Research observes hazardous ‘rogue’ waves becoming more extreme

A team of engineers and oceanographers from the University of Southampton have concluded that dangerous ‘rogue’ waves are occurring less frequently but becoming more extreme.

Scientific analysis of long-term data from buoys on the US western seaboard has found the waves are of greater severity in the winter months and happening more often within calmer background seas.

Waves are classed as ‘rogue’ when they are over twice the height of the average sea state around them, with the fiercest capable of sinking ships, killing crew members and sweeping people off the shoreline and out to sea.

Findings from the multidisciplinary study, which included researchers from The National Oceanography Centre, have been published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Scientists now hope more work can be done using their research method in other parts of the world, adding to existing research sources, to better understand how and predict when these destructive forces may strike.

 

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