As mentioned elsewhere, NOAA has a wave pool. Designed by Jim Sanborn, it is formally known as Coastline, but there is no plaque or signage that displays the name, and almost no one knows it by any other name than the “NOAA Wave Pool.”
Given that NOAA’s National Ocean Service is headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland, and the nearest ocean is 150 miles away in Ocean City, Maryland, the Wave Pool is a source of endless fascination to the National Ocean Service employees. The pool uses an underwater mechanism to generate over 40 different types of waves, which then crash into a stone wall that serves as an artificial rocky seashore. Over the years, I took hundreds of photos and dozens of videos.
NOAA wave pool in Silver Spring, Maryland, looking lengthwise down the pool, captured October 17, 2014. The pool was designed to look like waves from the North Atlantic crashing into a rocky New England coastline, hence the formal sculpture name, Coastline. The video has been slowed to more closely resemble ocean waves (the pool, while large, is too small to mimic the less frequent wave action of the Atlantic).
wavepool20141103above1.mov
NOAA wave pool in Silver Spring, Maryland, looking down from the back of the pool, captured November 3, 2014. The formal name of the sculpture, Coastline, reflects Jim Sanborn’s vision of creating a kinetic sculpture modeling the wave action of a rocky New England coastline. The leaves in the water not only reflect the season, but also give some perspective for the size and speed of the waves.
wavepool20141103above2.mov
NOAA wave pool in Silver Spring, Maryland, looking down from the back of the pool, captured November 3, 2014. The formal name of the sculpture, Coastline, reflects Jim Sanborn’s vision of creating a kinetic sculpture modeling the wave action of a rocky New England coastline. The leaves in the water not only reflect the season, but also give some perspective for the size and speed of the waves.
wavepool20141103front.mov
NOAA wave pool in Silver Spring, Maryland, standing at the front of the pool and watching the waves crash into the “coastline” at the back, captured November 3, 2014. Jim Sanborn’s formal name of the sculpture, Coastline, reflects his goal of creating a kinetic sculpture showing wave action along a rocky New England coastline. Yes, there are lots of leaves in the water.
wavepool20141103side.mov
NOAA wave pool in Silver Spring, Maryland, standing on one side and looking down the length of the pool, captured November 3, 2014. You can see how the slope of the “shore” helps build the waves, and how the backwash of one wave influences the creation of an incoming wave. Yes, there are lots of leaves in the water.
wavepoolstopaction1.mov
Stop-action video of the NOAA wave pool in Silver Spring, Maryland, standing on the west end of the pool facing east. The video was made from still images captured from a Nikon CoolPix 950, one of the earliest digital cameras. The stop-action effect makes it easier to see the rhythmic effects of the wave action.
wavepoolstopaction2.mov
Stop-action video of the NOAA wave pool in Silver Spring, Maryland, standing on the southwest end of the pool facing northeast. The video was made from still images captured from a Nikon CoolPix 950, one of the earliest digital cameras. The stop-action effect makes it easier to see how the waves interact with the “coastline.”
wavepoolstopaction3.mov
Stop-action video of the NOAA wave pool in Silver Spring, Maryland, standing on the southwest end of the pool facing northeast. The video was made from still images captured from a Nikon CoolPix 950, one of the earliest digital cameras. The stop action effect makes it easier to see how the waves interact with the “coastline.”
wavepoolstopaction4.mov
Stop-action video of the NOAA wave pool in Silver Spring, Maryland, standing on the southeast end of the pool facing northwest. The video was made from still images captured from a Nikon CoolPix 950, one of the earliest digital cameras. Note that the waves break differently depending on which part of the “coastline” they hit.
wavepool20150406sideslow1.mov
NOAA wave pool in Silver Spring, Maryland, standing at the east end of the pool and watching the waves crash into the “coastline” at the back, captured April 6, 2015. The video has been slowed down to simulate a more “ocean-like” effect, and also to highlight the beautiful curls of the waves as they break on the “beach” before hitting the “cliff.”
wavepool20150513aboveslow.mov
NOAA wave pool in Silver Spring, Maryland, as it appears from nine stories up, captured May 13, 2015. The video has been slowed down to show how the entire body of water in the pool is designed to enhance the waves as they hit the inclined “beach” and break on the stone “cliff.” The dark areas on the edge are the splash zone, and not the best places to eat lunch.
wavepool20150513aboveslow2.mov
NOAA wave pool in Silver Spring, Maryland, as it appears from nine stories up, captured May 13, 2015, and presented in a more traditional horizontal view. The video has been slowed down to show how the entire body of water in the pool is designed to enhance the waves as they hit the inclined “beach” and break on the stone “cliff.” The dark areas on the edge are the splash zone, and not the best places to eat lunch.
wavepool20150513aboveslow3.mov
NOAA wave pool in Silver Spring, Maryland, as it appears from nine stories up, captured May 13, 2015. This clip shows the entire park, from the brick walkway leading to East-West Highway on the right up to the NOAA science center at the edge of the frame on the left. The video has been slowed down to show how the entire pool contributes to simulate waves, a beach, and a cliff.
wavepool20150513abovetimelapse.mov
NOAA wave pool in Silver Spring, Maryland, as it appears from nine stories up, captured May 13, 2015. This is a time-lapse clip, so the wave action appears to be almost frantic. The gentleman seated at the pool edge seems utterly engrossed in his phone and oblivious to the tons of water sloshing back and forth behind him.
