ROGUE WAVESBy Emma Malecker

What are Rogue Waves? A rogue wave is a wave that will appear much

larger than the rest. These waves may be large enough to break in open water and threaten ships (Keller & DeVecchio, 2012).

Figure 1. Obtained by Picasa Web albums

History of Sailor’s Stories Over centuries sailors would describe seeing huge ocean waves that

towered to elevation of thirty meters or more. These waves are described as so steep no ship could climb it. These waves appeared almost immediately and smash into the ill-fated ship. These stories also included a gigantic hole in the water which could be tens of meters deep. The hole was followed by a practical vertical wall of water (Levi, 2008). Most ships are planned to endure fifteen meter waves (Keller & DeVecchio, 2012). When the ship is hit by such a wave it more often than not drowned in seconds. Most scientists usually ignored these tall tales. They considered them to be myths that the sailors would tell each other on long voyage to pass time (Levi, 2008).

Modern-day mathematical models expected that the largest ocean storm wave probable could be twelve to fifteen meters tall. Based on mathematical models, scientists believed a thirty meter could be real, but is to be expected to occur only one in every 30,000 years (Levi, 2008).

A Famous Tall TaleThe Queen Mary

In December 1942 The Queen Mary was being used to transport soldiers from the United States to Europe during World War Two. There were about 16,000 soldiers on board when a huge wave hit the ship. The monster wave was almost thirty meters high collided into the ships side and caused it to reach a 52 degree tilt. The ship slowly leveled out and hardly managed to sail back to harbor. When Engineers examined the damage, their observation of the ship was if it tilted three more degrees the ship would have capsized, killing everyone on board (Levi, 2008).

Figure 2. Obtained from fanshare.com

Rogue Wave on The Deadliest Catch

The Discovery Channel’s show called the Deadliest Catch recorded a rogue wave. They were going through 40 foot seas and the wind was blowing about 60 miles per hour. Suddenly a rogue wave hit. This wave was about the height of a 5 story building (60 feet) and knocked the boat completely on its side. The engines shut off because of a sudden drop of oil pressure. The ship eventually corrected itself to the upright position and the captain and crew were able to get home safely, with few injuries. The pictures were grabbed from a video on the next page.

You Can see the Wave start to come in at the edge of the screen.

The wave towers over the ship.

After this shot everything goes black. All you can hear is the audio, which is

everyone making sure they are okay.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_8hOai9hGQ

Discovery Channel showed this on the video. They were explaining what a rogue wave and what happened to the ship. The wave that towered over the ship crashed into it. The ship was hit and turned on it’s side.

Theories of Rogue WavesLinear Theories These theories explain rogue

waves as the additive sum of two smaller waves (Levi, 2008). Similarly sized waves meet to create a much larger wave. If they cross with both troughs and crests matching, the new wave can be as high as the sum of the crossing waves (Keller & DeVecchio, 2012). Critics say these theories can only explain how a rogue wave is produced under a precise set of circumstances. These conditions occur infrequently and cannot account for the high number of rogue wave that are reported over the years (Levi, 2008).

Non-Linear Theories These theories explain rogue

waves using equations and use ideas taken from quantum mechanics. They use an equation, which is highly effective when used in optics; and it turns out, it is effective in rogue waves as well. A wave may suck energy from close by waves, gaining height. This could also account for the “hole in the water” phenomenon reported by sailors (Levi, 2008).

Figure 3. Obtained from www.thelisticles.com

Works CitedDiscovery, C. (n.d.). Retrieved 2013, from

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_8hOai9hGQKeller, E., & DeVecchio, D. (2012). Natural Hazards. Pearson

Education.Levi, R. (2008, March 3). The Wave That Changed Science. Retrieved

February 2013, from The Future of Things: http://thefutureofthings.com/column/1005/the-wave-that-changed-science.html