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Rogue Waves

see? it's all just stacked against us!
 
Getting taller.

The frigid Southern Ocean is well known for its brutal storms, which can sink ships and trigger coastal flooding on distant tropical islands. Now, a new study suggests the biggest waves there—already the world’s largest—are getting bigger, thanks to faster winds attributed to climate change.

Peter Ruggiero, a geophysicist at Oregon State University in Corvallis who was not involved in the study, calls the increase “substantial,” and says he is particularly concerned by evidence that the tallest waves are gaining height at the fastest rate. “If [those waves hit] at high tide, it could be potentially catastrophic.”

For the past 33 years, global satellites have been collecting data on ocean waves—and the winds that drive them. By bouncing energy pulses off wave crests and measuring the time those pulses take to come back, instruments called altimeters aboard satellites can measure wave height—the taller the waves, the faster the signal returns. Other satellite instruments monitor changes in the reflectivity of the ocean surface, which is reduced by wind-generated ripples, to estimate the speed of ocean winds. But interpreting the data is difficult: Different satellites can give different estimates of wind speed, for instance.

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/201...ly_2019-04-25&et_rid=394299689&et_cid=2786481
 
Freak waves keep the Lifeboats busy.

A "freak wave" caused by the gale-force winds during Storm Aiden capsized a 34ft (10m) yacht, the coastguard said.

A man was rescued after getting into difficulty six miles south west of the Isles of Scilly, with severe gale force nine winds in the area.
Falmouth coastguard received a distress signal at about 05:00 BST. The lone yachtsman was uninjured and his stricken sailing vessel was towed to safety by the St Mary's RNLI lifeboat in "challenging conditions".

Ian Guy from the coastguard said: "The yachtsman described being hit by a large freak wave which capsized, rolled and disabled the vessel and with a such a severe gale forecast for the area this morning, it was important to get assistance out to this small sailing vessel quickly."

Paddy Cochrane from Falmouth coastguard confirmed in the last 24 hours of stormy conditions they had dispatched lifeboat crews from all over Cornwall, the coastguard helicopter and multiple lifeguard rescues on beaches. ...

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cornwall-54760998
 
There used to be an interesting article on the Fortean Times webpage about a 'Ninth Wave' - I've managed to track it down (courtesy of the Wayback Machine) here (Hope the link works). Article dated November 2003.

(I'd forgotten just what a marvellous resource of articles the website used to be :()
 
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"Rogue wave" severely injures Oklahoma City couple while on birthday trip to Washington
While walking back from the edge of the ocean, Lauren turned around and spotted a wave growing 5 to 6 feet above her head.
In a split second, both of their lives would change forever.

https://okcfox.com/amp/news/local/r...y-couple-while-on-birthday-trip-to-washington

Both broke their pelvis and had internal bleeding. The wave seems related to an incoming storm.
 
The P&O Oriana made the news in 2000 after being hit by a freak wave in the Atlantic:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/947755.stm


The cruise ship Oriana is being repaired in the Atlantic after a freak wave shattered windows and flooded cabins.
Three of the passengers were cut by glass and four had to be treated for shock after the P&O liner was caught in a storm force 10 gale.

I remember hearing this news break on Radio 5 live, not knowing that 3 years later i would work on this very ship. The actual events were rather more severe than the cruise company would admit. As sea water poured into the passenger decks from the broken windows it threatened to destabilise the vessel (buoyancy is finely-tuned on such ships). The captain acted on the spur of the moment and instructed the lifts all be sent down to the lowest level and the passenger level lift doors be left open (engineers can do this using the control panel). This allowed the seawater to flood down to the bottom decks of the ship and prevent a possible capsize situation.

Incidentally, the news broke because some of the crew members below decks panicked and rang home on the crew satellite phones to say their farewells to their loved ones. Thus, one thing we never talked about to passengers when crossing the Atlantic was the limited range of rescue helicopters, of which they were blissfully unaware. Indeed, one old chap on embarking for the five-night crossing to New York asked for the Daily Telegraph to be delivered to his cabin each morning :)
 
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Analysis of historical monitoring data demonstrated the existence of a rogue wave off the British Columbia that represents the most extreme* rogue wave ever documented.
* Extreme in terms of the ratio of the rogue wave's height versus the average wave height in the surroundings at the time.
Record-Breaking Rogue Wave Recorded off the Coast of Vancouver Island

Researchers have announced that a 17.6 meter rogue wave – the most extreme rogue wave ever recorded – has been measured in the waters off of Ucluelet, B.C.

