The Draupner wave, a single giant wave measured on New Year's Day 1995, finally confirmed the existence of freak waves, which had previously been considered near-mythical

Freak waves, also known as rogue waves or monster waves, are relatively large and spontaneous ocean surface waves which can sink even large ships and ocean liners. In oceanography, they are more concisely defined as waves that are more than double the significant wave height (SWH), which is itself defined as the mean of the largest third of waves in a wave record. Image File history File links Drauper_freak_wave. ... Image File history File links Drauper_freak_wave. ... The Draupner wave, a single giant wave measured on New Years Day 1995, finally confirmed the existence of freak waves, which had previously been considered near-mythical. ... Ocean waves Ocean surface waves are surface waves which occur at the surface of an ocean. ... Italian ship-rigged vessel Amerigo Vespucci in New York Harbor, 1976 A ship is a large, sea-going watercraft, usually with multiple decks. ... A postcard of SS United States. ... Thermohaline circulation Oceanography (from Ocean + Greek γράφειν = write), also called oceanology or marine science is the study of the Earths oceans and seas. ... Signifacant Wave Height, also known as SWH, is the average height (trough to crest) of the largest one third of waves. ...

Once thought to be only legendary, they are now known to be a natural ocean phenomenon, not rare, but rarely encountered. Anecdotal evidence from mariners' testimonies and damages inflicted on ships suggested they occurred; however, their scientific measurement was only positively confirmed following measurements of a freak wave at the Draupner oil platform in the North Sea on January 1, 1995. During this event, minor damage was inflicted on the platform, confirming that the reading was valid. A legend (Latin, legenda, things to be read) is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude. ... Galunggung in 1982, showing a combination of natural events. ... The worlds oceans as seen from the South Pacific Ocean Oceans (from Okeanos in Greek, the ancient Greeks noticing the strong current that flowed off Gibraltar and assuming it was a great river) cover almost three quarters (71%) of the surface of the Earth, and nearly half of the... Anecdotal evidence is an informal account of evidence in the form of an anecdote, or hearsay. ... An oil platform is a large structure used to house workers and machinery needed to drill and then produce oil and natural gas in the ocean. ... The North Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, located between the coasts of Norway and Denmark in the east, the coast of the British Isles in the west, and the German, Dutch, Belgian and French coasts in the south. ... January 1 is the first day of the calendar year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

In the course of the Project MaxWave, researchers from the GKSS Research Centre, using data collected by ESA satellites, identified a large number of radar signatures that may be evidence for freak waves. Further research is underway to verify the method that translates the radar echoes into sea surface elevation. This article is about the European Space Agency. ... MILSTAR:A Communciation Satellite A satellite is any object that orbits another object (which is known as its primary). ...

Freak waves have been cited in the media as a likely source of the sudden, inexplicable disappearance of many ocean-going vessels. However, although this is a credible explanation for unexplained losses, there is to date little clear evidence supporting this hypothesis nor any cases where the cause has been confirmed, and the claim is contradicted by information held by Lloyd's Register. ^[1][2] One of the very few cases in which evidence exists that may indicate a freak wave incident is the 1978 loss of the freighter München, detailed below. In February 2000, a British oceanographic research vessel sailing in the Rockall Trough west of Scotland encountered the largest waves ever recorded by scientific instruments in the open ocean. ^[3] The Lloyds Register Group is an independent risk management organisation providing risk assessment and risk mitigation solutions and management systems certification. ... Bathymetric features to the north west of the British Isles The Rockall Trough is a deep-water bathymetric feature to the north west of the British Isles, running roughly from south west to north east, flanked on the north by the Rockall Plateau and to the south by the Porcupine...

History

Merchant ship labouring in heavy seas as huge wave looms ahead. Huge waves are common near the 100-fathom curve on the Bay of Biscay. Published in Fall 1993 issue of Mariner's Weather Log. Credits: NOAA Photo Library

