A whirlpool is a rotating column of water, which, according to our ancestors, could destroy everything in its path and draw ships, boats and other floating equipment into its mouth. Eddies are formed at a sharp expansion of the channel, the flow around the bank ledges by the current and at the collision of two currents.
Whirlpools can be observed both in small rivers and in the seas and oceans. They do not pose a great danger, but they cannot be called completely harmless. On the river, a whirlpool can suck in a person, and he will choke. It is also dangerous for boats without an engine. It is better for everyone to observe a large sea vortex from a safe distance.
What is
A whirlpool is a natural phenomenon in which a circular movement of water is formed in the upper layer of a reservoir, river or ocean. The cause of its occurrence may be the confluence of two currents of different speed and temperature in separate sections of water bodies or channel rivers. Rotating in a small space, the water rushes to the outer edge of the whirlpool, as a result of which a notch is created in the center. The same natural phenomenon can be observed with a sharp expansion of the channel and the current flowing around the coastal ledges. Sea eddies occur when ebb and flow waves and counter currents collide. Sea water in a whirlpool can move at a very high speed - up to 11 km / h and more. The size of the funnel in the open ocean can reach several kilometers.
In a whirlpool on a river, water rotates at a speed equal to the speed of the main stream. Eddies can form deep pits and are typical for mountain rivers. Suvodis are very often formed in the mountains: with such a natural phenomenon, the water rotates behind the surface or underwater market of the mountains or a ledge in a hole. Such a whirlpool is formed by two currents with different speeds and directions. Various hydrotechnical structures - dams, dams, bridge abutments, etc. - can serve as a place of formation of suvodi. Very often, large suvodi are formed during floods.
Types of whirlpools
In places where this phenomenon is formed constantly, the eddies are called permanent. Seasonal eddies are formed at certain times of the year and do not exist permanently. The most common type is episodic eddies. It is impossible to predict the place of their formation, as well as to calculate the possible damage that they can cause. Whirlpools can be seen in various parts of the world. The most famous are Malström, which is off the coast of Moskenesø Island in Norway, Charybdis and Scylla in the Strait of Messina between Italy and Sicily, and the whirlpool that forms near Niagara Falls. The first records of Malstrom appeared in the 16th century, and Homer wrote about Scylla and Charybdis as two monsters, with the power and cruelty of which Odysseus and his team had to face.
