Why This Rogue Wave is the Biggest Ever Recorded!

So how big was this absolutely huge ‘killer wave”?

Transcript

00:00Oceanographers are interested in the way our planet's oceans produce waves, helping them to

00:07better predict things like this. But in November 2020, an absolutely ridiculously big wave lifted

00:13a buoy in the Pacific Ocean, and now it's been confirmed as the largest rogue wave ever recorded.

00:18According to the National Ocean Service, a rogue wave is one that is more than twice the size of

00:22the one that preceded or follows it, meaning it's a wave that literally comes out of nowhere and

00:27can't be predicted. The 2020 wave, also called the Euclid wave, topped out at an astounding 58 feet

00:32tall. Not the tallest wave ever recorded. That Guinness World Record belongs to those at Nazare,

00:37which often top out at around 80 feet. But it's still extremely tall, in fact three times taller

00:42than the one that came after or before it. And their unpredictability is why they are sometimes

00:47called killer waves. Experts say rogue waves that reach these heights are extremely rare, only occurring

00:52once every 1,300 years. But still, rogue waves and how they form remain a mystery. And experts say

00:58as climate change continues, they are only expected to get bigger.