It is common for mid-ocean storm waves to reach 7 metres (23 feet) in height, and in extreme conditions such waves can reach heights of 15 metres (50 feet). However, for centuries maritime lore told of the existence of vastly more massive waves — veritable monsters up to 30 metres (100 feet) in height (approximately the height of a 12-story building) — that could appear without warning in mid-ocean, against the prevailing current and wave direction, and often in perfectly clear weather. Such waves were said to consist of an almost vertical wall of water preceded by a trough so deep that it was referred to as a "hole in the sea"; a ship encountering a wave of such magnitude would be unlikely to survive the tremendous pressures of up to 100 tonnes/m² (980 kPa) exerted by the weight of the breaking water, and would almost certainly be sunk in a matter of seconds. Usual ship design allows for rounded storm waves up to 15 m and pressures around 15 tonnes/m² (147 kPa) without damage, and somewhat more (around 20 m) if some deformation is allowed for.^[4] Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1796x1180, 829 KB)http://www. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1796x1180, 829 KB)http://www. ... Map of the Bay of Biscay. ... Folklore is the body of verbal expressive culture, including tales, legends, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs current among a particular population, comprising the oral tradition of that culture, subculture, or group. ... Categories: Move to Wiktionary | Stub ... The use of water pressure - the Captain Cook Memorial Jet in Lake Burley Griffin, Canberra. ...

Scientists long dismissed such stories, asserting that mathematical models indicated that ocean waves of greater than 15 metres in height were likely to be rare "once in 10,000 years" events. However, satellite imaging has in recent years confirmed that waves of up to 30 metres in height are much more common than mathematical probability would predict based on a linear model of wave size. In addition, pressure readings from buoys moored in the Gulf of Mexico at the time of Hurricane Katrina also indicate the presence of such large waves at the time of the storm. In fact, they seem to occur in all of the world's oceans many times every year. This has caused a re-examination of the reason for their existence, as well as reconsideration of the implications for ocean-going ship design. The physicist Albert Einstein is probably the most famous scientist of our time. ... Gulf of Mexico in 3D perspective. ... Lowest pressure 902 mbar (hPa; 26. ... Men from Francisco de Orellanas expedition building a small brigantine, the San Pedro, to be used in the search for food Shipbuilding is the construction of ships. ...

These localized freak waves are not the same as tsunami or megatsunami. Tsunami are displacement waves which travel at high speed and are more or less unnoticeable in deep water; they only become dangerous as they approach the shoreline. In the deep sea, tsunami do not represent a threat to shipping. Megatsunami are also rare events, but only arise in confined spaces, such as inlets and river valleys. Freak waves, by contrast, are localized short-lived water phenomena that most frequently occur far out to sea. The tsunami that struck Malé in the Maldives on December 26, 2004. ... Megatsunami (often hyphenated as mega-tsunami, also known as iminami or wave of purification) is an informal term used mostly by popular media and popular scientific societies to describe a very large tsunami-like wave significantly beyond the size reached by tsunamis (typically around 10 meters). ...

Occurrence

The MaxWave project studied the ocean surface with radar over a 3-week period in 2001. They took 30,000 images each of a 10 x 5 km section of ocean in that time, resulting in a total imaged area of 1.5 million km². Giant waves were detected in 10 of these, or one per 150,000 km². A short-lived wave in a section of ocean this size is an extremely rare occurrence in its own right.^[5]

Causes

The phenomenon of freak waves is still a matter of active research, so it is too early to say clearly what the most common causes are or whether they vary from place to place. The areas of highest predictable risk appear to be where a strong current runs counter to the primary direction of travel of the waves; the area near Cape Agulhas off the southern tip of Africa is one such area. However, since this thesis does not explain the existence of all waves which have been detected, several different mechanisms are likely, with localised variation. Suggested mechanisms for freak waves include the following: A marker at Cape Agulhas indicates the official dividing line between the Atlantic and Indian oceans. ...

• Diffractive focusing by, perhaps, coast shape or seabed shape
• Constructive interference — In this theory, several smaller wave trains meet in phase. Their crest heights combine to create a freak wave.^[6]
• Focusing by currents — Storm forced waves are driven into an opposing current. This results in shortening of wavelength, causing shoaling (i.e., increase in wave height), and oncoming wave trains to compress together into a freak wave.^[6]
• Nonlinear effects — It seems possible to have a freak wave occur by natural, nonlinear processes from a random background of smaller waves.^[7] In such a case, it is hypothesised, an unusual, unstable wave type may form which 'sucks' energy from other waves, growing to a near-vertical monster itself, before becoming too unstable and collapsing shortly after. One simple model for this is a wave equation known as the nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLS), in which a normal and perfectly accountable (by the standard linear model) wave begins to 'soak' energy from the waves immediately fore and aft, reducing them to minor ripples compared to other waves. Such a monster, and the abyssal trough commonly seen before and after it, may last only for some minutes before either breaking, or reducing in size again. One notes that the NLS is only valid in deep water conditions, and in shallow water an alternative such as the Boussinesq equation is used.
• Normal part of the wave spectrum — Freak waves are not freaks at all but are part of normal wave generation process, albeit a rare extremity.^[6]
• Wind waves — While it is unlikely that wind alone can generate a freak wave, its effect combined with other mechanisms may provide a fuller explanation of freak wave phenomena. As wind blows over the ocean, energy is transferred to the sea surface. Phillips and Miles (1957, J. Fl. Mech.) provide some insight into the problem, though it remains a tricky problem.