The rogue wave, which measures as high as a four-story building, was recorded in November 2020 by Victoria, B.C.-based MarineLabs Data Systems (MarineLabs). It is the subject of a scientific report by Dr. Johannes Gemmrich and Leah Cicon, both of the University of Victoria, published last week in the journal, Scientific Reports. ...

The first rogue wave ever measured occurred off the coast of Norway in 1995. Known as the 'Draupner wave', it measured 25.6 meters in a sea state with wave heights of approximately 12 meters – two times the size of those occurring around it. The wave recorded by MarineLabs in Ucluelet was 17.6 meters in a sea state with wave heights of approximately 6 meters – nearly three times the size of the waves around it.

"Proportionally, the Ucluelet wave is likely the most extreme rogue wave ever recorded," says Gemmrich, who studies large wave events along BC's coastlines as part of his work as a research physicist at the University of Victoria. "Only a few rogue waves in high sea states have been observed directly, and nothing of this magnitude. The probability of such an event occurring is once in 1,300 years." ...
Click to expand...
FULL STORY: https://www.newswire.ca/news-releas...-the-coast-of-vancouver-island-830202783.html

PUBLISHED REPORT: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-05671-4
 
EnolaGaia said:
Analysis of historical monitoring data demonstrated the existence of a rogue wave off the British Columbia that represents the most extreme* rogue wave ever documented.
* Extreme in terms of the ratio of the rogue wave's height versus the average wave height in the surroundings at the time.

FULL STORY: https://www.newswire.ca/news-releas...-the-coast-of-vancouver-island-830202783.html

PUBLISHED REPORT: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-05671-4
Click to expand...
This is one of many reasons you will never catch me on a cruise ship.
 

One dead after rogue wave hits cruise ship bound for Antarctica​

No detail as to how the person died.
One person has died after a cruise ship bound for Antarctica was hit by a rogue wave, the cruise operator said on Friday.

The Viking Polaris has returned to port after a massive wave caused by a storm at sea pummeled the ship.

The incident happened on Tuesday, November 29 around 10pm.

One person died from their injuries during the storm. Four other passengers sustained non-life threatening injuries.
Click to expand...
 
hunck said:

One dead after rogue wave hits cruise ship bound for Antarctica​

No detail as to how the person died.
Click to expand...

Nasty. Looks like at least 7 windows smashed on the lower port side.
The tragic death was caused by flying glass.

viking.png


https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/ne...ms-into-ship-sailing-to-argentina/ar-AA14PXKS
 

Extreme 'Rogue Wave' in The North Pacific Confirmed as Most Extreme on Record​


In November of 2020, a freak wave came out of the blue, lifting a lonesome buoy off the coast of British Columbia 17.6 meters high (58 feet).

RogueWaveBCVancouver_600.gif


The four-story wall of water was finally confirmed in February 2022 as the most extreme rogue wave ever recorded.

Such an exceptional event is thought to occur only once every 1,300 years. And unless the buoy had been taken for a ride, we might never have known it even happened.

For centuries, rogue waves were considered nothing but nautical folklore. It wasn't until 1995 that myth became fact. On the first day of the new year, a nearly 26-meter-high wave (85 feet) suddenly struck an oil-drilling platform roughly 160 kilometers (100 miles) off the coast of Norway.

At the time, the so-called Draupner wave defied all previous models scientists had put together.

Since then, dozens more rogue waves have been recorded (some even in lakes), and while the one that surfaced near Ucluelet, Vancouver Island was not the tallest, its relative size compared to the waves around it was unprecedented.

Scientists define a rogue wave as any wave more than twice the height of the waves surrounding it. The Draupner wave, for instance, was 25.6 meters tall, while its neighbors were only 12 meters tall.

In comparison, the Ucluelet wave was nearly three times the size of its peers.

https://www.sciencealert.com/extrem...h-pacific-confirmed-as-most-extreme-on-record

maximus otter
 
maximus otter said:

Extreme 'Rogue Wave' in The North Pacific Confirmed as Most Extreme on Record​


In November of 2020, a freak wave came out of the blue, lifting a lonesome buoy off the coast of British Columbia 17.6 meters high (58 feet).

RogueWaveBCVancouver_600.gif


The four-story wall of water was finally confirmed in February 2022 as the most extreme rogue wave ever recorded.

