What attracts surfers to California are its famed waves at a reef called Mavericks. But, have any of you surfers tried to find the mystery behind these monstrous and uniquely patterned waves?
This question may perhaps raise your brows once, but the impertinent researchers have already mapped the seafloor off central California in unprecedented detail to get an answer to this.
The newly collected data of the seafloor markings of the myriad protuberances and depressions near the well-known surfing spot at Half Moon Bay shows that the Maverick setup involves a rocky reef-portion protruding above its surroundings even while remaining under water.
With the wave approaching the shore and eventually entering the shallower water, it gets compressed and grows taller. What creates a monster out of the waves is a ridge promontory that focuses wave energy, which rapidly increases its height.
Though these findings seem to partially satisfy the questioning minds of the scientists, the data can also be used for a variety of purposes, like –
* identifying navigation hazards,
* classifying different types of habitat,
* locating biological hot spots, and
* studying the major active fault within the San Andreas Fault System – the San Gregorio fault.
So, very soon you can be a California wave surfer equipped with not only their formation know-how but also the hazards they can cause.