It is important to note that the spatio-temporal focussing seen in the NLS equation can also occur when the nonlinearity is removed. In this case, focussing is primarily due to different waves coming into phase, rather than any energy transfer processes. Further analysis of freak waves using a fully nonlinear model by R.H. Gibbs (2005) brings this mode into question, as it is shown that a typical wavegroup focusses in such a way as to produce a significant wall of water, at the cost of a reduced height. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... In geometry, the focus (pl. ... To do: 20th century mathematics chaos theory, fractals Lyapunov stability and non-linear control systems non-linear video editing See also: Aleksandr Mikhailovich Lyapunov Dynamical system External links http://www. ... In theoretical physics, the nonlinear Schrödinger equation is a nonlinear version of Schrödingers equation in two dimensions. ...

There are three categories of freak waves:

• "Walls of water" travelling up to 10 km through the ocean
• "Three Sisters", groups of three waves (Endeavour or Caledonian Star report March 2, 2001, 53°03′S 63°35′W)
• Single, giant storm waves, building up to fourfold the storm's waves height and collapsing after some seconds (MS Bremen report Feb 22, 2001, 45°54′S 38°58′W)

A comprehensive paper describing the ways that freak waves could form, complete with layman descriptions, photos and animations, can be found here. March 2 is the 61st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (62nd in leap years). ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... MS Bremen is a German expedition cruise ship. ... February 22 is the 53rd day of every year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ...

A research group at the Umeå University, Sweden in August 2006 showed that normal stochastic wind driven waves, all of a sudden can give rise to monster waves. The nonlinear evolution of the instabilities was investigated by means of direct simulations of the time-dependent system of nonlinear equations.^[8] UmeÃ¥ University UmeÃ¥ Universitet : UmeÃ¥ University (Swedish: UmeÃ¥ universitet) is a university in UmeÃ¥ in the Midnorth of Sweden. ... Stochastic, from the Greek stochos or goal, means of, relating to, or characterized by conjecture; conjectural; random. ...

Encounters

• In 1933 in the North Pacific, the Navy oiler USS Ramapo encountered a huge wave. The crew triangulated its height at 112 feet (34 meters). ^[9]
• In 1942 while carying 15,000 American troops 700 miles from Scotland during a gale, RMS Queen Mary was broadsided by a 28-meter wave and nearly capsized. Queen Mary listed briefly about 52 degrees before the ship slowly righted itself.
• In 1966, the Italian cruise ship Michelangelo was steaming toward New York when a giant wave tore a hole in its superstructure, smashed heavy glass 80 feet (24 meters) above the waterline, and killed a crewman and two passengers. ^[9]
• The Wilstar, a Norwegian tanker, suffered structural damage from a rogue wave in 1974. ^[9]
• In October 1977, the Stolt Surf ran into a rogue wave on a voyage across the Pacific from Singapore to Portland, and the engineer took photos of a wave higher than the 22-meter bridge deck. ^[10]
• The six-year-old, 37,134-ton barge carrier MS München, lost at sea 1978. At 3am on 12 December she sent out a garbled Mayday message from the mid-Atlantic, but rescuers found only "a few bits of wreckage". This included an unlaunched lifeboat, stowed 20m above the water line, which had one of its attachment pins "twisted as though hit by an extreme force". The Maritime Court concluded that "bad weather had caused an unusual event". It is thought that a large wave knocked out the ship's controls (the bridge was sited forward), causing the ship to shift side-on to heavy seas, which eventually overwhelmed it. Although more than one wave was probably involved, this remains the most likely victim of a freak wave. [3]
• Draupner wave (North Sea, 1995): first confirmed scientific evidence
• RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 (North Atlantic, 1995), 29 meters, during bad weather in the North Atlantic.

