What happens to marine animals and other sealife during a hurricane?
Feb 04, 2010
in
Hurricane
I’ve seen what a hurricane can do to land and people, its devastating. But I have always wondered, what happens to the life in the sea? Is the hurricane just as bad at sea? What are the effects on the sea and oceans when hurricanes, typhoons or monsoons occur?
I hope I get some good answers…:)
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3 comments
Michel Verheughe on February 4, 2010 at 9:19 pm
A hurricane or any strong storm has, of course, an effect on marine life. But there are a few things to remember. The wind has no effect on what is in the water. However, waves do. But it takes i.e. 8 hours of constant wind at Beaufort force 7 to build waves of 4 meters. Because of that e.g. a thunderstorm with strong gusts will never have the time to lift waves of any critical size.
Waves seem to move in the direction of the wind but they don’t. If you were to put a rubber duck on a train of waves and measure its motion relative to the seabed, you’d see that it moves in a circle, up and down but also fore and aft. That circular motion is felt quite deep in the ocean. Many years ago, I was diving in a mini-submarine off the coast of The Netherlands. The waves were less than two meters but at 35 meters down, we weren’t able to sit on the ground, the motion of the waves were still felt at that depth (the negative buoyancy of the sub was perhaps 50 kg but the mass was 3.5 tons!)
We expect then that marine life is adapted to the motion of the waves and to a certain depth. Fishes and mammals are certainly used to it, exactly like birds are used to turbulence in the air.
But the problem arises when the water meet land. Animals and plants on the seabed of the shoreline can be torn by the waves. I remember being once in the yacht harbour of Brighton in England, after a storm, finding seaweed on the deck of my boat. Waves torn them from the seabed and lifted them high enough to go over the seawall of the harbour’s entrance an onto my deck.
This is very similar to a tsunami or tidal surge: it doesn’t cause much danger at high sea, but only when it meets land. Having sailed for half a century, I have always said: Ride a storm at high sea! Water is not dangerous; land is!
Man_Gravy on February 4, 2010 at 9:19 pm
Really nothing as long as they can swim. The only threat is if they swim over land and get caught when the water retreats. I would imagine higher level mammals, dophins, seals, etc. communicate to their young this danger.
Chris on February 4, 2010 at 9:19 pm
It doesn’t cause any damage to the sea or any sea life.