7 ms·

Freak waves spotted from space (2004)

101 points by hardik 14y ago

beerglass 14y ago
On an average two large ships sink every week? Really? That's way too high than what I had expected. Can anyone cite a source for this info?
- andrem 14y ago
  It's hard to get to the data but have a look at the latest vessel casualties in the right hand column: http://www.lloydslistintelligence.com/ http://www.lloydslistintelligence.com/ Also, the project site leeds to http://coast.gkss.de/projects/maxwave/workp/wp4/wp4.html http://coast.gkss.de/projects/maxwave/workp/wp4/wp4.html where you can find a map of ship casualties for a 4 year period http://coast.gkss.de/projects/maxwave/workp/wp4/casualties.jpg http://coast.gkss.de/projects/maxwave/workp/wp4/casualties.j... I am surprised myself, but 2 a week actually seems low!
  - waterlesscloud 14y ago
    Thanks for the links. Googling some of the ships listed as casualties led me to this page http://www.vesseltracker.com/en/News/Home.html http://www.vesseltracker.com/en/News/Home.html So it looks like the ships are not necessarily lost, and some of them aren't all that big...
    - andrem 14y ago
      Yeah true - I think gravitystorm's comment is quite accurate when it comes down to big vessels. I did a bit more googling and found this site: http://www.cargolaw.com/presentations_cas.index.html http://www.cargolaw.com/presentations_cas.index.html Even though it looks this site is hosted on geocities, there are links to current vessel casualties with details to damage, human casualties, etc.
- gravitystorm 14y ago
  No - but it seems like that figure is wrong on two counts - greater than the actual number of ships of that size lost in that timeframe (142), and those ships weren't sunk by rogue waves. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_wave#Loss_estimates http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_wave#Loss_estimates
evoxed 14y ago
This article is from 2004. For more information on the project as well as the ugliest site you could possibly imagine, visit http://coast.gkss.de/projects/maxwave/ http://coast.gkss.de/projects/maxwave/ Edit: Apparently parts of their server have sunk as well.
- hessenwolf 14y ago
  I highly recommend visiting the site. It made me laugh. But then it made me sad. It's like visiting a house after it has been abandoned.
__alexs 14y ago
Results of the MAXWAVE Project W. Rosenthal Institute of Coastal Research, Geesthacht, Germany http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/PubServices/2005pdfs/Rosenthal.pdf http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/PubServices/2005pdfs/Rosenthal.p...
dhx 14y ago
Summary of ocean surface topography measurement using satellite altimetry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_surface_topography https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_surface_topography
- emmelaich 14y ago
  Not really related to wave size.
javert 14y ago
Statistics about ship losses in this article are utterly wrong. The Wikipedia article below explicitly calls out the press release this article appears to be based upon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_wave#Loss_estimates http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_wave#Loss_estimates
manojlds 14y ago
Freak waves and 2004 - thought it was about the 2004 tsunami.
overshard 14y ago
I always find it amusing how little we know about most of our planet. Then I get sad at the vast amount of scientists losing their jobs or having to work for large-company-for-profit since they can't get enough funding to research what they want. Maybe we need to start getting scientists to use Kickstarter? "For $400,000 I can make some serious headway into rogue wave research and will publish all of my data in real time!" I'd toss a couple hundred at projects like this. On a side note we need a website and very simple API for scientists to publish research in real time... with a not-horrible interface like most science websites have.
- joedevon 14y ago
  Awesome idea!! I wish this comment was an actual item in the top news of HN.
- mattsf 14y ago
  This exists. Petridish.org lets people help fund projects that wouldn't otherwise get off the ground, Kickstarter style
  - overshard 14y ago
    Indeed, this does cover the first part, they need to work on getting their name out there cause I've never seen this website before... Now for the 2nd part!
pohl 14y ago
Out of curiosity, I went looking to see if this data has translated into thinking about ship design: http://66.180.169.221/pdf/2007symp09.pdf http://66.180.169.221/pdf/2007symp09.pdf http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/PubServices/2005pdfs/Rosenthal.pdf http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/PubServices/2005pdfs/Rosenthal.p... http://www.ifremer.fr/web-com/molagnon/bv/Faulkner_w.pdf http://www.ifremer.fr/web-com/molagnon/bv/Faulkner_w.pdf
majma 14y ago
Article about the follow-up study from the German Space Agency, including some kind of map. http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/18245/ http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/18245/

