At the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire (CERN), physicists and engineers use the world’s largest and most sophisticated scientific instruments to study the simplest forms of matter. This facility most recently drew worldwide attention as the grounds of the recently discovered Higgs boson, a discovery that won the 2013 Nobel Prize in physics.

For the first time, fine detail about the wind and wave conditions around the coast of Qatar has been recorded. By arranging the most sophisticated equipment available on the edge of a 500-meter pier extending into the Gulf, a research team at Texas A&M University at Qatar (TAMUQ) has collected detailed readings of air and wave currents around the peninsula. Their findings highlight a dearth of information on coastal conditions that have the potential to offer vital insights into many sectors.