Abnormal waves during Hurricane Camille

Abstract

[1] A reanalysis is reported of the wave time series recorded during Hurricane Camille having as objective the identification of individual waves that satisfy current criteria defining abnormal or freak waves. It is shown that during the hurricane development, a very nonstationary situation has occurred during which the second-order sea state parameters changed significantly with time. The parameters of the largest individual waves in sea states which identify abnormal waves did not show any clear trend, and such waves occurred during the development stage and not when the significant wave height was the largest. It is argued that the present criteria of identification of abnormal waves are not satisfactory, as they do not take into account the nature of the sea states in which the waves occur.

Modeling extreme wave heights from laboratory experiments with the nonlinear Schrödinger equation

“…After analyzing all sea state records during the storm of November 1997 in North Alwyn and Draupner's storm in the beginning of 1995, a linear regression model was derived by Guedes Soares et al (2003). As shown in Fig.…”

“…As reviewed by Guedes Soares (2003), numerous theoretical and empirical models of wave heights have been suggested after the proposal of the linear Rayleigh model. The non-Gaussian and phase-coupled bound modes have no significant effect on the crest-to-trough wave heights although they make wave crests shaper and narrower, and troughs shallower and more rounded (Tayfun and Fedele, 2007;Petrova et al, 2008).…”

Freaque waves during Typhoon Krosa

“…Without any preconceived notion regarding whether or not freaque waves can occur during a typhoon or hurricane, other than the study of 1969 Hurricane Camille case (Guedes Soares, et al, 2004), we are able to positively ascertain that their occurrences are clearly manifested. Although at this stage we are not certain that our findings can be generalized to all typhoons or hurricanes, we feel that it is quite possible that MV Derbyshire might have indeed encountered an abnormal freaque wave during the 1980 Typhoon Orchid before their demise.…”

“…Guedes Soares et al (2004)'s contention that "the present criteria of identification of abnormal waves are not satisfactory" seems to be a good observational commentary of the present state of struggling regarding the inadequacy in available means to discern Draupner-type freaque waves objectively. But developing new indices is a formidable task beyond the scope of our present effort.…”

“…The answer is clearly affirmative. Guedes Soares et al (2003) studied storm waves in the North Sea and also in the Gulf of Mexico during the 1969 Hurricane Camille (Guedes Soares et al, 2004). They pioneered the efforts of examining freaque waves from wave measurements under large storms.…”