The Most Recent Ship Report Podcast:

Salt water wedge: a an interesting feature of the Columbia River estuary

Today we'll talk about one of the most fascinating aspects of the lower river: the presence of a massive salt water wedge that occurs when the tide is rising, as heavier salt water sinks beneath fresh river water.

Archive Podcasts:

How ships pass safely in a narrow channel, and the Texas Chicken

Jan 11, 2023

Today we’ll talk about an everyday thing that happens on the Columbia River, that actually takes a lot of skill and experience to pull off safely: two ships meeting and passing one another. And an unlikely but very successful ship maneuver called the Texas Chicken that’s been known to terrify ship captains who’ve never experienced it before.

Big storm projected to form this week way offshore in the Pacific

Jan 10, 2023

Weather forecasters are watching weather condition on the high seas offshore of the Pacific Northwest, for a huge storm with big seas and hurricane force winds, Lucky for us on land here in Oregon and Washington, it won’t hit us directly. But it’s a reminder of the power of nature and the luck of the draw – we’re ;ucky this time that it isn’t headed our way.

Storm on the high seas will send us big swells

Jan 04, 2023

A look at this week’s marine weather, which includes a huge storm offshore in the ocean that will likely hit California hard but miss us in the northern part of Oregon and southwest Washington. The storm will give us big ocean swells and surf locally. We’ll also take a look at how big ships handle high seas and stormy weather when they can’t get to port in time.

How did yesterday’s storm rate on the Beaufort Wind Scale?

Dec 28, 2022

We had a rowdy storm yesterday on the coast, with lots of havoc on land. But it probably doesn’t compare to what was happening at sea. We’ll take a look at yesterday’s conditions and compare them to what might have been happening out in the ocean, according to the Beaufort Wind Scale.

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