Da Silva thinks this is the result of seafloor sediments that have been re-suspended by the waves before and after breaking. This happens when two surface currents collide water gets pushed downward, but the foam floats and accumulates along the margins.Īlso notice the green plume extending about 10 kilometers from the shore. Farther offshore, thin filaments of foam snake across the ocean surface. The foam is visible in both images but is much more extensive in October 2020. The second image, acquired on February 5, 2022, shows the same area on a more typical winter day.Īccording to José da Silva, an oceanographer at University of Porto, the white band parallel to the shore is foam produced by breaking waves. The huge amount of energy associated with the big-wave conditions on October 29, 2020, is evident in this satellite image, acquired that day with the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8. Wave height analysis can be tricky, but if confirmed, it would surpass Rodrigo Koxa’s 2017 record of 80 feet, also set at Nazaré. October 29, 2020, was one of the exceptional days: That’s when Portuguese surfer António Laureano might have surfed a 101.4-foot wave. On an exceptional day, surfers can catch a wave towering around 24 meters (80 feet).

In winter, the waves off North Beach (Praia do Norte) average about 15 meters (50 feet) high. Just-right conditions there have churned out some of the largest waves ever surfed. The waters off Nazaré, Portugal, cooperate in a big way. Big-wave surfers need more than skill, strength, and courage nature and geography also must cooperate.

Huge ocean waves gif