Artificial Tsunamis of Galveston Bay

[TheNiche]

I had an interesting experience earlier today, and I wish that I'd been carrying a camera...but alas.

I went down to the very tip of Morgan's Point, crossed the gate into Port of Houston property marked "No Trespassing", and walked down to the beach that has accumulated along the shore of Galveston Bay at Morgan's Point. I remember having wondered exactly why this area was a sandy/silty beach when I first discovered it earlier this year, but found out in this visit.

On my way back toward the point, after having walked down toward the old Sterling Mansion, I watched as a large tanker was sailing toward the port. Then, within about 50 yards of the exit from the beach back to terra firma, I watched as the bay rapidly drained away from the shore, exposing a couple of jellyfish on the bare mud flat. Strange, I thought...but then my mind started going to hydrodynamic theory. The wake of the fully-loaded tanker, moving at a rapid clip, had simply sucked the water toward it.

I stood there in amazement for a few seconds, never having seen this kind of an event...and then I noticed that a slow wave had built up back toward the point, and I watched in the distance as the wave (more like a sheet of water) crept up the shoreline at the point and swept over the vegetation line, overtaking my only exit.

Tsunami. The event looked just like a very much scaled down event like the one that had come out of Thailand in December 2004.

There was a small capsized fiberglass boat partially-buried in the sand up near the vegetation line. I made a dash for it and got up on top of the hull, only about 3 feet above the ground. Seconds later, the water rose and flowed completely around the boat, temporarily stranding me in the middle of the flow. The water was just high enough to get inside my boots. Had it been another six inches higher, I'd probably have lost traction.

Then, as quickly as it had come in, the water receded. Then it came back, repeating the whole event but with diminished energy as I watched in amazement. The water enveloped my sanctuary a third time, but wasn't nearly as threatening. The energy decreased with each incremental wave in the same way that energy in a pendulum diminishes with each swing. The physics part of my brain was going nuts. That was one of the most exciting and scary things that has happened to me in a long time.

If anybody's looking for cheap thrills in the Houston area in a non-theme park environment, this is it. Just please be careful.

[TJones]

Hmmmm.....now you know WHY it says, NO TRESSPASSING !

You are lucky we weren't hearing about you on the news today.

[Original Timmy Chan's]

I hear that the wakes of these large ships in the Houston Ship Channel are the cleanest and most consistent waves on the upper Texas coast. I know some guys who've been surfing them for years.

[Greens!]

Thanks to Google Earth and your detailed story, I now know exactly where this happened. I even saw the boat, mansion and the parking lot.

AWESOME.