100' Rogue Waves

Experts Baffled by Giant Walls Of Water

Surfersvillage Global Surf News: - - Rogue waves are the stuff of
legend and maritime myth: Giant waves, taller than highrise buildings,
that rise out of calm seas. For years scientists and marine experts
have dismissed such stories as superstition.

Walls of water do not rise out of the blue, they said. But now research
has revealed that 'killer waves' do exist and regularly devastate ships
around the world. They defy all scientific understanding and no craft
is capable of withstanding their impact.

Rogue waves in the past have been ignored and regarded as rare events,
now we are finally getting a handle on them and finding out how common
they are. These mammoth events are not tidal waves or tsunamis,
however. Nor are they caused by earthquakes or landslides. They are
single, massive walls of water that rise up - for no known reason - and
destroy dozens of ships and oil rigs every year.

The story of the super-tanker Munchen is a classic example. She was one
of the biggest ships ever built - the length of two-and-a-half football
pitches - and unsinkable, it was claimed. But on 7 December, 1978, the
pride of the German merchant navy, en route to America, disappeared off
the face of the earth. All that was found of the Munchen and her 26
crew was a lifeboat that had suffered an incredible battering.

Something extraordinary had destroyed the ship, concluded an official
inquiry, which dismissed the Munchen's sinking as a highly unusual
event that had no implications for other forms of shipping. Now
scientists believe this calm assurance may be dangerously misguided.
The destruction of the Munchen was anything but uncommon. Ships are
going down all the time. If you read the maritime press there is a boat
going down at least once a month, with the loss of crew usually
measured in dozens of lives. In the past, bad maintenance or poor
seamanship were blamed. Now scientists suspect the truth may be more
bizarre.

It is known that the Queen Mary was hit by a 75ft wall of water while
carrying 15,000 troops in December 1942. The ship came within an ace of
capsizing. Only a few years ago the British superliner Oriana was
struck by a 70ft wave that smashed windows and sent water cascading
through the ship, swamping six of its 10 decks.

These giant waves cannot be predicted by standard meteorology. Waves -
even in the worst of storms - should not reach much more than 40ft. The
fact that walls of water up to 100ft are being observed regularly
suggests that something is worryingly wrong with meteorology theory.

Waves are normally caused by high winds whipping over the sea surface,
but the origin of the freak waves baffles scientists. One theory
suggests that waves and winds heading straight into powerful ocean
currents may cause these huge walls of water to rise up out of the
deep. Another suggests that, under certain conditions, waves can become
unstable and start to suck in energy from neighbouring waves and so
grow massively and rapidly.

Researchers are still arguing over these ideas, but what is
indisputable is the fact that the design of modern ships is inadequate
for dealing with the freak waves.