Giant Wave in Pacific Ocean Was The Most Extreme 'Rogue Wave' on Record
In November of 2020, a freak wave came out of the blue, lifting a lonesome buoy off the coast of British Columbia 17.6 meters high (58 feet).
The four-story wall of water was finally confirmed a couple of years later as the most extreme rogue wave ever recorded.
Such an exceptional event is thought to occur only once every 1,300 years. And unless the buoy had been taken for a ride, we might never have known it even happened.
For centuries, rogue waves were considered nothing but nautical folklore. It wasn't until 1995 that myth became fact. On the first day of the new year, a nearly 26-meter-high wave (85 feet) suddenly struck an oil-drilling platform roughly 160 kilometers (100 miles) off the coast of Norway.
At the time, the so-called Draupner wave defied all previous models scientists had put together.
Since then, dozens more rogue waves have been recorded (some even in lakes), and while the one that surfaced near Ucluelet, Vancouver Island was not the tallest, its relative size compared to the waves around it was unprecedented.
Scientists define a rogue wave as any wave more than twice the height of the waves surrounding it. The Draupner wave, for instance, was 25.6 meters tall, while its neighbors were only 12 meters tall.
In comparison, the Ucluelet wave was nearly three times the size of its peers.
"Proportionally, the Ucluelet wave is likely the most extreme rogue wave ever recorded," explained physicist Johannes Gemmrich from the University of Victoria in 2022.
"Only a few rogue waves in high sea states have been observed directly, and nothing of this magnitude."
Today, researchers are still trying to figure out how rogue waves are formed so we can better predict when they will arise. This includes measuring rogue waves in real time and also running models on the way they get whipped up by the wind.
The buoy that picked up the Ucluelet wave was placed offshore along with dozens of others by a research institute called MarineLabs in an attempt to learn more about hazards out in the deep.
Even when freak waves occur far offshore, they can still destroy marine operations, wind farms, or oil rigs. If they are big enough, they can even put the lives of beachgoers at risk.
Luckily, neither Ucluelet nor Draupner caused any severe damage or took any lives, but other rogue waves have.
Some ships that went missing in the 1970s, for instance, are now thought to have been sunk by sudden, looming waves. The leftover floating wreckage looks like the work of an immense white cap.
Unfortunately, a 2020 study predicted wave heights in the North Pacific are going to increase with climate change, which suggests the Ucluelet wave may not hold its record for as long as our current predictions suggest.
Experimental research published last year suggests these monstrous waves can be up to four times higher than previously thought possible.
"We are aiming to improve safety and decision-making for marine operations and coastal communities through widespread measurement of the world's coastlines," said MarineLabs CEO Scott Beatty.
"Capturing this once-in-a-millennium wave, right in our backyard, is a thrilling indicator of the power of coastal intelligence to transform marine safety."
The study was published in Scientific Reports.
An earlier version of this article was published in February 2022.
Crows Are So Smart They Can Identify Geometric Shapes, Study Finds
Owl Wings Glow Pink And It Could Be Sending a Secret Message
Strange Bacteria That Can't Live Alone Hint at Early Steps to Complex Life
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
16 hours ago
- Yahoo
60-Foot Rogue Wave Captured in Pacific Ocean (Video)
When thinking of rogue waves breaking out in the middle of the ocean, for surfers at least, one liquid monstrosity comes to mind – Cortes Bank, the mythical big wave gauntlet breaking some 100 miles off the California coast. As it turns out, however, these abnormally gigantic waves are breaking elsewhere in the world's oceans, too; and a team of scientists set out to explore them. Specifically, the scientists looked at rogue waves being documented in the Pacific Ocean off Canada. They described: 'Once dismissed as a maritime myth, rogue waves are now increasingly being recorded in Canadian waters. A network of AI-powered buoys off the coast of B.C. is capturing these giants in real time. Johanna Wagstaffe meets the engineer developing new tools to understand — and maybe one day forecast — their chaotic nature.' One in particular, which they detected back in 2020, was taller than a six-story building. 'So, this rogue wave was measured off near Tofino [Vancouver Island, Canada],' said Scott Beatty, CEO of MarineLabs Data Systems. 'There was a 17.5 meter [57 .4 feet] wave that came by. For context, that's about six stories. But the unusual thing about it, was that in the background the waves were six meters. It was the highest ever recorded. So, we had to go back and double, and triple check that.' Unlike Cortes Bank, these waves are random. They happen sporadically, in the middle of the ocean, and are difficult to detect. When there's the right swell – and there's a crew willing to risk it all to motor out to Cortes, and attempt to surf it – things can be somewhat predictable. And they know where to find it. But these, open-ocean rogue waves are way more how the scientists describe them: 'These waves are at least twice as tall as the surrounding waves. They're unpredictable. They can come from unexpected directions, often against prevailing winds and swells. You need a whole cocktail of factors to come together – wind, swell, current. It's a chaotic, nonlinear wave interaction, where one wave will suddenly gather energy from others and explode in size.' Rare and terrifying, yet fascinating. Makes one wonder about all the untapped big wave surf spot potential just hiding out in the vast, open oceans.60-Foot Rogue Wave Captured in Pacific Ocean (Video) first appeared on Surfer on Jun 27, 2025
