Analysis of rogue wave events in 2005-2021

Rogue waves are abnormally large waves in the ocean that are at least twice as large as their surrounding waves. The present work combines existing data of rogue wave events, which have been reported in mass media sources. These rogue events caused damages of ships, oil platforms, coastal structures, and human losses [1-6]. Evidences of this phenomenon are widely spread around the globe.

The database includes 431 rogue events registered during the period 2005-2021. The following information about each event is available: data and location, description, reported wave height of the event (not always), damages, link to the source.

Locations of the events have been determined approximately based on the eyewitnesses’ reports. The water depth for each event has been taken from the GEBCO database. Based on this water depth, all events have been separated into groups based on the depth of their occurrence: deep water (depth is more than 50m), shallow water (depth is less than 50 m), and coast. The latter represented either gentle beaches or high rocky coasts.

Using the data from global atmospheric and ocean reanalysis ERA5, the characteristics of background waves and maximal individual waves in the area as well as meteorological conditions have also been determined and analyzed. This includes wind speed, gust, significant wave height, maximum individual wave height, peak wave period, and spectra. According to these data, the freak events that satisfy the criterion of modulation instability kh>1.363 (where h is the water depth and k is the wave number) have been distinguished.

According to the events’ descriptions and ERA5 information, all rogue wave events have been divided into two groups: “true” and “possible”. For true events the wave description satisfies the freak wave conditions: to be unexpected and abnormally high – twice larger than the background waves. The events, which could not be classified with certainty as “true” due to the lack of data, but which could still be related to rogue wave events, have been considered as “possible”.

Based on the available data the conclusions about characteristics of a rogue wave, associated to accidents, their occurrence, and their statistics are drawn.

This work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (project No. 21-77-00003).

Bibliography

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