Hollywood and Science: Big Waves

Films like Poseidon and The Perfect Storm include memorable images of gigantic waves. As Tariq Malik of LiveScience.com notes, such events, while perhaps not quite the size they attain in Hollywood, are nonetheless real. Indeed, we have found recently that both storm-driven waves and the "rogue waves" that can appear in relatively calm seas are larger and more common than once thought. Ten waves over 75 feet high were detected on satellite data in one three-week study. Hurricane Ivan in 2004 produced waves over 90 feet high. The largest wave ever measured (at least by someone who survived to tell about it) came during a strong gale in the Pacific and was triangulated from the bridge of the USS Ramapo at approximately 112 feet. It seems logical that some of the unexplained disappearances of ocean vessels sometimes ascribed to bizarre or even supernatural causes can be laid to this phenomenon. Malik's article includes several links to further information.