Yahoo
21-06-2025
- Yahoo
The Simple Truth About These Miserable Heat Waves
In the coming days, some 200 million people across the United States will sweat through temperatures in the high 90s and triple digits, made worse by 'oppressive' humidity. It's the country's first major heat wave of the year, which may—like last year—turn out to be among the warmest years ever recorded. Last month was the second-hottest May ever recorded; 10 of the hottest years ever recorded on earth have occurred over the last decade. A study published on Thursday in Earth System Science Data finds that the amount of planet-heating carbon dioxide already emitted into the atmosphere by human activity will very likely, by 2028, have made the world 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than it was in preindustrial times. This increase might sound mild on its face, but respected scientists are in agreement about what this means: more brutal, dangerous heat waves like the one spreading across the U.S. right now. Maybe the most sobering aspect of rising temperatures is how predictable they are. Xuebin Zhang—a co-author of the study, professor at the University of Victoria, and head of the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium—says that in his decades of research, very little has surprised him about how the planet has reacted to rising concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. 'The world's climate is behaving exactly as we said it would all along, for many years. It is warming due to human influence. It gets faster if we don't act on it,' he told me. 'It's more than beyond a reasonable doubt. It is a fact.' So what differentiates a couple of hot days from a heat wave caused by climate change? Typically, heat waves are produced by something known as atmospheric blocks, when high pressure settles over a region for days or weeks at a time, causing air to descend and heat up. Since cloud cover is typically low during these periods, more solar radiation can heat up the surfaces below. While there are varying definitions of how long and hot a period of high temperatures has to be to qualify as a heat wave, the answer depends on where you are. Temperatures that are above average for June in New York, for instance, may not be abnormal in Tucson or Karachi. In order to determine whether such an event can be attributed to climate change, researchers run complex models based on historical observations: one showing the world as it is and the other 'an alternative world where there isn't any human influence on the climate,' said Nicholas Leach, a physicist at at Oxford University who researches weather and climate impacts on health. From there, scientists can determine how likely a specific extreme weather event would be in a world without climate change, i.e., with lower concentrations of human-caused greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Other studies, Leach says, more specifically replicate the exact atmospheric patterns and conditions that produced a particular heat wave in those two worlds, observing how the intensity and severity of the resulting heat wave would change in a world where human activity isn't causing temperatures to rise. It's generally easier to determine whether climate change has contributed to heat waves as compared to hurricanes, which can vary based on any number of factors in oceans and the atmosphere. 'We're warming up the atmosphere, and there's a very strong link between doing that and the hottest possible situations getting hotter,' Leach says. 'The link between climate change and thermodynamics has been understood for 100 years.' Researchers are still working on understanding what precisely climate change is doing to the atmospheric blocks that produce heat waves, particularly in the case of extraordinary events when temperatures soar far outside the range of historical observation—like the Pacific Northwest heat wave of 2021, which caused hundreds of excess deaths across the U.S. and Canada. One study found that heat waves that extreme would 'occur roughly every five to 10 years' in the same region if global temperature averages were to exceed two degrees Celsius above preindustrial times. As Nathan Gillett—another co-author of the climate indicators study and a researcher at the Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis—told me, the world is already experiencing heat waves that 'would have been much less likely or almost impossible without human-induced climate change.' Those heat waves will worsen as humans burn more fossil fuels and continue to raze forests, which is rapidly depleting the planet's ability to absorb carbon dioxide. The more of it that goes into the atmosphere, the hotter it gets. 'There's very high confidence,' Gillett said, 'that, with ongoing greenhouse gas emissions, the world will continue to warm and heat waves will continue to be hotter. That's going to happen everywhere.'
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- Yahoo
Can kelp forests help tackle climate change?
