Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Foam on the Pacific Coast

Strange natural events keep happening with more frightening regularity these days. The latest freak display is the foaming up of the Pacific ocean along the shoreline north of Sydney which was transformed into what reporters are calling ‘The Cappuccino Coast’which stretched for 30 miles. This phenomenon has not been seen at the beach for more than three decades.

According to the Daily Mail:
The foam is created by impurities in the ocean, such as salts, chemicals, dead plants, decomposed fish and excretions from seaweed.

All are churned up together by powerful currents which cause the water to form bubbles.

These bubbles stick to each other as they are carried below the surface by the current towards the shore.

As a wave starts to form on the surface, the motion of the water causes the bubbles to swirl upwards and, massed together, they become foam.

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