A four-story-tall rogue wave that appeared in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Canada in 2020 was the "most extreme" example of the bizarre phenomena ever observed, scientists recently revealed.
Rogue waves, often known as freak or killer waves, are enormous waves that arise out of nowhere in the open ocean.
Scientists discovered that the Ucluelet wave was roughly 58 feet (17.6 meters) tall, three times greater than surrounding waves, according to a new study published online in the journal Scientific Reports.
The rogue wave was discovered on Nov. 17, 2020, around 4.3 miles (7 kilometers) off the coast of Ucluelet on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, by an oceanic buoy owned by the Canadian-based research organization MarineLabs.
Rogue waves this massive in comparison to neighboring swells are a "once in a millennium" occurrence, according to the researchers.
"Proportionally, the Ucluelet wave is likely the most extreme rogue wave ever recorded," lead author Johannes Gemmrich, an oceanographer at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, said in a statement.
Rogue waves are different from tsunamis, which are triggered by displaced water from underwater earthquakes, landslides, or volcanic eruptions and do not grow huge until they reach the coast.
The Ucluelet wave originated in a sea state of around 19.5 feet (6 meters), making it slightly less than three times the size of surrounding swells, the most extreme size difference ever documented.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, rogue waves are generated when smaller waves merge into larger ones, either as a result of high surface winds or changes in ocean currents caused by storms. The specific mechanisms underlying the bizarre crests are still a mystery, scientists say.
Rogue waves, such as the Ucuelet wave, usually go unreported. However, if a ship or oil rig were to become entangled in one of these bizarrely huge crests, the consequences may be deadly.
"The unpredictability of rogue waves, and the sheer power of these 'walls of water' can make them incredibly dangerous to marine operations and the public," Scott Beatty, the CEO of MarineLabs, said in the statement.
However, researchers are hoping that networks of monitoring buoys, such as the 26 MarineLabs buoys strategically placed throughout North American shores, may uncover more about these maritime oddities.
According to a previous study, climate change may increase the severity and frequency of rogue waves. A study published in the journal Science Advances in June 2020 revealed that extreme wave conditions have already increased by 5% to 15% as a result of stronger winds and currents driven by rising ocean temperatures.