wavepool20150526sideslow.mp4
NOAA wave pool in Silver Spring, Maryland, captured May 26, 2015. A slow-motion clip that looks and sounds very much like ocean waves crashing against a cliff.
wavepool20150526sideslow2.mp4
NOAA wave pool in Silver Spring, Maryland, captured May 26, 2015. A three-minute clip showing multiple sets of waves crashing into the stone “cliff.” The play of light and shadow helps show off Jim Sanborn’s brilliant idea of recreating a New England shoreline.
wavepool20150526sidetimelapse.mp4
NOAA wave pool in Silver Spring, Maryland, captured May 26, 2015. The time-lapse and angle illustrate many of the physical properties of ocean waves.
wavepool20150610aboveslow.mov
NOAA wave pool in Silver Spring, Maryland, captured June 10, 2015. This was filmed by lying down on the stone wall (“cliff”) at the back of the pool and shooting straight down, captured in slow motion to see how the waves form and crash into the wall.
wavepool20150618aboveslow.mov
NOAA wave pool in Silver Spring, Maryland, captured June 18, 2015. This was filmed by lying down on the stone wall (“cliff”) at the back of the pool and shooting straight down, captured in slow motion to see how the waves form and crash into the wall. It was a sunny day, and the waves make interesting shadows on the bottom of the pool.
wavepool20150618aboveslow2.mov
NOAA wave pool in Silver Spring, Maryland, captured June 18, 2015. This was filmed by lying down on the stone wall (“cliff”) at the back of the pool and shooting straight down, captured in slow motion to see how the waves form and crash into the wall. As with the previous photo, the shadows of the waves make for interesting patterns.
wavepool20150618aboveslow3.mov
NOAA wave pool in Silver Spring, Maryland, captured June 18, 2015. This was filmed by lying down on the stone wall (“cliff”) at the back of the pool and shooting straight down, captured in slow motion to see how the waves form and crash into the wall. Yes, I managed to get wet.
wavepool20150618sideslow.mov
NOAA wave pool in Silver Spring, Maryland, captured June 18, 2015. This was filmed from the west side of the pool, shooting eastward, and captured in slow motion.
wavepool20150618sideslow2.mov
NOAA wave pool in Silver Spring, Maryland, captured June 18, 2015. This was filmed from the west side of the pool, shooting eastward, and captured in slow motion. I particularly like the effect created by retreating waves crashing into advancing waves.
wavepool20150618sideslow3.mov
NOAA wave pool in Silver Spring, Maryland, captured June 18, 2015. This was filmed from the southeast side of the pool, shooting to the northwest, captured in slow motion. You get a better appreciation of how the waves climb the “beach” before they crash into the “cliff.”
wavepool20150618sideslow4.mov
NOAA wave pool in Silver Spring, Maryland, captured June 18, 2015. This was filmed from the southeast side of the pool, shooting to the northwest, captured in slow motion. This clip gives a nice feel for how the retreating waves crash into the front of the pool, sometimes drenching those having lunch, or taking video clips.
wavepool20150925aboveslow.mov
NOAA wave pool in Silver Spring, Maryland, captured September 25, 2015. This was filmed from one of the upper floors of SSMC4 (one of the four main buildings on the campus), shooting to the east, captured in slow motion. You can clearly see the interplay of the waves approaching the “coast” on the left from the “deep water” on the right. In the ocean, the colors would be reversed, with a lighter color for shallow water and a darker color for deep water. The video shows the entire wave pool and much of the park, almost to East-West Highway on the right.
wavepool20150925aboveslow2.mov
NOAA wave pool in Silver Spring, Maryland, captured September 25, 2015. This was filmed from one of the upper floors of SSMC4 (one of the four main buildings on the campus), shooting to the east, captured in slow motion. It was an overcast day in early fall. The video shows the entire wave pool and much of the park, almost to East-West Highway on the right.
wavepool20150928frontslow.mov
NOAA wave pool in Silver Spring, Maryland, captured September 28, 2015. This was filmed from directly in front of the wave pool, showing waves from the “ocean” perspective as they crash into the “shore,” captured in slow motion.
wavepool20150928sideslow.mov
NOAA wave pool in Silver Spring, Maryland, captured September 28, 2015. This was filmed from the east end of the wave pool, looking down the entire length of the pool to the west,” in slow motion.
wavepool20150928sideslow2.mov
NOAA wave pool in Silver Spring, Maryland, captured September 28, 2015. This was filmed from the east end of the wave pool, looking down the entire length of the pool to the west,” in slow motion. This was filmed a bit closer than the previous clip and yes, I did get wet.
wavepool20160831frontslow.mov
NOAA wave pool in Silver Spring, Maryland, captured on August 31, 2016. This was filmed from directly in front of the wave pool, looking north.
wavepool20160831sideslow.mov
NOAA wave pool in Silver Spring, Maryland, captured on August 31, 2016. This was filmed from west end of the wave pool, looking east, followed by lunch in Ikko restaurant, shown in the distance.
wavepool20170816sideslow.mov
NOAA wave pool in Silver Spring, Maryland, captured August 16, 2017. A very “tight” shot, looking from southeast to northwest.
wavepool20170816sideslow2.mov
NOAA wave pool in Silver Spring, Maryland, captured August 16, 2017. This very tight show focuses on water in the pool, rather than the pool border, and was shot from the east looking west, down the length of the pool.
wavepool20100825above2
Wave pool at NOAA headquarters, Silver Spring, MD, seen from above. This was captured on August 25, 2010.
