{"id":825,"date":"2015-07-20T13:15:28","date_gmt":"2015-07-20T10:15:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meteomarine.gr\/?page_id=825"},"modified":"2015-07-20T13:15:28","modified_gmt":"2015-07-20T10:15:28","slug":"freak_waves","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/meteomarine.gr\/en\/freak_waves\/","title":{"rendered":"Giant waves, myth or...reality"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"voln00_w858\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Usually in life, when an event moves on the border between fantasy and reality, most of the time it ultimately converges towards exaggeration.<\/p>\n

But when Dr. Rosenthal, head of the European study of giant waves at sea called MaxWave, declared at the beginning of the last decade that giant waves not only exist, but are much more numerous than initially believed, then many sailors would have felt a moral satisfaction. And how could they not feel it when the numbers themselves are relentless. In the last 20 years, two hundred ships over 200 meters long have sunk and for many of them the sinking is attributed to giant waves (freak waves).<\/p>\n

But what are giant waves? Freak or rogue waves as they are called in English are waves whose height can exceed even 30 meters! Although most often observed in oceanic areas with bad weather, they can also be found in areas with relatively calm seas but even in more closed seas such as the Mediterranean (a typical example is the cruise ship Voyager that was hit by a giant wave in 2005 between the Balearic Islands and Sardinia). Giant waves have nothing to do with tsunamis, since their creation mechanism is completely different. Although the way they are formed has not yet been fully clarified, relevant studies have shown that they are favored in areas where the direction of the ocean waves is opposite to the direction of a strong sea current.<\/p>\n

According to Dr. Fornberg of the University of Colorado, strong ocean currents seem to focus the waves like a magnifying glass focuses sunlight. Such areas include the east coast of South Africa where the Agulhas Current prevails, the Norwegian Sea, the North Atlantic where the Gulf Stream prevails, as well as the Kuroshio, Nantucket Shoals and Cape Horn sea areas. During the MaxWave program, the study of data collected by the European Space Agency (ESA) ERS-1 and 2 satellites for three weeks revealed the existence of 10 giant waves with a height of more than 25 meters. The power of these waves is extremely great. For example, a 12-meter-high wave exerts a force of 6 Megatons per m2, while a giant wave exerts a force of 100 Megatons per m2! In fact, it is a wonder how some ships manage not to sink, as the safety limit for modern ships does not exceed 15 Megatons per m2.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, giant waves are not predicted by wave models. However, the captain can significantly reduce the chances of encountering the ocean nightmare by knowing that giant waves are favored in areas where: [1] there is a barometric low, [2] winds blow in a constant direction continuously for more than 12 hours, [3] the waves move in the same direction as the movement of the barometric low, [4] the waves move against a strong ocean current, and [5] fast-moving waves are overtaken by a group of slow waves, thus contributing to the creation of a single giant wave. In any case, the captain should know and record on weather charts, either surface or 500 mb, the areas to avoid. Besides, according to experts, we are not far from the time when direct observation and warning of seafarers will become possible.<\/p>\n

Useful links regarding Giant Waves:
\n1. http:\/\/wwwnytimes.com\/2006\/07\/11\/science\/11wave.html<\/a>
\n2. http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk\/2\/hi\/3917539.stm<\/a>
\n3. http:\/\/www.esaint\/esaCP\/SEMOKQL26WD_index_0.html<\/a>
\n4. http:\/\/www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net\/8\/533\/2008\/nhess-8-533-2008.pdf<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Usually in life when an event moves on the border between fantasy and reality, most of the time it eventually converges towards<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-825","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n\u0393\u03b9\u03b3\u03b1\u03bd\u03c4\u03b9\u03b1\u03af\u03b1 \u03ba\u03cd\u03bc\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1, \u03bc\u03cd\u03b8\u03bf\u03c2 \u03ae ...\u03c0\u03c1\u03b1\u03b3\u03bc\u03b1\u03c4\u03b9\u03ba\u03cc\u03c4\u03b7\u03c4\u03b1 - MeteoMarine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/meteomarine.gr\/en\/freak_waves\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u0393\u03b9\u03b3\u03b1\u03bd\u03c4\u03b9\u03b1\u03af\u03b1 \u03ba\u03cd\u03bc\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1, \u03bc\u03cd\u03b8\u03bf\u03c2 \u03ae ...\u03c0\u03c1\u03b1\u03b3\u03bc\u03b1\u03c4\u03b9\u03ba\u03cc\u03c4\u03b7\u03c4\u03b1 - 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