‘Rogue waves’ have been the anecdotal cause behind scores of sinkings of vessels as large as container ships and supertankers over the past two decades.
But evidence to support this has been sketchy, and many marine scientists have clung to statistical models that say monstrous deviations from the normal sea state only occur once every thousand years.
…Even though the research period was brief, the satellites identified more than 10 individual giant waves around the globe that measured more than 25 metres (81.25 feet) in height, ESA said in a press release.
The waves exist ‘in higher numbers than anyone expected,’ said Wolfgang Rosenthal, senior scientist with the GKSS Research Centre in Geesthacht, Germany, who pored over the data.
‘The next step is to analyse if they can be forecasted,’ he said.” ‘ (Yahoo! News)
