in feet, theoretically produced by winds of various 

 strengths blowing for different lengths of time l 



Table 5. — The heights of waves, in feet, theoretically produced by winds of various 

 strengths blowing over different fetches ' 



1 Based on H. O. Pub. Xo. 604. 



Table 6. — Minimum, maximum, and average heights in feet of waves for the Trade 



Wind Belts 



[After Krummel, based on measurements by Paris] 



