After two years of construction, a machine that can make the biggest man-made waves in complete. At 300 meters long and holding 9 million liters of water (just under 2.5 million gallons), this immense machine cost 26 million euros to build (almost 30 million dollars). Every second, 1000 liters of water can be pumped into this gigantic tank. (BBC News).

To form these record-breaking waves, a 10-meter-high wall moves back and forth on one edge of the tank, quickly (or slowly) displacing the water. This fluctuation in volume then causes waves to form and move towards the other end of this large tank. This massive machine has already made waves 5m high, but hopes are that it will continue to break this record (BBC News).

This simulator is stationed at the Deltares Research Institute in the Netherlands, a country that has in the past been ravished by storm surges and floods. With 26 percent of land in the Netherlands below sea level and another 29 percent prone to flooding due to overflowing rivers, they have a unique yet pertinent problem to solve (Reuters).

It seems that as we continue mistreat our environment and the sea level rises, this machine, along with others to come, will become ever more important in a world where sea level change is becoming a bigger and bigger threat. With a myriad of high tech solutions already in place in the Netherlands, the idea is that they will continue to make advances in the field and that they will be able to share their findings with other nations as the effects of sea level rise become more evident. While it would be great if we did not have to think about these things, it seems that as a society, we have decided that not taking action is easier than taking action. Therefore, it seems that these solutions will be vital to our continued survival in coastal areas.