The Master said it "came out of the darkness" and "looked like the White Cliffs of Dover." [4] (PDF) Newspaper reports at the time described the cruise liner as attempting to "surf" the near-vertical wave in order not to be sunk.

• Bremen and Caledonian Star (same wave, South Atlantic, 2001)

Bridge windows on both ships smashed, 30 meters above sea level, and all power and instrumentation lost. No adverse currents exist in that part of the world to explain the wave. The First Officer of the Caledonian Star stated it was "just like a mountain, a wall of water coming against us." [5] (PDF)

• Naval Research Laboratory ocean-floor pressure sensors detected a freak wave caused by Hurricane Ivan in the Gulf of Mexico, 2004. The wave was around 27.7 meters high from peak to trough, and around 200 meters long. [6]
• Norwegian Dawn, (off the coast of Georgia, 16 April 2005): media report

"The sea had actually calmed down when the [21 meter] wave seemed to come out of thin air... Our captain, who has 20 years on the job, said he never saw anything like it."

• Norwegian Spirit, (off the coast of Tortola, January, 2006)
• Aleutian Ballad (Bering Sea, 2006) : from television show "Deadliest Catch".

Several sources (including those below) repeat the claim that around 200 large ships have been sunk in recent years by 'freak' waves. That claim is a myth.^[2] There are a tiny number of cases in recent years where no obvious explanation has been found, but according to the Lloyd's Register casualty database, fire or poor maintenance are more likely causes. USS Ramapo (AO-12), built under U.S. Shipping Board contract, was laid down 16 January 1919 by the Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co. ... Royal Mail Ship (or Steamer), usually seen in its abbreviated form RMS, is the ship prefix used of any seagoing vessel that carries mail under contract to the British Royal Mail. ... RMS Queen Mary was a Cunard Line (then Cunard White Star Line) ocean liner that sailed the North Atlantic Ocean from 1936 to 1967. ... MS München was a German LASH carrier of Hapag-Lloyd that sunk with all hands for unknown reasons in a severe storm in December 1978. ... Mayday is an emergency code word used internationally as a distress signal in voice procedure communications, derived from the French maider. ... The Draupner wave, a single giant wave measured on New Years Day 1995, finally confirmed the existence of freak waves, which had previously been considered near-mythical. ... The North Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, located between the coasts of Norway and Denmark in the east, the coast of the British Isles in the west, and the German, Dutch, Belgian and French coasts in the south. ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) is a Cunard Line ocean liner named after the earlier Cunard liner Queen Elizabeth. ... For other uses, see Atlantic (disambiguation) The Atlantic Ocean is Earths second-largest ocean, covering approximately one-fifth of its surface. ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The white cliffs of Dover The white cliffs of Dover, immortalized in popular song and verse (by Vera Lynn, Kate Smith, Matthew Arnold, Eric Johnson and others), are cliffs facing the Strait of Dover near the major English port town of Dover, in the county of Kent, and form part... Look up surf on Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The Bremen was a German ship, whose bridge was destroyed in 1989 by a so-called Freak wave. ... The MS Endeavour is a small expedition ship operated by Lindblad Expeditions for cruising in remote areas, particularly the polar regions. ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... -1... A pressure sensorBold textmeasures Bold textBold textthe pressure, typically of fluids, at a point in a fluid network. ... Lowest pressure 910 mbar (hPa) Damages $17. ... Gulf of Mexico in 3D perspective. ... Norwegian Dawn passes Lower Manhattan on the way to Bermuda and the Bahamas. ... April 16 is the 106th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (107th in leap years). ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Originally the Superstar Leo, the Norwegian Spirit is a cruise ship in the Norwegian Cruise Line which is currently sailing nine day southern caribbean and five day western caribbean from Miami. ... Tortola is the largest and most populated of the British Virgin Islands, a group of islands which form part of the archipelago of the Virgin Islands. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Bering Sea and the North Pacific Ocean The Bering (or Imarpik) Sea is a body of water above, and separated from, the north Pacific Ocean by the Alaska Peninsula and Aleutian Islands. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Deadliest Catch is a documentary-style television series that documents the events onboard six fishing ships in the Bering Sea during the Alaskan king crab and Opilio crab fishing seasons. ...

