Re: Tall Waves More Common Than Expected

[Bernard Cleyet <anngeorg@PACBELL.NET>]

Sci. Am.  had an article on them in my dim past.

Perhaps not so many have been reported because the reporters are dead.

bc, who wonders if wave heights / frequency fit Poisson Stats.

p.s. I'm generally disappointed w/  Sci. Am. since W H Freeman was
bought out.  Is it I or do others agree?  Shawn Carlson isn't so happy
either!

Brian Whatcott wrote:

> Yahoo! News today,  carried a piece on tall waves and some
> research done three years ago.
>
> "...ESA tasked two of its Earth-scanning satellites, ERS-1 and ERS-2,
> to monitor the oceans with their radar.
>
> The radars send back "imagettes" -- a picture of the sea surface in a
> rectangle measuring 10 by five kilometers (six by 2.5 miles) that is t
> aken every 200 kms (120 miles).
>
> Around 30,000 separate "imagettes" were taken by the two satellites
>  in a three-week project, MaxWave, that was carried out in 2001.
>
> 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.
>
> Ironically, the research coincided with two "rogue wave" incidents
>  in which two tourist cruisers, the Bremen and the Caledonian Star,
> had their bridge windows smashed by 30-metre (100-feet) monsters
>  in the South Atlantic.
>
> The Bremen was left drifting without navigation or propulsion for
> two hours after the hit...."
>
>
>
> Brian Whatcott    Altus OK    Eureka!