Nazaré's Record 101-Foot Wave Shows Nature's Epic Beauty

Imagine waves so powerful that satellites can see the clouds of sand they kick up from space.

That's exactly what happened off the coast of Nazaré, Portugal, when NASA's Landsat 8 satellite captured massive waves creating underwater sediment plumes stretching 6 miles from shore. The waves reached an incredible 80 feet high, roughly the height of a 7-story building, as they crashed along the Portuguese coastline.

Nazaré has become famous for hosting some of the tallest waves on Earth, drawing surfers and thousands of spectators from around the world each winter. The town of 15,000 people regularly hosts big-wave surfing competitions where the swells are so massive that surfers need jet skis to tow them into position.

On the same day the satellite image was captured, 18-year-old local surfer António Laureano made history. He rode what oceanographers at the University of Lisbon calculated to be a 101.4-foot wave, the largest wave ever surfed by a human.

The secret behind these monster waves lies beneath the surface. The Nazaré Canyon, Europe's largest submarine canyon, stretches 130 miles long and plunges nearly 3 miles deep into the Atlantic Ocean.

Water inside the canyon travels faster than shallow water, creating massive waves that bend toward Nazaré. When these deep-ocean waves collide with others coming from the northwest, they amplify and surge upward as they approach shore.

Why This Inspires

Nature's raw power doesn't have to be frightening when humans approach it with respect and wonder. Nazaré proves that some of Earth's most extreme forces can bring communities together rather than tear them apart.

The town transforms with the seasons, welcoming big-wave surfers in winter and families to calm beaches in summer. Seven of the top 10 largest waves ever officially surfed have occurred here, creating a global destination where people celebrate rather than fear the ocean's might.

This satellite image reminds us that Earth still holds spectacular surprises visible even from space.