Countries around the world are increasingly turning to nature to help alleviate the impacts of climate change. Forests, grasslands and wetlands are already considered as 'natural climate solutions.' Now, some scientists are asking: could kelp forests be part of the solution too? As some of the fastest growing species on Earth, kelp form lush underwater forests along temperate coastlines. In addition to supporting marine biodiversity, sustaining fisheries and contributing to local economics and livelihoods, kelp forests also absorb carbon. But their role in climate change mitigation remains uncertain. In the first national assessment of Canada's kelp forests, our research team set out to estimate how much carbon these ecosystems might be capturing and storing in the ocean, and whether that carbon stays out of the atmosphere long enough to be considered a natural climate solution. To tackle this question, we assembled a national kelp forest database, including satellite and aerial maps, kelp productivity measurements and ocean current models to estimate how much kelp carbon actually leaves the continental shelf. This study is part of a national research effort being led by researchers at the University of Victoria called Blue Carbon Canada, which was funded by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), Oceans North and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) to investigate how Canada's 'blue carbon' could fit into its national climate mitigation strategy. Our team included 22 kelp researchers and experts from 14 academic institutions, government agencies and NGOs from Canada, the United States and Australia. Read more: The carbon absorbed by trees, peatlands and seagrasses typically gets locked away for decades or longer. However, when kelp dies or breaks apart, instead of storing the carbon in the ground, much of it is released back into the ocean. Depending on the conditions, some of it sinks. Some of it washes back to shore. Some gets eaten and and fuels coastal food webs. Only a small fraction settles in coastal seafloor sediments or makes it far enough offshore to reach deep water, where it's more likely to stay out of the atmosphere over the long term. Another fraction decomposes and becomes tiny dissolved particles that can circulate on ocean currents below the mixed layer depth for decades to centuries. So while protecting and managing kelp forests promotes carbon capture, it may not always directly translate into climate change mitigation. Our research found that between 40,000 and 400,000 metric tonnes of carbon per year is likely being captured and exported from Canadian kelp forests to the deep ocean. In terms of carbon dioxide removal, this would be at least comparable to more established natural climate solutions carbon ecosystems in Canada, like tidal marshes and seagrasses, suggesting they merit further consideration. It's a promising number. But the potential role of kelp in Canada's climate action plans is far from settled. Our findings are relevant as countries increasingly look to count natural sources of carbon removal in their nationally determined contributions under the Paris Climate Accord, with the idea that better ecosystem management, protection and restoration could all enhance natural carbon sinks. Kelp forests have not yet been included in national inventories. However, there has been growing interest in whether better kelp forest management and even restoration could qualify. Part of the problem is data. Most countries, including Canada, still lack sufficient information on where their kelp forests are, how productive they are, where that carbon is going in the ecosystem and how these dynamics are changing over space and time. As a result, few countries have been able to assess their kelp forests at national scales. There are also unanswered questions about how much kelp forest loss can be prevented under climate change and how much ecosystem restoration could be scaled up to meaningfully contribute to climate change mitigation. Restoration methods for kelp forests, such as green gravel, are being actively developed but remain largely untested. Our study provides guidance to help countries overcome some of these challenges. We offer a step-by-step blueprint for developing first kelp carbon estimates from limited data, including data needs and sources and tools for data analysis that acknowledge data uncertainties. Managing and protecting kelp forests is likely to be a low-regret option, meaning that while it might not significantly mitigate climate change, its many other benefits would still outweigh the costs. After all, these ecosystems offer a host of benefits, from supporting fisheries to shoreline protection. Given our findings, they may also have the ability to help tackle climate change. But leaning too heavily on kelp before the science is clear could backfire. Overstating its role in climate change mitigation could lead to misplaced confidence and unrealistic expectations. Worse, it could distract from the most important and immediate task: fossil fuel reductions. That does not mean kelp's climate solutions potential should be dismissed. At present, it's thought that kelp forests and other algae capture and store around 175 million tonnes annually, maybe more given recent research. But Canada needs to proceed carefully and invest in closing key knowledge gaps before scaling up plans to include kelp in national carbon accounting. This includes greater public investment in kelp forest mapping, monitoring, high resolution oceanographic modelling and ground-truthing of national estimates. Read more: Overall, a precautionary approach is needed to ensure we don't miss out on future kelp solutions. That's because even as interest in kelp grows, these ecosystems are disappearing in many places. In British Columbia, kelp forests have declined in recent decades due to climate change-fuelled marine heatwaves and population booms of sea urchins, which graze on kelp. Similar trends have been documented in many parts of the world, from Norway to Tasmania, where lush kelp forests are being replaced by weedy turf algae. When kelp forests are lost, the carbon they hold can be released quickly. Export of kelp carbon to the deep ocean and other carbon sinks stops. So instead of helping to slow climate change, their loss could make things much worse. Kelp forests will not solve the climate crisis on their own. But our research shows they could be apart of the solution, especially if we act now to fill critical research gaps. Today, the most immediate value of kelp forests lies in supporting marine biodiversity, coastal fisheries, and community livelihoods. That alone makes them worth saving. This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organisation bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Jennifer McHenry, University of Victoria and Julia K. Baum, University of Victoria Read more: For many island species, the next tropical cyclone may be their last Colonial-era borders create conflict in Africa's oceans – how to resolve them Antarctica has its own 'shield' against warm water – but this could now be under threat Jennifer McHenry receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada (NSERC), Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO),and Oceans North. Julia K. Baum receives funding from NSERC, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) and Oceans North. She is also affiliated as a science advisor with the Kelp Rescue Initiative.
