
When Good Waves Go Rogue (2014) - dnetesn
http://nautil.us/issue/37/currents/when-good-waves-go-rogue-rp
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wallflower
Video of a 50-foot rogue wave from The Deadliest Catch.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_8hOai9hGQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_8hOai9hGQ)

Video of the Lego pirate being capsized in the wave tank (mentioned in the
article).

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayd1rvuqBzU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayd1rvuqBzU)

Sneaker waves (on shore) are also very dangerous.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sneaker_wave](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sneaker_wave)

[http://videos.oregonlive.com/oregonian/2016/01/sneaker_wave_...](http://videos.oregonlive.com/oregonian/2016/01/sneaker_wave_south_of_coos_bay.html)

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zappo2938
I've spent 100 of hours at sea. Reading the article I had the same thought as
the captain on the fishing boat, "I've heard talk of rouge waves, but I've
never seen one." That is pretty amazing. I haven't seen that video, thanks for
sharing.

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sandworm101
I bet you've seen plenty. Rogues exist amongst small waves. I bet that you
have looked strait at a great many but dismissed them as a trick of light.
Ever thought you saw something like a boat out of the corner of your eye yet
there wasn't anything there? You may have been seeing a small rogue rise up
and fall away.

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in_cahoots
The article makes it seem like we've all seen these waves, but then it says
the Queen Elizabeth 2 might encounter one a year. Which is it? If it's the
latter then it's likely that, unless you are habitually in the ocean, you'll
be unlikely to see one in your lifetime.

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jdavis703
You could in theory have a rogue wave only an inch tall, provided the highest
expected wave was only fractions of an inch tall. This has nothing to do with
the absolute size of the wave, but it's size relative to the other waves. Now
this article dramatizes a wave that is dozens of feet tall, that's what's
rarer.

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jmspring
Spend time surfing, measurements will say one thing, but local knowledge will
educate you on the possibilities.

I've been out on a 5-7 foot day to have an 12+' rogue set roll through. That
isn't fun (depending on skill), it gets more interesting when it's an 8+' day
and 15+ footers roll threw. Not my thing, but interesting to experience a
couple of times.

The interesting thing for me is the power behind it. You just don't know until
you experience such. It's hard surfing because you often also have to be aware
of and Leary of those around you plus what is happening.

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zappo2938
This has to do with the 'statistical distribution of the heights of individual
waves'[0]. I don't think that there are sets of rouge waves there is only the
one rouge wave.

[0][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Significant_wave_height#Statis...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Significant_wave_height#Statistical_distribution_of_the_heights_of_individual_waves)

~~~
sandworm101
It depends on your perspective. There may be the one wave, but a wave has both
a crest and a trough. So there is the one wave, but as you ride down its
backside into the trough that second wave appears far bigger despite it not
technically being a rogue.

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Aelinsaar
_" As you travel down the tail of the probability distribution, rogue waves
become ever stranger. Not only can their size and direction be unexpected, but
they can appear in some unlikely places."_

I realize that next to the privations and risks of long sea voyages in ye olde
days, the risk of a truly catastrophic rogue wave was slim. Still, the notion
that you could have spent a lifetime on the seas, truly an expert with the
right supplies and equipment... and you could still face a monster like the
ones described in the article.

Terrifying. Who needs Krakens when you have that?!

~~~
sandworm101
That's the problem with statistically rare events. The old social paradigm of
listing to a person with a lifetime of experience doesn't work. Ten lifetimes
of experience isn't enough to have a good chance of witnessing the event. Only
with modern electronic/video surveillance can we collect many thousands of
lifetimes worth of experience. This has parallels in many other areas of human
endeavor (medicine, extreme weather) where one must sometimes dismiss the old
hats in favor of statistical analysis.

Rogue waves aren't rare. just short-lived. They rise up and fall away very
quickly, unlike normal waves which travel great distances. Tsunamis (aka port
waves) are the opposite, traveling enormous distances. The "port" in port wave
is the observation that tsunami bypass breakwaters to travel into ports.
That's isn't just because of their size, but because they are something
mechanically different than a normal wave. So too with rogues.

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AstroJetson
As a boater we are always on the lookout for the big waves. When NOAA says
2-3' waves, we will see 5', 6' and 7' waves. But it's that one off (not so one
off) 9-10' wave that gives you a real appreciation for how vindictive Mother
Nature can really be.

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im3w1l
I'd assume the lego pirate wave was due to the malfunctioning of the wave-
generator and not due to any mystery properties of water.

I mean there obviously _are_ mystery properties of water, just that in such a
controlled environment as that video a malfunction seems much more likely.

