Master Of Disaster

Scientists Are Recreating Extreme Weather and Natural Disasters Inside Labs Around the World. Their Aim: to Prepare for the Next Big Catastrophes.

- Hayley Bennett

FLOWAVE, EDINBURGH

MAKING WAVES

Capable of making 28m-high waves, Edinburgh University’s FloWave is the world’s largest circular wave and tidal tank. The 25m-wide, 5m-deep pool was built to test wave and tidal energy machines (which convert the ocean’s energy into electricity), as well as for basic research on how waves are made at sea. Using 168 computer-controlled paddles, visible here around the edge, FloWave can produce waves and tidal currents in any direction. Recently, Edinburgh researchers teamed up with Oxford University academics to better understand how 25m-plus ‘freak waves’ can form when waves travelling in different directions cross paths. These giant waves are thought to have sunk many a ship over the centuries. The plume of water in this photo, however, is a ‘party trick’, and wouldn’t occur naturally. Like a stone’s throw in reverse, ripples made at the edge of the tank travel towards the centre, where they converge and shoot two tonnes of water straight up in the air.