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OKIsItJustMe

(20,739 posts)
Tue Jan 23, 2024, 09:26 PM Jan 2024

ABC News: Extreme wave in Marshall Islands highlights dangers of climate change, experts say

https://abcnews.go.com/International/extreme-waves-marshall-islands-highlights-dangers-climate-change/story?id=106598347
Extreme wave in Marshall Islands highlights dangers of climate change, experts say
The series of waves wreaked havoc on the island of Roi-Namur.

ByJulia Jacobo, Daniel Manzo, and Daniel Peck
January 23, 2024, 4:58 PM

A series of extreme waves that wreaked havoc on a U.S. military base in the Marshall Islands could be indicative of more dangerous coastal behavior in the future, according to experts.

Flooding from the waves inundated one-third of the island of Roi-Namor, located in the Kwajalein Atoll in the northern Marshall Islands, according to the U.S. Army. The U.S. Army Garrison-Kwajalein Atoll base serves as a space and missile defense test range for the U.S. Department of Defense and contains some of the Army's most sophisticated tracking equipment.

The waves did serious damage to several locations on the island, according to the U.S. Army. Ocean water had washed over the northwest side of the island. Standing water was found in several buildings on the base, such as the dining facility, the chapel and a theater, the Army said, citing an initial aerial damage assessment.

Joe Sienkiewicz, chief of the ocean applications branch for for NOAA’s Ocean Prediction Center, said this extreme wave was "much larger" than the average size of the waves hitting the island's shores.

(Video at link.)
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