Why are waves on the pacific ocean larger than waves on the atlantic?
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The height of waves are determined by the force of the wind and the distance of water over which that wind blows in one direction (this is called fetch). The higher the wind and the longer the fetch, the bigger the waves.
In an extreme example, of you blow a 60kt fan over your bathtub, you are never going to get big ocean swells.
The place in the world that has the most consistent winds with the longest fetch is the southern ocean. There is a band of sea running all the way around the world that gets huge storms, almost always in the same direction. You get huge waves.
As for the pacific vs the Atlantic , I’m not sure which has bigger waves. There are some giant waves in the North Atlantic, and the northwest pacific will get pretty huge waves too. It will all depend on the weather.
Wave energy comes from the wind (or mostly from wind). In general, unless there is a hurricane or tropical storm, the winds that go over North and South America go from west to east. Air comes over the pacific coast from the ocean. Air goes over the Atlantic coast from land (most of the time). The water on the Atlantic coast is being blown “away” from the land.
I’m not sure they are. The highest wave ever recorded was in the north Atlantic (between Iceland and the UK), as was the highest wave ever surfed (Portugal)
What makes you think the Pacific has bigger waves?
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