Such an exceptional event is thought to occur only once every 1,300 years. And unless the buoy had been taken for a ride, we might never have known it even happened.

For centuries, rogue waves were considered nothing but nautical folklore. It wasn't until 1995 that myth became fact. On the first day of the new year, a nearly 26-meter-high wave (85 feet) suddenly struck an oil-drilling platform roughly 160 kilometers (100 miles) off the coast of Norway.

At the time, the so-called Draupner wave defied all previous models scientists had put together.

Since then, dozens more rogue waves have been recorded (some even in lakes), and while the one that surfaced near Ucluelet, Vancouver Island was not the tallest, its relative size compared to the waves around it was unprecedented.

Scientists define a rogue wave as any wave more than twice the height of the waves surrounding it. The Draupner wave, for instance, was 25.6 meters tall, while its neighbors were only 12 meters tall.

In comparison, the Ucluelet wave was nearly three times the size of its peers.

https://www.sciencealert.com/extrem...h-pacific-confirmed-as-most-extreme-on-record

maximus otter
Click to expand...
Maybe, its got something to do with how much surplus water is dumped into the front of the waves 'well' by pressure dumped in behind the wave, plus wind push, dumps even more water - equals extra pressure onto the preceding large wave making it even higher?

Something like this perhaps ~
Wave.png
 
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maximus otter said:

Extreme 'Rogue Wave' in The North Pacific Confirmed as Most Extreme on Record​


In November of 2020, a freak wave came out of the blue, lifting a lonesome buoy off the coast of British Columbia 17.6 meters high (58 feet).

RogueWaveBCVancouver_600.gif


The four-story wall of water was finally confirmed in February 2022 as the most extreme rogue wave ever recorded.

Such an exceptional event is thought to occur only once every 1,300 years. And unless the buoy had been taken for a ride, we might never have known it even happened.

For centuries, rogue waves were considered nothing but nautical folklore. It wasn't until 1995 that myth became fact. On the first day of the new year, a nearly 26-meter-high wave (85 feet) suddenly struck an oil-drilling platform roughly 160 kilometers (100 miles) off the coast of Norway.

At the time, the so-called Draupner wave defied all previous models scientists had put together.

Since then, dozens more rogue waves have been recorded (some even in lakes), and while the one that surfaced near Ucluelet, Vancouver Island was not the tallest, its relative size compared to the waves around it was unprecedented.

Scientists define a rogue wave as any wave more than twice the height of the waves surrounding it. The Draupner wave, for instance, was 25.6 meters tall, while its neighbors were only 12 meters tall.

In comparison, the Ucluelet wave was nearly three times the size of its peers.

https://www.sciencealert.com/extrem...h-pacific-confirmed-as-most-extreme-on-record

maximus otter
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It would be interesting to apply Extreme Value Theory to this. But I've just discovered this branch of statistics and can't do it myself.
https://towardsdatascience.com/extr...ous-applications-3260b6a84316?gi=99361b8f363a
 
blessmycottonsocks said:
Probably Nazare Portugal - generally regarded as the biggest surfable waves on Earth.
Click to expand...
Yes. That's why I said here.

It doesn't say what date the wave occured in Maximus' post, just November 2020, but I wondered if there was any correlation between the one in his post and the one in mine which happened on 29th October 2020.

Probably not, as they are a long way away from each other, but just a thought.
 
In Iceland a few years ago we saw stern warning signs about Sneaker Waves. The consensus was that the Atlantic Ocean is generally murderous and will get you anywhere it can, including places as far from Iceland as Cornwall!

At various points along the tour the guides would inform us that certain touristy activities were dangerous.

Walking behind the waterfall - Do not do this. You will die.
Wandering off along the steep glacier - Do not do this. You will die.
Standing too close to the ocean watching for sneaker waves - Do not do this. You will die.
 
Floyd1 said:
Yes. That's why I said here.

It doesn't say what date the wave occured in Maximus' post, just November 2020, but I wondered if there was any correlation between the one in his post and the one in mine which happened on 29th October 2020.

Probably not, as they are a long way away from each other, but just a thought.
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Rogue waves are different than these giant surfing waves in places like Portugal. The latter waves happen repeatedly because of the bottom topography causing the swells to form. https://www.ericeirasurfhouse.com/nazare-the-biggest-waves-in-the-world/

Rogue waves are a product of currents and wind and will occur in the open ocean.
 
Vid at link.

