Were extreme waves in the Rockall Trough the largest ever recorded?

[1] In February 2000 those onboard a British oceanographic research vessel near Rockall, west of Scotland experienced the largest waves ever recorded by scientific instruments in the open ocean. Under severe gale force conditions with wind speeds averaging 21 ms(-1) a shipborne wave recorder measure...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical Research Letters
Main Authors: Holliday, N P, Yelland, M J, Pascal, R, Swail, V R, Taylor, P K, Griffiths, Colin, Kent, E
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2006
Subjects:
Geosciences
Multidisciplinary
North Atlantic
Online Access:https://pure.uhi.ac.uk/en/publications/1c5a5870-2544-4e77-891c-a99ff4e95f70
https://doi.org/10.1029/2005GL025238
Description
Summary:[1] In February 2000 those onboard a British oceanographic research vessel near Rockall, west of Scotland experienced the largest waves ever recorded by scientific instruments in the open ocean. Under severe gale force conditions with wind speeds averaging 21 ms(-1) a shipborne wave recorder measured individual waves up to 29.1 m from crest to trough, and a maximum significant wave height of 18.5 m. The fully formed sea developed in unusual conditions as westerly winds blew across the North Atlantic for two days, during which time a frontal system propagated at a speed close to the group velocity of the peak waves. The measurements are compared to a wave hindcast (AES40, Swail and Cox, 2000) which successfully simulated the arrival of the wave group but underestimated the most extreme waves.

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