101 points by hardik 14y ago

On an average two large ships sink every week? Really? That's way too high than what I had expected. Can anyone cite a source for this info?

andrem 14y ago
It's hard to get to the data but have a look at the latest vessel casualties in the right hand column: http://www.lloydslistintelligence.com/ http://www.lloydslistintelligence.com/ Also, the project site leeds to http://coast.gkss.de/projects/maxwave/workp/wp4/wp4.html http://coast.gkss.de/projects/maxwave/workp/wp4/wp4.html where you can find a map of ship casualties for a 4 year period http://coast.gkss.de/projects/maxwave/workp/wp4/casualties.jpg http://coast.gkss.de/projects/maxwave/workp/wp4/casualties.j... I am surprised myself, but 2 a week actually seems low!
- waterlesscloud 14y ago
  Thanks for the links. Googling some of the ships listed as casualties led me to this page http://www.vesseltracker.com/en/News/Home.html http://www.vesseltracker.com/en/News/Home.html So it looks like the ships are not necessarily lost, and some of them aren't all that big...
  - andrem 14y ago
    Yeah true - I think gravitystorm's comment is quite accurate when it comes down to big vessels. I did a bit more googling and found this site: http://www.cargolaw.com/presentations_cas.index.html http://www.cargolaw.com/presentations_cas.index.html Even though it looks this site is hosted on geocities, there are links to current vessel casualties with details to damage, human casualties, etc.
gravitystorm 14y ago
No - but it seems like that figure is wrong on two counts - greater than the actual number of ships of that size lost in that timeframe (142), and those ships weren't sunk by rogue waves. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_wave#Loss_estimates http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_wave#Loss_estimates

evoxed 14y ago

This article is from 2004. For more information on the project as well as the ugliest site you could possibly imagine, visit http://coast.gkss.de/projects/maxwave/ http://coast.gkss.de/projects/maxwave/ Edit: Apparently parts of their server have sunk as well.

hessenwolf 14y ago
I highly recommend visiting the site. It made me laugh. But then it made me sad. It's like visiting a house after it has been abandoned.

__alexs 14y ago

Results of the MAXWAVE Project W. Rosenthal Institute of Coastal Research, Geesthacht, Germany http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/PubServices/2005pdfs/Rosenthal.pdf http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/PubServices/2005pdfs/Rosenthal.p...

dhx 14y ago

Summary of ocean surface topography measurement using satellite altimetry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_surface_topography https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_surface_topography

emmelaich 14y ago
Not really related to wave size.

javert 14y ago

Statistics about ship losses in this article are utterly wrong. The Wikipedia article below explicitly calls out the press release this article appears to be based upon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_wave#Loss_estimates http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_wave#Loss_estimates

manojlds 14y ago

Freak waves and 2004 - thought it was about the 2004 tsunami.

overshard 14y ago

I always find it amusing how little we know about most of our planet. Then I get sad at the vast amount of scientists losing their jobs or having to work for large-company-for-profit since they can't get enough funding to research what they want. Maybe we need to start getting scientists to use Kickstarter? "For $400,000 I can make some serious headway into rogue wave research and will publish all of my data in real time!" I'd toss a couple hundred at projects like this. On a side note we need a website and very simple API for scientists to publish research in real time... with a not-horrible interface like most science websites have.

joedevon 14y ago
Awesome idea!! I wish this comment was an actual item in the top news of HN.
mattsf 14y ago
This exists. Petridish.org lets people help fund projects that wouldn't otherwise get off the ground, Kickstarter style
- overshard 14y ago
  Indeed, this does cover the first part, they need to work on getting their name out there cause I've never seen this website before... Now for the 2nd part!

pohl 14y ago

Out of curiosity, I went looking to see if this data has translated into thinking about ship design: http://66.180.169.221/pdf/2007symp09.pdf http://66.180.169.221/pdf/2007symp09.pdf http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/PubServices/2005pdfs/Rosenthal.pdf http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/PubServices/2005pdfs/Rosenthal.p... http://www.ifremer.fr/web-com/molagnon/bv/Faulkner_w.pdf http://www.ifremer.fr/web-com/molagnon/bv/Faulkner_w.pdf

majma 14y ago

Article about the follow-up study from the German Space Agency, including some kind of map. http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/18245/ http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/18245/