Freak waves in literature and film

• In Paul Gallico's 1969 novel The Poseidon Adventure, and in the two movies based on it (The Poseidon Adventure in 1972 and Poseidon in 2006), a rogue wave capsizes an ocean liner.
• Early in the 2000 movie The Perfect Storm, a "rogue wave" washes over the protagonists' fishing vessel, but does not sink the boat. It is merely treated as a bad omen of what is to come in the story. However, it is possible that the giant wave that finally sinks the boat is a similar rogue wave, only much larger.
• Freak waves are a major theme in Clive Cussler's novel Polar Shift.
• Stephen Colbert listed rogue waves in one edition of his Threat Down.

The Poseidon Adventure is a 1969 novel by Paul Gallico. ... The Poseidon Adventure is a 1972 action/adventure/disaster film based on a novel by Paul Gallico. ... Poseidon is a movie remake of the classic disaster film The Poseidon Adventure, based on the novel by Paul Gallico. ... The Perfect Storm is a 2000 live-action film adapted from the book of the same title by Sebastian Junger. ... Clive Cussler (born July 15, 1931 in Alhambra, California) is an American adventure novelist. ... Stephen Tyrone Colbert (IPA: ) (born May 13, 1964) is a four-time Emmy Award-winning American comedian, actor, writer, and satirist known for his dramatic style and deadpan comedic delivery. ... One of many running gags on The Colbert Report : Colbert posing with a portrait of himself posing with a portrait of himself. ...

See also

• Bermuda Triangle
• Extreme value theory
• Long-tail distribution
• Megatsunami
• Ocean surface wave
• Sneaker wave
• Soliton
• Tsunami

Map of the popularly-held dimensions of the Bermuda Triangle; recent claims by researchers allude to a more trapezium shape, extending back into the Gulf of Mexico and down into the Caribbean Sea, or in fact no dimensions at all, and a shape incorporating all of the northwestern Atlantic Ocean. ... Extreme value theory is a branch of statistics dealing with the extreme deviations from the median of probability distributions. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with The long tail. ... Megatsunami (often hyphenated as mega-tsunami, also known as iminami or wave of purification) is an informal term used mostly by popular media and popular scientific societies to describe a very large tsunami-like wave significantly beyond the size reached by tsunamis (typically around 10 meters). ... Ocean waves Ocean surface waves are surface waves which occur at the surface of an ocean. ... Sneaker wave is a term used to describe disproportionately large coastal waves that can often appear in a wave train without warning. ... In mathematics and physics, a soliton is a self-reinforcing solitary wave caused by nonlinear effects in the medium. ... The tsunami that struck Malé in the Maldives on December 26, 2004. ...

References

The Times is a national newspaper published daily in the United Kingdom since 1785, and under its current name since 1788. ... May 2006 : ← - January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- → May 1, 2006 (Monday) Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association outraged Vatican by planning to ordain another bishop, Liu Xinhong in Anhui Province. ... The European Space Agency (ESA), established in 1975, is an inter-governmental organisation dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 17 member states. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... Combatants Iran Iraq Commanders Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini Ali Shamkhani Mostafa Chamran† Saddam Hussein Ali Hassan al-Majid Strength 100,000+ (Plus Civilians, Militias) 100,000+ (Plus Civilians, Militias) Casualties Est. ... July 22 is the 203rd day (204th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 162 days remaining. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... May 8 is the 128th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (129th in leap years). ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... April 22 is the 112th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (113th in leap years). ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... May 8 is the 128th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (129th in leap years). ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... November 14 is the 318th day of the year (319th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 47 days remaining until the end of the year. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... May 8 is the 128th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (129th in leap years). ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ...

External links

MaxWave report and WaveAtlas

• Freak waves spotted from space: BBC News
• Ship-sinking monster waves revealed by ESA satellites
• MaxWave project
• Rogue Wave Workshop (2005)

Other

• BBC News Report on Wave Research - (21st August 2004)
• The BBC's Horizon "Freak waves" first aired in November 2002
• Article discussing possible causes of freak waves
• SA Sailing directions article with a photograph of a wave breaking over an oil tanker
• "Monster Waves Surprisingly Common, Satellites Show", article reposted from "National Geographic" in a forum
• Different kinds of exceptional wave
• TV description
• New Scientist article 06/2001
• Freak Wave Research in Japan
• Rogue Giants at Sea New York Times, July 11, 2006