This Wave Occurs Once in 1,300 Years, And Scientists Recorded It

Bright Side

Did you hear about the wave that only happens once every 1,300 years? Scientists recently managed to record it, and it’s pretty mind-blowing! This rare wave, known as a megatsunami, is a massive wall of water caused by huge underwater landslides or volcanic eruptions. Imagine the power and size of something that only appears once in a millennium and change. The data they collected could help us understand more about these incredible natural phenomena and maybe even prepare for them in the future.  #brightside   Animation is created by Bright Side.  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/   Listen to Bright Side on:  Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/idhttps-podcasts-apple-com-podcast-bright-side/id1554898078 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Social Media: Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/brightside/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official/ Tik Tok - https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en Snapchat - https://www.snapchat.com/p/c6a1e38a-bff1-4a40-9731-2c8234ccb19f/1866144599336960  Stock materials (photos, footages and other):  https://www.depositphotos.com  https://www.shutterstock.com  https://www.eastnews.ru  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me

Transcript

00:00 In November 2020, a wave the height of a 4-story building was recorded off the coast of Vancouver

00:06 Island, Canada.

00:08 The team at Marine Labs, the company that operates the buoy that got caught in it, couldn't

00:13 believe the data they saw.

00:15 Everything was normal, then, unexpectedly, a vast force came, pulled the buoy down, and

00:21 then sent it up to a peak before taking it even deeper.

00:24 The probability for such a huge wave to form is once in 1,300 years, so they had to be

00:31 sure it wasn't a technical mistake.

00:34 Marine Labs sent the data to a rogue wave scientist at the University of Vancouver.

00:39 They analyzed and validated the findings and shared them in February 2022.

00:44 The wave officially became the most extreme rogue wave ever officially recorded, as it

00:49 was three times the height of waves around it.

00:52 Luckily, this giant didn't leave any damage, as it happened too far offshore.

01:00 For centuries, rogue waves were believed to be real only in the stories of sailors.

01:05 Christopher Columbus himself mentioned a rogue wave, but back then, it wasn't officially

01:10 a thing.

01:11 In August 1498, he was on his third expedition to the Americas.

01:16 As they were passing through a strait near Trinidad, a huge wave lifted the boats.

01:21 They managed to survive and continue the journey, and the area is still known as the "Mouths

01:26 of the Dragon," named this way by Columbus.

01:30 Back in 1826, a French scientist and naval officer was crossing the Indian Ocean on his

01:36 ship, the Astrolabe.

01:37 The guy caught in a terrible storm and witnessed several waves over 80 feet tall.

01:43 One of them was the height of a 10-story building.

01:45 The crew lost one of its members, but the four of them, including the captain, made

01:50 it to land and spread the story of the gigantic waves.

01:54 But back then, scientists were sure waves couldn't be taller than 30 feet.

01:58 So everyone took this story as a tale.

02:04 Witnesses shared many other stories of giant waves coming out of nowhere, but scientists

02:08 officially recognized the first rogue wave only in 1995.

02:13 It went down in history as the Daubner wave, or the New Year's wave.

02:17 This sea monster of the North Sea hit the Norwegian gas platform Daubner on New Year's

02:22 Day.

02:23 It reached a height of 84 feet.

02:26 The waves surrounding it were twice as small.

02:28 The rig was built to withstand waves up to 64 feet tall and had the most advanced sensors

02:33 for its time.

02:34 It became a sensation in the scientific world because it wasn't like any other type of

02:39 wave they'd studied before.

02:41 So they gave "rogue waves" an official definition.

02:44 It's a wave more than twice as tall as others around it.

02:48 These bad boys, also known as freak waves, monster waves, and episodic waves, can pop

02:54 up lightning fast in a stormy sea or show up out of nowhere in calm waters.

02:59 They have steep sides and a deep trough below, and look like a wall of water rising out of

03:05 the sea.

03:06 They're so intense that they can even swallow up rescue helicopters just trying to do their

03:11 job.

03:13 Rogue waves aren't the same as tsunamis.

03:16 Tsunamis happen when there's a big shift in water, like an earthquake, volcanic eruption,

03:20 or landslide.

03:21 They mess with the entire water column.

03:24 At sea, you might not even notice a tsunami cruising beneath you.

03:28 But near the shore, as it hits shallow waters, those waves can shoot up to crazy heights.

03:34 Rogue waves are formed at the surface level.

