Surf's up!
Posted on 12/16/2016 2:46:54 PM PST by nickcarraway
A six-story building rising and falling in the ocean.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has announced that in 2013, a buoy detected the "the highest significant wave height" in recorded history. At a little over 62 feet, the North Atlantic wave was the size of a six-story building.
Using a Datawell heave sensor, the WMO used careful language to describe the discovery. "Significant wave height" refers to the average height in a series of large waves, and "is comparable to what an observer would see as an average of about 15-20 well-formed waves over a period of about 10 minutes," says the WMO. As plucky buoy K5 sat off the coast of Scotland, it encountered winds upwards of 50 MPH as the series of waves hit.
The approximate location of the highest significant wave height in recorded history. The approximate location of the highest significant wave height in recorded history. "This is the first time we have ever measured a wave of 19 meters. It is a remarkable record," said WMO Assistant Secretary-General Wenjian Zhang in a press statement. "It highlights the importance of meteorological and ocean observations and forecasts to ensure the safety of the global maritime industry and to protect the lives of crew and passengers on busy shipping lanes."
Rogue waves—those lone wolves that seem to just come out of nowhere, often due to a confluence of unusual factors—have been reported at heights of up to 100 feet over the course of history, but they are hard to measure accurately, so the official record goes to this smaller series. Still, nothing to sneeze at.
Surf's up!
62 feet? Is that all?!
I dated WAVES bigger than that when I was in the Navy in the ‘70s! You ride one of those you know you’ve rode... let me tell ya!
But the most fun was ridin’ the Marine’s girlfriends!
Uh, there have been higher waves recorded off of South America and South Africa. I seem to recall reading of extreme waves much higher.
Another result of global warming, I’ll bet...
So Michael Moore going skinny dipping, while hunting for Nessie had nothing to do with that big ‘ol wave?
OK, so I gotta ask - where did it go?
This article gives some perspective to the bravery of the crews and passengers of the tiny wooden ships some of our ancestors came across the Atlantic on. For instance, the Mayflower was some 80’ long and at the widest point 24’. In this ship were packed 102 passengers and 30 crew. Wow!!
I may be mistaken, but I was always taught that waves were measured by the back side - which would make the ‘face’ of the wave 124’ feet?
Help me out, Freepers...
Plenty of bigger waves out there, they just haven’t been recorded by a buoy. Two of the most overestimated occurrences in the marine world are wave height and wind speed.
It’s probably the only nice thing I can say about him, but he was hilarious in that movie.
This is the largest actually recorded by mechanical means. I think the largest wave actually ever observed was 90+ feet in 1936 (IIRC) from a US navy ship. They triangulated the height based on the distance between a mast structure on the forward section of the ship and the bridge and the top of the wave (during a typhoon)
I was just going to ask about that location....and he ain’t at the bottom yet...looks more than 62
This was probably a non-breaking wave. See the photo above that was estimated to be the largest surfed wave at about 80 feet as measured from the face.
LOL! My first thought, too when I saw the thread title.
1933 USS Ramapo 112’ wave height measured
see wiki
(this crap is over an automated buoy measurement, something buried in the original article.)
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