Beachgoers swept away as huge wave crashes over wall in California​

Storms in the Pacific have brought huge waves to the Californian coast.

Water crashed over the sea wall, sweeping people off their feet, and washing vehicles away in Ventura, Santa Cruz.

At the north end of Monterey Bay, in Aptos, CCTV showed seawater washing into a beach restaurant.

Several beaches in the state remain closed, with more windy weather forecast for the weekend.

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-67839430
 
ramonmercado said:
Vid at link.

Beachgoers swept away as huge wave crashes over wall in California​

Storms in the Pacific have brought huge waves to the Californian coast.

Water crashed over the sea wall, sweeping people off their feet, and washing vehicles away in Ventura, Santa Cruz.

At the north end of Monterey Bay, in Aptos, CCTV showed seawater washing into a beach restaurant.

Several beaches in the state remain closed, with more windy weather forecast for the weekend.

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-67839430
Click to expand...
That's incredible! I am amazed no-one was killed or seriously hurt.
 
There are several ways waves can get bigger. They boil down to (1) more energy being put in, or (2) the energy from two or more sources being focussed in one place.

On a calm lake with no currents, as the wind gets stronger, wavelets will form, then get bigger, and eventually become large waves. Given enough wind, and enough distance for them to build up (the distance is called "fetch") waves can build up to huge size.

If there is a current going against the wind, perhaps because the wind is blowing upriver, or against the tide, then the speed and energy of the current meets the speed and energy of the wind-driven waves, and the waves get shorter and taller. For a mariner, especially in a small boat, as the tide turns, the sea conditions can change very suddenly.

I was once out in the Bristol channel, near Lundy. It was mainly a diving trip, but a few of us took the opportunity to try to water ski behind one of the rigid inflatable boats. I managed to get up on the skis for a few seconds in fairly calm conditions, then fell in. This was as the tide started to accelerate against the wind, and by the time the boat crew had hauled me into the boat, the boat was heaving up and down and it was far too rough to attempt skiiing. This change from quite benign, to too rough to ski happened in a matter of minutes, but there had been no significant change in the wind.

If a wave goes into shallow water, or a narrow inlet, then the force of the wave is focussed into a smaller space and the wave gets taller. This is why you get surf beaches: the waves come in steadily through the deep water then begin to "pile up" as they hit shallow water.

Remember that it is the energy wave that moves in deep water. Each molecule of water in a wave makes more or less a circular motion (like a point on a wheel) as the wave passes. It similar to flicking a wave along a piece of rope. Each part of the rope moves more or less up and down, but the wave itself moves from your hand to the far end of the rope.

However, as a sea wave reaches shallow or narrow water and piles up, the wave becomes unstable and collapses, and then the water itself has to move horizontally. A diver can surface in waves out at sea and bob up and down happily until they are recovered, but if they get too close to the shallows, they may be thrown and pulled horizontally with considerable force and suffer injury or death. A 1 metre swell 200 metres out may translate into deadly waves breaking on the rocks on the shore.

Another phenomenon is when two or more waves interact. This may be waves reflecting from a harbour wall back into the oncoming waves, or it may be waves from two different weather systems meeting each other. When two waves meet, their heights are compounded. If two 1 metre high waves meet, the peak at the point that they meet is 2 metres high.

This can be particularly dangerous if two trains of waves are at right angles to each other. I was involved in such a situation near Fort Bovisand, Plymouth (UK), a few years ago. Big but manageable waves were coming in off the sea. I was in a small boat. I looked back and saw the waves were reflecting from the harbour breakwater. Where the incoming waves were meeting the reflected waves, there were what looked like geysers at the intersections. I realised in time and got out of the way, but we were within a very short distance of being flipped over.

When it is very gusty, waves may be travelling in more or less the same direction but at different speeds. When one wave overtakes another, there is a moment when there is just one big wave. This may be one source of the rogue waves discussed earlier in this thread.

There is a phenomenon reported on Lake Superior, known as the Three Sisters. This may be caused by reflected waves meeting or crossing and amplifying each other. The phenomenon is experienced as a sequence of three extra large waves. These have been known to sink ships. The first wave knocks the ship on its beam end, the second overwhelms the ship before it can right itself, and the third finishes the job.
 
Kondoru said:
Like the Cribbar?
Click to expand...
Rogue waves are... rogue. They aren't very predictable in place and time. This Cribbar phenomenon obviously is predictable, and expected, so not rogue.
 
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