03:36 Although sometimes they can form deep below, and these are called rogue internal waves.

03:42 Astronomers and sailors singled out some statistics.

03:45 Rogue waves more often form when wave trains run into fast ocean currents.

03:50 The coast of South Africa is one good place for that.

03:53 There are concerns that these "water beasts" may happen more often in the future because

03:58 there's more energy in the atmosphere and ocean.

04:01 It means larger and more frequent rogue waves, and more ships lost at sea.

04:08 Rogue waves aren't limited to oceans, and can even occur in lakes.

04:12 Lake Superior witnesses something that got the name "three sisters."

04:16 It's a series of three large waves, one after another.

04:20 The second wave covers the ship decks before the first one is gone.

04:23 The third wave jumps in and adds extra water.

04:27 These three sisters overload the ship.

04:29 There's a theory that this phenomenon took down the steamship Edmund Fitzgerald in 1975.

04:36 Rogue waves are also dangerous because they form rogue holes in the water.

04:41 When the wave builds up, it draws in all the water around it.

04:45 So near the base, these holes can be very deep.

04:48 If the bow or stern of a ship ends up in one, the ship can instantly sink.

04:54 Some oceanographers believe that rogue waves are to blame for the disappearance of ships

04:59 in the notorious Bermuda Triangle in the Atlantic Ocean.

05:03 Storms from several directions converge in this mysterious area, so rogue waves are more

05:07 likely to gain force here.

05:10 And because they can reach a height of 100 feet, they can, theoretically, bring down

05:14 an airplane, not just ships.

05:17 There are two main theories trying to make sense of how rogue waves happen.

05:21 First up, we've got the linear addition theory.

05:24 Imagine waves cruising through the ocean at their own speeds.

05:28 Now when these waves cross paths, they team up and become stronger, cooking up a rogue

05:33 wave.

05:34 Then, there's the nonlinear focusing theory.

05:37 It says waves like to roll in groups, and when they spend time together, they share

05:42 some energy.

05:43 Sometimes, this energy exchange turns into a rogue wave.

05:50 To predict the formation of these freaky waves, scientists would need an innovative radar

05:54 system to keep a constant eye on the waves near a boat.

05:58 They'd collect all the data and toss it into a fancy math model that paints a real-time

06:03 picture of what the ocean's surface looks like at that very moment.

06:07 This model would need to do new calculations of the surface situation every 5 minutes.

06:12 It would let the crew know if there were any extreme waves coming up in the next several

06:16 minutes.

06:17 Such a system doesn't exist yet, but as scientists measure more rogue waves, mathematicians

06:22 may find a way to alert us of the upcoming rogue waves rising out of the water.

06:29 Sometimes, you can hear the term "sneaker wave" as a synonym for rogue waves, but

06:35 oceanographers claim there's a difference.

06:38 Rogue waves occur mostly in the ocean, and sneaker waves build up at the shore.

06:42 They're also known as "king waves" and "sleeper waves," and they roll up

06:46 much faster than usual waves when they approach the beach.

06:50 They always appear without warning after smaller waves and can be powerful.

06:55 They can carry swimmers further away into the ocean.

06:58 But the worst part is, they can also sweep you off your feet and into the water when

07:03 you're casually strolling on a jetty or the beach, or on an outcropping nearby.

07:08 Oregon State University researchers found that sneaker waves form in offshore storms

07:13 that carry wind energy to the ocean surface.

07:16 With all that energy, several waves unite and overlap into one beast that stands higher

07:22 and goes further ashore than a regular wave.

07:25 Another thing that makes them more dangerous is that, just like rogue waves, they're

07:29 hard to predict.

07:30 Fishers, surfers, and others who spend a lot of time by the water normally know when

07:35 and what to escape when it comes to big waves.

07:38 With sneaker waves, that logic doesn't work.

07:41 There is no set time of the year when they're more active either, but putting together some

07:45 data shows you're more likely to experience one of those somewhere between April and October,

07:52 and the peak would be in October and November.

07:55 Sneaker waves carry huge amounts of water, sand, and gravel.

07:59 Those can fill up your shoes in a matter of seconds and sweep you off your feet if you're

08:03 unlucky enough to be ashore at that moment.

08:06 These sea monsters also have the power to move huge logs, which carries another hazard.

08:11 That's it for today!

08:12 So hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your

08:17 friends!

08:18 Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!

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