How the red sea could have parted - part 1

Updated 9/25/2010 - For a comprehensive assessment of this theory, see www.BibleArchaeology.org

The full link to the article is as follows:

http://www.biblearchaeology.org/post/2010/09/24/An-Appraisal-of-the-2010-Drew...


_____________________________________________________________
Biblical accounts of the Red Sea's parting are hydrologically plausible, suggest computer simulations of sustained winds in a coastal lagoon where the Nile met the Mediterranean 3,000 years ago.

Under steady 60-mph winds, "the ocean model produces an area of exposed mud flats where the river mouth opens into the lake," wrote National Center for Atmospheric Research oceanographers Carl Drews and Weiqing Han in an August 30 Public Library of Science One study. "These mud flats represent the area of crossing, and the crossing party would observe water to their left and right."

In the Book of Exodus, Moses is described as leading Israelite slaves in flight from Egypt, arriving at the Red Sea's shores just ahead of pursuing armies. At that point, "Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided."

Han and Drews, who hosts a website dedicated to the compatibility of science and Christian faith, don't consider the Exodus narrative to be literally true, but rather "an interesting and ancient story of uncertain origin." Others have been similarly intrigued, suggesting that a rare phenomenon called wind setdown could have created dry passage across the Red Sea's narrow northern tip. A wind setdown is essentially the flip side of a storm surge; when strong, steady winds cause water to rise dramatically in some areas, it necessarily drops in others.

In 1879, theologian Samuel Bartlett proposed a setdown location at a shallow inlet near of Suez, used by Arabs to cross the Red Sea at low tide. More recently, Russian researchers Naum Voltzinger and Alexei Androsov calculated that a 74-mph wind could have exposed an underwater reef near what is now the Suez Canal.

In the new study, Han and Drews determined that the depressions in the reef would have stayed underwater. They propose a different location, 75 miles north of the reef and just south of the Mediterranean, in what is now known as the Kedua Gap. The area is now dry, but historical reconstructions suggest an ancient branch of the Nile once flowed into a lagoon there.

After using satellite measurements and archaeological records to create a model of local hydrogeography, the researchers ran simulations that found 12 hours of 60-mph easterly winds would have exposed a dry passage, 2 miles long and 3 miles wide, out of Egypt.

When the winds stopped blowing, the waters would surge back, appearing in the researchers' words "as an advancing wall of churning water" — or, per Exodus, "the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them."

"If a crossing actually took place here, any debris field of military artifacts should be found to the north of the gap," wrote Han and Drews.


Read More here:

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/09/red-sea-parting/#ixzz10JTBJSJZ

______________________________________________________________

Sustained winds can cause an event known as a wind setdown, in which water levels are temporarily lowered (see http://www2.ucar.edu/news/parting-waters-computer-modeling-applies-physics-re... ). This animation shows how a strong east wind over the Nile Delta could have pushed water back into ancient waterways after blowing for about nine hours, exposing mud flats and possibly providing an overland escape route similar to the biblical account of the Red Sea parting.

The animation is based on results from computer modeling that arose out of a master's thesis in atmospheric and oceanic sciences by NCAR researcher Carl Drews. The research is published in the online journal, PLoS ONE and is part of Drews's larger research project with oceanographer Weiqing Han (University of Colorado) into the impacts of winds on water depths, including the extent to which Pacific Ocean typhoons can drive storm surges. By pinpointing a possible site south of the Mediterranean Sea for a potential Red Sea crossing, the study also could be of benefit to experts seeking to research whether such an event ever took place. (Visualization by Tim Scheitlin and Ryan McVeigh, NCAR; based on model simulations.)

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• egyptian
• bible
• red
• sea
• crossing
• parting
• of
• the
• bruce
• almighty
• exodus
• jews
• pharoah's
• army
• pharoah
• egypt
• science
• reasons
• hugh
• ross
• believe
• verify
• confirm
• depict
• accurate
• truth
• true
• story

[Oallos1]

Red sea or sea of reeds?

That is the question...

[RAVEIN88]

What about a tsunami???

[wanville]

Keajaiban Nabi Musa A.S.

[BamaWilliams256]

@FallofDarkness55 oh ok sweet!!! but yeah man honestly from my personal opinion it takes more faith to be an atheist lol God bless you brother and even if you did not change back to a believer I would still love you as a brother. May God bless you always

[FallofDarkness55]

@BamaWilliams256 I'm reverting back to Catholicism stronger than ever. The change was brought about by looking at the world around me and looking at science as a tool to understand reality. The true reality is a deep mystery and that's why i believe in god again.

[BamaWilliams256]

@FallofDarkness55 God wants us to pray to Him because He wants us to give our hearts out to Him personally by having an intimate relationship with Him

[raboin05]

@FallofDarkness55 God saved his chosen people (the Israelites) from the bondage (enslavement for 400 years) of egypt so that they could go back to their home country...maybe you should read the other side of something before you make such bold statements. So to answer your question, it is God's purpose that he does what he does. There are supernatural events that happen everyday, most of them aren't publicized. Most of the miracles that Jesus Christ did he wanted to be kept secret.

[l33tpwnzord]

What this video doesn't explain is how the scripture said "And the water was like a wall to them on their left and on their right."

If God can raise the dead in the new testament, surely He can do this. Let's not make excuses for God... he doesn't need us to.

[BenDeNoon]

evidence that gives more validity to the Red Sea Crossing is now on you tube by Steven DeNoon. little lenghty but worth watching all of it. DeNoon answers why Moses calls this Yam Suph. Googgle his name and it will amaze you.