With that movie coming out this weekend, it only seems appropriate that we should catch up on our reading on rogue waves, or as they are more dramatically described in some circles, freak waves:
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.
Once thought to be only legendary, they are now known to be a natural (although relatively rare) ocean phenomenon. 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.
